I just don’t like it and I don’t know why…maybe I am being too patriotic here.
How some local employers could slam our own local workers blatantly for being soft and whimpy even though some part of it is justifiable.
To make matters worse, I have seen how local workers in transition job hopped as if there is no tomorrow and the world owns them a living.
Job hopping culture
I also have problem assisting them if they became serial job hoppers and it became such a serious problem that employers are forced to hire more dependable foreign workers as they can enforce them to work for at least two years during their contractual period.
They can’t do that to local workers who will quit their positions anytime and anyhow - especially those from the Generation Y group.
Maybe they have a reliable nest at home whereby their parents can feed them even if they are out of work for a long time.
Some locals who left their jobs at the slightest excuse also do not help the tight labour situation one bit especially when employers now have an abundant supply of workers from the whole of South East Asia to choose from.
But does the fault lies primarily with our local workers or do employers themselves have to share part of the job hopping blame?
One particular PMET I know don’t like to work on Saturday and so she left after working for about a month. She also dislikes doing sales and one wonders why she took up the job in the first place.
Of course, her low pay of $1600 does not provide her much incentive to stay on especially as she has a degree from a private institution to back her up.
She is also unhappy with the foreigner-majority work force though she admitted that some of them are nicer to her than local workers.
Difference between foreign and local workers
Coming back to the topic about how I felt when local bosses criticised our local workers.
Though local bosses provided very logical and reasonable feedback on the bad attitude of our local workers - I still felt slighted when our own kind talked bad against his own people.
They could even provide anedoctal evidence to back up their allegations.
One textile company wrote in recently and the boss told me that if not for the foreign workers he hired, his business will flounder and even close down as local workers could not stay on long in his company which works 5 1/2 day.
Suffice to say, his small company is now filled with all foreign workers.
Many large MNCs now hire predominantly foreign workers with only less than 10% consisting of local hiring. It is a rare sight now to find private companies fill with local-majority hiring,
Any sharp sudden drop in quota for foreign hiring will adversely affect the manpower staffing for any private company now. It is probably this reason why transitioning suddenly receives so many requests for assistance in manpower staffing as three months ago MOM annouces the 5% drop across the board in the dependency foreign ratio quota.
Naturally, the local bosses whom I spoke with recently, justified the large foreign presence by openly criticising our local workers – mostly for not being able to withstand work pressure even though the company has tried its best to give them a chance.
Nowadays, when companies hire our local workers – it is done so because they are given a chance to prove themselves. If not, they will be replaced by foreign workers.
Have our local workers suddenly grow lazy and underperformed so badly that they are now being discarded by our private companies?
It is as if they have to bend some rules in order to hire our own local workers!
You seldom hear that from other nationalities – people of their own kind criticising one another openly even though its the truth.
Filipinos are known to be very united and they all go out in groups often taking care of each other’s welfare. That is probably why they can survive working abroad all this while with well over ten millions of them overseas.
They like to move in packs and soon will gang up against the lone local worker who will be ousted out in no time.
When I worked in Sydney, the Australians seldom speak ill of their own people even though they are evidently less hardworking than Asians.
In fact, Asians have to work harder to compensate for the lack of drive in the work ethics of some local Aussies in the work place.
On most Friday afternoon, when local Aussie workers will disappear in the afternoon for their weekly pint, Asian workers tend to stay behind and finish off their own work plus that of the Aussie workers.
Employers there also tend to hire back their own people and after filling them up sufficiently, theu will then start to look at foreign workers – normally Asians who are known to be more hardworking.
Quota for PMET foreign hiring?
It still irks me alot when I see a foreigner helming the receptionist seat in a company. Don’t we have enough locals who are capable of taking on the position of a receptionist?
A receptionist is the first person that a business visitor will see before he ventures into the office area and when a foreigner fronts the desk, it speaks volume of the philosophy and mentality of a company.
It is timely that MOM starts to re-look at the quota system which provides employers the impetus to hire predominantly foreign workers who are known to be more hardworking and diligent.
Most of them frankly have no choice unless they sacrifice their 2-year work permit of which they have to pay back tons of compensation to the employment agent and even loans back home secured to send them here in the first place.
There will come a time when all private companies will hire predominantly foreign workers leaving our local workers out in the cold.
