Singapore's foreign workforce and productivity?

Question

Singapore's foreign workforce and productivity?

Answer 1

Right on the spot. Why? Its because NTUC wants cheap, better and faster, killing all singaporeans of the rice bowl. Those aged 45 and above are hardest hit when seeking jobs. mostly employers would asked for their age first and then rejected them by asking them to "wait" for letter. Even cleaners' pays are being deducted further this year from $900 to $700 - $750 because tenders are getting cheaper . How to survive with such miserable pays to support families and homes ? While workers are getting thin pay packets, our government ministers are getting fat pays. Something must be very very wrong...

Answer 2

Looking who is talking.... HO KWON PING, someone who is selling services at a very much premium price..... look at how much Banyan Tree is charging customers..... when you are selling premium products then you can definitely hire "premium" local people because you get premium profit.....If this World consists of premium company then how does our Mr. HO KWON PING able to standout in the crowds........so in Singapore, we have companies selling premium products and some selling low priced products......ARE SINGAPOREAN GOING TO BE A CONSTRUCTION WORKERS>..... I THINK ALL THIS FOREIGN LEVY IS CRAP LA>>>>>> THIS IS ANOTHER EXCUSE FOR THE GOVERNEMNT TO HAVE MORE INCOME AND REVENUE IN THEOR COFFER...... JUST LIKE ERP EXCUSE>>>>>> WITH ERP THEN ROAD TAX LOWER SO THAT MORE MANY CAN AFFORD CARS>>> BUT IN THE END HOW>>>>> THE GOVT REDUCE THE QUOTA FOR CARS>>>> WHAT KIND OF LOGIC?????

Answer 3

This is an excellent statement that has come the closest to the ground reality on foreign Worker discussions to date.



First Points First. How are Singaporean workers rated internationally in the labour market. Answer : rated top in the world, by most international research consultancies, like BERI. Most well run Companies prefer to Employ Singaporeans.



Many employers, the good ones, have shared that Singaporean workers are fast, efficient, reliable and give superior performance under good leadership. Sad to say, most managers / bosses are themselves weak in dealing with workers, which is a big contributing factor to our low level productivity. I remember reading an article a couple of years ago which quoted Philip Yeo recommending if he has his way, he would make it compulsory for all SME Bosses to attend Management course. (or something to that effect).



Most Companies, especially the SMEs are unable to handle the average Singaporean who expects reasonable salary, Fair work practices and recognition. The easier way out is to employ foreign SLAVES who dont ask questions, accept low wages to work 12 hours, or even longer without OT Pay , resulting in low productivity. In many cases these people, especially from China and India are willing to pay placement fees to the Bosses to secure employment. Therein lies one of the reasons for the mentioned 'addiction '.



The problem is GREED with a grave disregard for the long-term effects, and I think the Government has to do some very serious thinking as in my opinion it has unwittingly / inadvertently or otherwise have perpetuated this situation.

Answer 4

I won't disgree entirely with this statement but there's definitely a lot more going on. How did we become addicted to low-cost foreign labour in the first place? I believe this cuts both ways. Sure, we have some companies who aren't willing to invest in their workers because they just want to save costs and hire from elsewhere (read cheaper foreign labour), and this should not be encouraged. Yet, we can't deny that many Singaporeans are just not willing to do labour intensive tasks. We hear about people complaining that these jobs are being taken away by foreigners but when they are given the opportunity, will they stick around long term? And how many of they will do that? This is what I'll like to know.

Answer 5

First of all the , its not only Singapore which is wanting low cost foreign labours but almost all the countries are wanting the same. If you select any country which is hiring a foreign labour, the countries Currency rate is always much much higher that the countries from which they hire their labour, I mean the exchange rate .



But by saying "low cost" foreign labour , it does not mean that those people are not capable of doing productive work but it inturns depends on the respective companies training and development activities for those people whom they hire from other countries.

Here there are many restrictions in giving training to those, because sometimes language is a restriction due to which an effective training is not possible.



So if a company is taking a decision to hire a foreign labour which they call intenally as "Low Cost Labour" , then they should be also capable of giving the same kind of training in an effective way which they normally do with when they hire a localite.



So to conclude "Low Cost Labour" does not mean llow productivity but its the capability of the respective company to train their employees to the same level as others.



If it had been true that "Low Cost foreign labour " is affecting the productivity then the term "Outsourcing" would not have become much popular.

Answer 6

You and all our forefathers came to SG in first place for doing cheap labour. Thus what makes you different from those foreign workers? We are the same! It's just that your forefathers accidentally found a good chance and make their fortune from trading with richer people. Now you guys have better lifestyle owing to your forefathers and these just-come-in foreign workers. If they go, will you wanna do the construction instead? Or domestic services? Or wash your corridor for weekly/ monthly maintenance and those public parks/gardens? Thus now the foreign workers comes like your forefathers did, let them come.

