Hello Gilbert,
Singapore for Singaporeans indeed.
I work for a British company and I just want to share some of my thoughts on social divide, animosity and preferential treatment for the expats versus us locals.
My pay is very little only in the range of $2K ish - I’m 28 and I have a diploma.
There is an Angmoh British PA – she is only 24 and doesn’t even have O level qualifications but got transferred here from UK office just because she was bored up in the UK, wanted a change and her salary is DOUBLED mine!
What I know is some Angmohs here get a lot more pay like $8000 and $7500 versus locals like $3K to $4K and even less than $2K! We are talking about the same job scope and target!?
How can this be? Forever ongoing inflation and our local pay only increased 3% in the last decade and these foreign talents just sailed in with doubled-up salary!
And now I will have a new colleague and make a guess where he is from? Scandinavia! Just another angmoh again! Also I have a French fresh grad colleague. Why? Why even foreign fresh grads get a chance in OUR country? This is so absurdly ridiculous! I don’t talk to them much and just try to do my work.
Also these people get more pay and everytime every other weekend or PH they go holiday and come back and brag about “Oh so lovely utterly beautiful” about whichever country they have gone to. I mean, using Singapore as a springboard to tour this part of Asia? Come on…
Also the fact they don’t need to give to CPF - our pay is so little and we are so burdened with CPF and housing loan.
Everyday, they think we locals are so uptight, can’t relax and are not happy. Of course what! What they expect when we have to make do with such pittance pay compared to theirs!
Anyway this is my rant but I’m sure many Singaporeans feel the same! We must do something now and fight for our country or else our children will not have Singapore anymore.
Lawrence
Sent from my iPhone
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Hi Lawrence, think to be fair in this argument, is that it does work both ways. Many of these expats are covered by what is commonly call the expat package which very often can also be translated to equivalent of their currency thus you will find that their pay is higher than you. The same will apply if you get posted overseas and request to have your pay package in US$ or UK Pounds. I know by saying that, I’m just giving these expats the benefit of the doubt. Having worked in MNCs and even big local companies before, discriminations happens all the time and perks and benefits differs. Perhaps it is also our nature of not bragging or fighting for our rights thus we are in such a state. But I certainly agree that it’s human to congregate or protect one’s same kind. Similarily, some bosses will bring in their own team of staff when they transfer or goes a new company.
So be objective about it and asked yourself will you have the guts and stand up to your boss and make the comparison which you listed above during your appraisal and justify with your accomplishments which cedits are due thus warranting a pay revision?
We want alot of things in life but life is never fair, so we need to fight for what we want. At the end of the day, after self reflection and examiniation, if that is what we believe and want then go for it. So good luck and all the best.
There are 2 issues here. First, people doing the same job should get similar pay. The pay difference mentioned by Lawrence is too much.
Secondly, if the company is willing to pay such high salary, there is no shortage of Singaporean willing to take the job, so why the need to hire foreigners?
This goes to show that our employment policy for foreigners is too lax and easily abused.
We need foreign talent only if we cannot get it in Singapore so MOM needs to plug this glaring loophole.
One suggestion is that the firm hiring must show that they are unable to get Singaporeans for the job for the last 3 months before they are allowed to hire foreigners. They must also show that the salary offerred for the foreigners is the same as what they are offering to Singaporean.
You got CPF and a housing loan…but your CPF is used to pay your housing loan
but this Angmoh got a housing loan back in her country + rental in Singapore.
Singaporeans complain pple coming in have no quality, but now complain that they are too high. So you want bangla, or you want angmoh, make up your mind?
Lawrence, Perhaps you are not performing to expectations and have little pay increase, and keep blaming others. My friends all have generous pay increase after they grad.
Most housings are paid for expats.. and most rentals are from 3k onwards ~ how unfair. BOO
Hi Lawrence,
1. You work in a British Company what do you expect?
2. What is the exchange rate between SGD and Pound/Euro? in order for your company to acquire a British talent, the figures should be attractive, and more or less the same with what they are earning in their country. And British talent means culture in a sense how they were started to be raised up so that they can relate in a social manner that you do not expect singaporeans sharing their noodle experience versus a sausage and fries.
3. PA requires more talking and relating to others, if they hired British, meaning they have to relate to a British boss.
4. You don’t talk to them? why, embarassed of your Singlish? We should not be..
5. CPF and Housing Loan is not a burden. It’s actualy a blessing that we have those.
6. What’s a matter? you haven’t been to any part of Europe or Asia? Aren’t they entitled to say how beautiful Asia is?
I think you should get yourself look at.
Envy (also called invidiousness) is best defined as a resentful emotion that “occurs when a person lacks another’s (perceived) superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it.”[1]
Envy can also derive from a sense of low self-esteem that results from an upward social comparison threatening a person’s self image: another person has something that the envier considers to be important to have. If the other person is perceived to be similar to the envier, the aroused envy will be particularly intense, because it signals to the envier that it just as well could have been he or she who had the desired object.[2][3]
No doubt that the OP is working for a british company, I do not see how a foreigner with no ‘O’ levels can even be considered as a British talent in UK, Singapore or anywhere else in the world.
Most ang moh companies in S’pore are just shell companies. Their purpose is merely to have a “presence” in Asia, a showcase office, and a parking spot for 1 or 2 very high level ang moh execs. These execs demand Bt Timah bungalow and s’pore country club lifestyle and very very low taxes. S’pore is the best place in Asia for catering to such atas & pompous ang mohs. The ang moh shell companies in S’pore don’t do much except for some marketing and coordination/logistics work among the various company units spread throughout Asia.
Many critical & major functions are based in lower-cost countries. E.g. Finance & accounting in India, manufacturing in China & Vietnam & Indonesia, HR in India and China, R&D in India and China, IT in India/China.
They don’t really need talents for S’pore office. Just a few ang moh faces and some pretty locals to front the image. Many ang moh execs here graduate from sub-standard unknown Unis and from intelligence and academic standpoint are no better than local poly students, or even worse. But they can talk cock and BS, due to their culture of being very verbal and outspoken even at baby stage where you see ang mohs speaking & chit-chatting to their babies and toddlers in proper sentences.
Those locals hoping to be hired by these ang moh shell companies need to be young and pretty, and also must be able to talk cock and engage in BS with the ang mohs. Being “easy” and willing to have sex is a bonus.
Btw, I used to study and bum around in UK many years ago. During my stay there, I worked in various jobs. The best were always the office-based admin-type jobs where the environment is good and your pay comes in regularly. Without degree, you can actually get higher pay in blue-collar jobs, but is physically dirtier and maybe tougher, and the pay sometimes depends on projects basis.
I only had half-baked A-levels then, but was considered a “talent” as long as familiar with microsoft office, being able to do excel and charting and putting up powerpoint presentations. LOL. They even saw simple things like being able to type over 100-words per minute accurately (which was part of the entry tests) as being rare. And even over 10 years ago, I could easily get $3K/mth working just 6 hrs a day, 5-day work week in such jobs.
However the main thing is that you need to be sociable and adapt to their way of thinking and way of life. You need to speak up and be engaged in conversation and be part of the social activities both in work as well as outside of it e.g. going for drinks at local pubs, weekend trips, BBQ — these are the most basic simple things you must do.
At work, you cannot just put your head down and focus on doing your work in the most efficient manner. They rather you be less productive but stronger in team dynamics. What a typical S’porean can do in less than 1 week, they will take 2 weeks or even longer. When I was there, it was common for us to quote clients 2.5-3 weeks for projects and tasks, when I knew that Sinkies will be able to do it in 1 week. But it is the culture, and clients there are happy to accept that.