It should look at restricting jobs such as receptionist, administrator or human resource manager to locals. We are in serious danger now of being systematically replace by foreigners at the work places.
Moreover, by always comparing our own workers with foreigners, it is not only degrading but also unfair as both of them come with different needs and asspirations.
Eroding work ethics of local workers?
I remembered only about a decade and a half ago that our workers used to be voted the world’s most productive worker and have we suddenly lost that edge in us that we are now labelled lazy and soft by local employers?
Maybe, the younger generation has being brain washed too much by our government to go for better work life balance and so when we have to work on Saturday and weekend for too long, we threw in the towel even though its a lucrative paying job.
The Generation Y youngsters are different from those belonging to the baby boomers age group – they don’t like to work too hard for money and career leaving them with no time for their hobbies, family and rest.
They prefer a company that treasures work life balance – you work hard during office hours but don’t touch me when its off duty.
I used to work on Saturday half a day when I was a civil servant for 11 years – without complaining as it was the norm then to work half a day on Saturday.
Nowadays, I barked when someone told me that he has to work on Saturday – usually a SME trying to generate more revenue from putting in extrawork on a Saturday.
The work aspiration and movation between the local and foreign workers are also poles apart.
Why foreigners are much more hardworking than locals
I remembered speaking with one Indian PR recently who has a NUS MBA degree. He told me that even with his high qualification and solid work experience, the best salary he could expect from working in India is probably only $400.
Compared with the average pay of $4000/month he could expect from any company wanting to hire him, its almost ten times of what he could command if he works in India!
You pay me ten times of what I could earn here in any part of the globe and I will pump in ten times the amount of effort in my work for you!
Employers must understand that when they compare foreigners with locals they are being very unfair.
It is also not nice to speak ill of your own people however horrible they are in the work place – to another fellow Singaporean or worse to a foreigner.
I knew that some employers use this tactic to convince MOM to allow them to hire more foreigners – who are seen as dependable and more hungry for work as compared to our local workers.
They would tabulate all the resignation letters of local staff and used them as bargaining chips so that MOM will approve all their foreign work permit passes.
Employers must also remember that foreigners have all the intrinsic drive to work harder than locals due firstly to the opportunity factor and mostly because out strong currency has provided the impetus for them to strive harder despite the over-worked mentality prevailing in most SMEs and some MNCs.
For example, Malaysian workers like to work here as when they convert our currency to send back home, its almost 2.4 time now due to our strong dollar. For Filipinos, PRC Chinese and Indians, the currency conversion is even much more lucrative.
For local employers, I promise I won’t bark at you the next time you criticise my countrymen even though it is justifiable but I will remind you that if we are not united, the whole country will go down…
We can’t simply speak badly against one another anymore just because he could not perform at the work place but we must find creative ways to uplift the person and try to help him to cope if the job stress gets too much into him.
That’s the better spirit…
Written by: Gilbert Goh
Gilbert, you got the fundamental reason right. It’s the money stupid. The only reason why foreigners *appear* to be “hardworking” and “dependable” is purely for the money. Many are earning 10X their home salary. Even M’sians are earning at least 2.5X. And they don’t need to retire in S’pore. Once they save up enough $$$$, they can go back and buy a mansion or a plantation or open a business to secure their retirement. They can actually calculate how many years to achieve this — they can EASILY see light at the end of the tunnel for the good life. This is what motivates them.
A $1,500 salary for a admin assistant job will be like $15,000 to a foreigner. The foreigner will be working as hard as a Sinkie who is getting $15K salary for the same job. Try paying $600 to the same foreigner — even though $600 may be 4X what he can get back home, you can bet he will give you shit attitude at work behind your back, and will take every opportunity to find another company to hire him, and will probably steal things from your company to sell.
For older Sinkies with financial & family commitments who are retrenched, jobless and in transition, most of them will not job-hop like mad — as long as the pay is reasonable and sufficient to pay the bills etc. Of course if you take advantage of their situation and exploit them and pay them $1000/mth for full 45+ hours workweek, or underpay them $1600/mth and expect them to deliver high-level managerial-type outputs — then you cannot blame the Sinkies who will grab another job that offers even slightly better.