Answer 7

I do not agree. Cheap foreign labor (or foreign labor in general) does not necessarily equate to low quality or productivity. And equally, local labor (or employment of Singaporeans) does not necessarily mean good quality and productivity.

Answer 8

addiction to low-cost foreign labour, overall productivity growth is low? if addiction to high-cost local people labour, will overall productivity growth become high??? hee.........

what the use for having high productivity when there is no demand due to high cost product,

10 cent increase in bus fare make everyone so unhappy already let alone a few dollars increase in e product of a company.when the econnmy is bad,, will ,e bank said ur loan can stop paid for one month or will e government said ur rental can be cut half ,it is e foreign who willing to take up harsh job with lower paid helped e company went through,,no all job is in air-conditione, nice ,clean environment,if local pp really willing to take up job easily then why our bus driver mostly foreign driver,then if just putting out high paid salary surely will increase local pp joining ,why e company didnt do so,,

Answer 9

i dis agree, because all that is matter is people attitude, if the worker have a lousy attitude, no matter what level of productivity they may bring due to lousy attitude can loose out in business.

Answer 10

I have to agree with the quote, but to a certain extent. Quality service culture is really hard to find in Singapore. Either because they are not trained or the they simply don't bother.



Yes, Singapore is addicted to the low-cost foreign labour, but they forgot that educating is still important. It would be the same if they employ Singaporean, they will still need to educate them by sending them for courses where appropriate. They cannot expect these people to start working without educating them on the necessary standards. We all know, no matter where these people come from, their surroundings/understanding/culture is different from ours. Due to this, the productivity dropped to a whole lot due to no-motivation.



Now, Singaporean are so picky when it comes to work. A country that is in its developing-developed stage, certain Singaporean are not willing to do certain work. Take building industry, they won't want to stay under the sun to do all those heavy work. Furthermore, Singaporean already have the mindset that those jobs are for foreigners.



At times, in the service industry, those Singaporeans who are in the management industry just do not know how to show a good example.



I have one very bad experience at one of the fast-food restaurant (not naming them). It could be a very good example. The place had a good combination of Singaporean and foreigners. Singaporean being in the management level while the foreigners a normal server. The management herself do not show good example to her employees. Due to this, the productivity of the workplace is affected. The best thing was, the employee was like her too (though indirectly). Service simply not there.



Educate both Singaporean and foreigners properly with the necessary skills.

Answer 11

Agree.

Why many contractors are using foreign labours mostly are due to the nature of work could not be engauge by Singaporeans. Example, road cleaner, construction worker and grass cutter.



For the employer, the cost of hiring a foreign worker is almost equaliant to hiring a Singaporean. But the problem is most Singaporeans are educated now and wanted a job to be in the office or be in the management level, not being a skilled labour.



Lets look at Australia. An average tree worker earns A$25 per hour, 35-40 hours a week. thats about A$4000 per month!



What about the tree workers in Singapore?



If we can encourage more Singaporean to work like the aussie style, by giving a better and attractive incentive, could we bring up the standard?



The new Singapore work force will emphasis on being the management level, having university degree and sit in front of a computer.



If one day, all the foreign workers would leave Singapore, we will collapes.

Answer 12

I would agree to a large extent. Unlike the past, many employers are now hiring foreigners because of the cheaper labour cost. As a result, the overall salary of a job position has been lowered, and this has kind of deterred Singaporeans from taking up the job because of the disproportion between the current standard of living and salary. Perhaps some may argue that it is Singaporeans ourselves who very picky over the jobs and that without foreigners, who would want to work as construction workers or cleaners. I would say that this is not always the case. Foreigners are not only replacing the locals from low-skilled jobs but also those high position jobs. Just look at the number of foreigner lecturers in university and restaurant chefs today. I don't think Singapore would lack its own talents in such areas but rather, these foreigners are preferred because of their lower pay. A small group of foreigners to help in developing Singapore's productivity and economy is good but too much is unhealthy, and this is the very situation that we are in now. In fact, many locals are now complaining about these foreigners competing jobs with them and they are at the advantage because after all, most of them are not going to stay here forever, and they don't experience the full impact of the standard of living in Singapore like the locals do.



To cite a few examples: We have foreigners as cleaners, CEO, lecturers, managers, chefs, construction workers etc. Pay rise are not very common nowadays even in those big companies, with the emphasis on minimising costs, many companies are turning to foreigners. The locals, as a result feel that there is little incentives to be more productive with the lower pay. I really hope the government can do something to address the problem but I suppose this won't be the case so soon. I hope it is not until when the foreigners start to fill up even the government ministerial positions then the government start to realise that the problem is indeed serious.