I have worked with hundreds of foreigners, from $800/mth Work Permit holders to $20,000/mth P1 E-Pass. And you know what?? They are all the same. It’s all about the money. They always compare salaries among themselves and take notes of which companies pay more and where are the openings etc. They get very unhappy if they know other foreigners getting higher pay for the same jobscope. They always engage in networking with fellow foreigners from other companies and also with foreigners holding managerial/HR positions in other companies. If they know other companies can pay more, they will start hustling their contacts in those companies to hire them and to sponsor new S-Pass or E-Pass for them. After a few months in S’pore, most of the foreigners also will tend to job-hop if they see better opportunities, or they will give lousy or at most so-so performance if they suddenly feel their pay is not good enough compared to other fellow foreigners.
There are a lot of ways how you can ruin your CV and block lots of career path if you are not careful. Not everything is under your control or fair or even reasonable, but to know how “the system” works might help.
Job Hopping, around 3 year for the first job are ok, after that min 5 years in one company should be the target, when you switch job try to get a descend promotion.
Size of Company, it is easier to switch from an MNC to an SME but the other way round is much more difficult.
Career path, an R&D Engineer can become a sales engineer but hardly any company will put a sales engineer back into the R&D office.
In addition Singapore’s small domestic market and proximity to very low cost countries poses additional challenges. Batam for example is just one hour away and a good place for manufacturing. The wages for e.g. operators there are only 1/10. So the overall package Singapore has to offer, in terms of labour quality and general environment, must be around 10 times as good as what you get on Batam, especially as most of the stuff is for export.
These factors make a comparison between Singapore and e.g. Australia difficult, as the whole playing field is so different. Large country with significant domestic market and natural resources vs. small export driven nation surrounded by low income nations.
So this fierce competition and challenging environment makes it even more important to play “by the rules” as employee.
Some companies don’t like to pay well. Some also got attitude problem, only willing to pay for Toyota but expect BMW standard.
If they can’t pay well, don’t expect people to work so hard. Why should people work for them 24/7? Employees have a life outside of work.
Foreigners will also job hop. I was at this place and I saw the foreign staff try to network with a Caucasian for better job opportunities. People know when they are paid meagre wages. Can they be blamed for wanting more $$?
Heya, there is a layout problem or something regarding web browser compatibility but I thought I might post to notify you. The style and design look incredible however
Recently, I came across this newspapers article on the topic that Thailand rice agriculture is facing shortage of manpower as younger generation reluctant to work in the farms. Foreign workers aren’t really more hardworking than us. They are like us too.
http://www.zaobao.com.sg/yx/yx120607_007.shtml
“Thai rice agriculture successors (2012-06-07)
(Phitsanulok, Thailand Reuters) – Thailand is the world’s largest rice exporter, rice can be said that many Thai people from generation to generation “family business”, but with the era onward, Thai rice farmers are now facing the successors of the predicament.
“Farming is hot and difficult … I quit!” In the outskirts of the central city of Thailand, Phitsanulok (of Phitsanulok) Ban Long Library Village Community Centre, 18-year-old Mali Ni side of the protest, while the camera photos downloaded to the computer. She is currently in high school last year, the dream is to become a teacher.
18 years, Mali Ni is not in the fields sowing a seed, regardless of the parents how begging, she is unwilling to go to the fields to help. She even felt a little embarrassed he was born in the farmhouse. Her friends broke the news, said: “She was afraid of tanning.”
The Shimoda must be less sleep all day soaking in the mud, and very tame, so the past most of the young and strong, who work. However, more and more fields such as Mali Ni farm offspring, they tend to read a few years, or to the capital city of Bangkok’s fast-paced world to find opportunity. Therefore, the remaining farm in the countryside, only the elderly remnants “.
The 33-year-old Carmon is a young farmer of this village. He said: “the city’s hands as long as the phone line.”
Thai government data show that only 12 percent of Thai farmers currently 25 years of age, most less than 35% in 1985. The average age of farmers from the 31-year-old in 1985, rising to 42 years in 2010.
The New York Times reported that the rice is becoming a sunset industry is not surprising, Thailand and other Asian rice producing countries are now experiencing other countries have experienced industrialization law. But this process of change for Thailand, especially challenging, because the rice with Thai traditions and livelihoods are closely related.
Scholars are concerned that the loss of rice knowledge
And good Thanksgiving and rural values
Since 1983, Thailand is the world’s largest rice exporter last year, exports more than six billion U.S. dollars (about S $ 7.7 billion). But experts pointed out that last long, as the older generation of farmers to leave this world, Thailand will be difficult to find people to take care of the territory of 3200 mu of paddy. In addition, because young people are away from the village, planting rice, the values of knowledge and rural, will gradually disappear.
Di said: “This problem has troubled me for a long time and we are losing what we call ‘Thai characteristics’, that is kind, helpful, compassionate and know how grateful, value, professor of humanities at Mahidol University in Thailand.”
51-year-old farmer Lennon efforts in this village of Ban Lung library can see from the two aspects of paddy fields has been gradually abandoned. Fifties on, whenever the farmers together to discuss the price of rice or rice-related issues, there are older people, two of his house near the rice fields can be seen everywhere large potholes – he better neighbors have to sell land to construction companies, and foundations to build a house.
The younger generation is unwilling to farming, longing for the city a more comfortable life, Thailand, there are other reasons.
Ancient Chinese occupational segment of society, the farmers have always been respected. The modern world, some local farmers self-reliance, the image is very good. But in Thailand is not the same. Tong Di, said Professor In Thailand, farmers are considered “poor, stupid and unhealthy … farmers even say that, even can be reincarnated ten times, I do not want to have I, when the farmer.”
Economic considerations, many farmers put off the other directly. Overall, the farmers’ liabilities is more serious, this community last year, the average debt of 104,000 baht (about 4238 dollars). According to official data, which is equivalent to their five-year average income. Indebtedness of reasons, including fertilizer prices, floods, droughts and other natural disasters caused by crop failures.
However, the person in charge of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines Ziegler farming to reduce the number only in the short term lead to “pressure”, often forcing farmers to switch to the machine do the job because of a lack of labor, which makes them more efficient agricultural. ”
Translation done by using Google.
Most SMEs here should be taught a good lesson. Let them bring in more foreigners. When they themselves job hop, they will face real crisis of manpower shortage. Let SMEs rot.
Now with Burma joining in line after Laos, Cambodia & Vietnam to open up its door to foreign investors. Burma’s rice agriculture will also soon facing shortage of manpower as younger generation reluctant to work in the fields too.
In Cambodia & Vietnam, cases of fishery & agriculture industry workers protested against the developer & police for seizing their lands & turn it into condos, factories & shopping malls is getting more & more common.
Everyone here just assume that the foreigner will earn less in their home country. The fact is
1)A lot of Ang Mohs are here not on expatriate pay and they are earning about the same if not less then they would in their home country
2)Many of the developing countries are catching up, in fact in major cities like Shanghai and Mumbai, the talent actually earns MORE then they do here
1. Ang mohs or other foreigners who earn less than their home country is becoz they cannot get any job back home. Most of these foreigners are not the top performers. That’s why they are unable to get proper jobs in their home country. Ever hear of FILTH? Failed in london, try hong kong. This was back in the 1980s n 1990s. Now they try singapore.
2. Answer as in 1 above.
It is very tough to hire locals in the local audit industry. Most local grads will go to the Big 4 audit firms or medium size firms, leaving only the foreign “workers” for the local audit firms.
Every time i do advertise for staff, 95% applicants are pinoys, Burmas and PRC. The other 5% applicants are locals who will ask for high salaries despite having average resumes. Basically these 5% are the type who will not make it to the Big 4 audit firms.
Even the perferred Malaysians are getting quite scarce. Sometimes I do want to hire locals but it is very tough to find one with reasonable salary expectations and strong resumes. Sad but true.. in the audit profession. I cannot say for other professions.
Btw the local grads rather to go Banks for the bing bing..
in the construction industry, sg locals are softies and perennial job hoppers. not biased. just telling the truth.
I was watching the ‘Undercover Boss’ featuring a UK construction director who went undercovered in his company.
One of the supervisor told him many youngsters avoid construction job. They would prefer jobs that allow them to sit behind the computers in the office or work in the fast food restaurants.
I guess it is not something unusual or new that X or Y generations avoid construction jobs. It is tough, hot & dangerous.