Answer 13

I'm a foreign professional who wants to comment on this topic and I hope I can speak freely.^_^)v



1st Question: I don't agree.



2nd Question: I believe that these annotations are just product of emotional stress. When I was not yet here in Singapore I've always thought that Singaporeans are very keen, sharp, highly respected and strict but understanding. And so when I get here people are just -- usual. I mean, we all have likeness and differences. And my point is, not only Singapore in the world who's facing a certain issue and others don't and possesses a thing which noone don't. Do others just kick off the foreigners out of their own country? But if you still wish and if you'll do, do you think it will solve this issue? Then asked again, why in the first place Singapore must hire foreigners years ago (and until now)? Is it today just the time to ask the foreigners out and tell them Singapore don't need them anymore?



I still believe, Singaporeans still have the edges and all you need to do is break free and prove what you have..and that's what I can see from my local colleagues and connected local friends and authorities. It is not the training but the question is, are you willing? Productivity relies on willingness and Singapore don't need to attract locals because this country is always better to be served by it's own people. If you're jobless and educated, will you wait and sit for too long to have the job you've always wanted? What is quality service for if the locals won't be accounted of it? Go out, apply and accept the job. Why wait for a better pay, does it always come for a quality service you could give?



I'm not talking against or in favor of anyone nor want to provoke any discussion from anyone but this is just my opinion. Right answer/s will surely prevail as long as the issue will not be sensationalized. Be open-minded, speak less but think a lot. Everyone has our own choice and our choice will make our future. Once my previous Singaporean senior colleague said, "No need to find-fault of others, every single contribution of yours will surely be rewarded and though it may not be enough but it will still be rewarded.".



More power and Godspeed to all of us.

Answer 14

Hi Actually This is sort of Very True. We should have a serious look before we all start jumping the wagon and saying things. Foreign Works entry into this country is due to the fact that we are a society of lease a secondary or 99% educated citizens. But With this education level not much of us would like to go into any sort of menial jobs. So In this case let me put a straight question to you would a MBA or PHd holder be in the construction industry. The answer would be no. And this would be the areas where we need most foreign workers. To build our Houses etc. But Yes this brings to another point also would think a foreign of Higher Educations would come to Singapore as a Contruction worker?



But in other sectors too most employers have used 2 reasons to divert some reasons for not hiring Singaporeans. 1."Oh our customers are China Base." 2.AH I can get help from SG govern for monetarily so I can use a excuse that Singaporeans demand high wages and not suitable, hence I use this reason to employ Foreigners.



In Actual fact its the Foreign, who are the ones in fact not suitable for certain jobs in Singapore. because the SG working culture is something totally different. It got Speed/Efficiency/Management/Responsibilities and Knowledge of jobs.

Answer 15

I'm a foreigner and staying in Singapore quite long, and I think enough to have an opinion ^^"

Definitely a lot more going on now in Singapore. How did Singaporeans become addicted to low-cost foreign labour in the first place? I think that this can cuts both ways.

In fact, I saw that in Singapore, there are some companies who really don't want to invest in their workers because they just want to save more costs and then they chose to hire from others cheaper, which wil be cheape labour force from overseas, but maybe this should not be encouraged.

Howerver, Singaporeans can't deny that many of them are just not willing to do labour intensive tasks. We hear about people complaining that these jobs are being taken away by foreigners but when they are given the opportunity, will they stick around long term? And how many of they will do that? Thats very interesting !!!

Answer 16

I agree with this statement.

There are comment that productivity may not be suitable all industry.

My thoughts is that productivity is application for all industry.

Simple task like sweeping and cleaning can have productivity.

You can hire many cheap labour, but if the workforce cannot think,

we will be struck in the old paradigm of doing the same thing we do daily without much improvement.

We can sweep the floor all day without question, and might not have

invented gadget like vaccum cleaner, because we are satisfied by the old way of doing things.

The most important idea is that we need a workforce that can think in a productive manner.

Especially for those labour intensive industry.

They are the ones that need this idea of productivity the most.



For example,

You can have many cheap labour, but if they do not recognised the important of tools keeping for example. They might spend more time finding the tools rather than working on the task.

If they do not recognised that the quality of work means $$$, they would just do sloppy work,

which results in problem and cost that we have to deal with.

In fact quality work is productive work. Spending a bit more money for good work done,

rather than 1st cutting cost and end up fire fighting wasting time and money.

This can also leads to safety and health......

Improve administration procedure to improve work flow and reduce cost/time.

To hinder the work flow just because a department wanted

to protection themselves from trouble rather than looking at the company productivity as a whole.

Every productive workforce mind set should be focus on doing work

that can help to reduce cost in long run.

Even a good quality customer service helps,

which may end up with more customer satisfaction,

less time dealing with complains.



I once seen a small japanese noodle shop, can be managed by 1 person.

Do you know how the japanese did it.?



These are the kind of things that I have experience in my working life.

Most of the unproductive procedure are well conceal from the higher management.

If management from the top can push the idea of productivity through each

and everyday of our work, I am sure we will have a better tomorrow.

Business is about productivity.

Productivity is about Quality, Cost, Time.

Not only about machine, machine, robot, robot.

It is about exploring a better way of doing the usual stuff.

It is the only direction to survive.

Don't you think.?

Answer 17

Well I don't mind having foreign labour working to help our country increase productivity.The only thing I hope is the quality of foreign talent like those working at the high level jobs can teach locals to improve their producitivity and skills.That way Singapore can benefit in the long run not just hire so much foreigners with low skills and productivity which take up the population of the country.Remember Singapore is a small country also known as the little red dot.Who knows what might happen if we increase the population at a really fast rate?You know the answer.

Answer 18

IMHO, the objective towards low cost is to profit. This is business world fairly. Government are leading the best example where each ministries seems to be driving profitability. Our cost of living have never come down in fact it continues to rise since the last 3 decades.



Accepting foreigners/new citizen into our culture are just surface job. Let me put it the other way round, can Singaporean really adapt to "China's culture"? If we genuinely able, then we would not be losing so much money in China. Of course there are some exceptions.



My point is are foreigners able to blend into our multiracial culture? On the point of productivity, I think the statistics speak for itself over the last 20 years. Yes we can automate, retrain etc but using foreigners as sheer number game, it is a very short-sighted policy. We do need to look deeper into the issue of growing our population at all cost. Not just foreigners with W or S pass holders. I would even include many PRs in the PMET. They could possibly be indirectly responsible to the drop in productivity IF they are leading a team of workers with the "back home" mindset. So call hard worker and good worker does not drive up productivity.



Best regards,

Answer 19

Yes and No. Yes, quality service does not exist in Singapore but the available source of cheap labour means lower cost. If the basic such as the minimum salary structure is not adjusted in line with the increase cost of living in Singapore, two things will happen. Either a "service provider" takes on a job for the sake of earning a living even though they have been underpaid, thereby work by providing the minimum expected of them. If employers get real with the fact that workers work for a living which must be bringing a fair wage at the end of the day and pay them their dues and not shortchanging them to boost the profit margins.



Whether foreign labour or not, each set of labour must be equated with the cost of living and the value of currency of there own country. When comparing, employers must compare apples with apples and not something else. An example in the F&B and Tour related sectors ( such as coach drivers, tour guides and tour leaders are generally underpaid and even in the case of the F&B sector, the service charge of 10% have been ripped off from the frontline service provider. With this type of management mentality, do you honestly expect our service culture especially in the F&B and Tour related sector to improve? At the end of the day, when you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

Answer 20

We are caught in between, a developed country among all the developing country. The foreigner wages are lower and they do not mind, but if they choose to stay put in Singapore for long term they will feel the pinch like other Singaporean. The low wage can not sustain their life style. Foreigner that accept lower wages just to send all their money back home and use it or start a small business when they decide to pack and leave for good.



The Europe and USA unemployment are due to cheaper product from Asia. Many european out of job. They are very productive as SM Goh mentioned as multi tasking. Since one man can do so many things than why employ so many worker. In this scenario, productivity means lesser job. Do we have to send all foreigner that take up dirty and lower pay job to go back to their home country and let Singaporean having such job.



We should re-package the job and give cleaner a better name - may be enviroment beautician.

Answer 21

Well, the one main reason why companies employ foreign workers because they are cheaper. They are willing to take much lesser pay than local Singaporeans. Why do Singaporeans shun such jobs? Simple! Compare the standard of living in Singapore and that of their own countries! The same amount of money that is considered difficult to make ends meet in Singapore can help those foreigners buy land back home! There's no way we can afford to survive for long in Singapore for that kind of salaries. But for those foreigners, they will go back home rich.



Does training of Singaporeans work? I doubt so. You know, the service standards of Singaporean sucks. This is recognised globally. No amount of training can help. Standards could only get worse. Don't believe me? Just pay some attention to observe our youngsters nowadays!



Furthermore, training cannot be applied for all kinds of jobs. I have a Singaporean friend who was a japanese chef. He was retrenched & replaced by a Chinese. Well, diners don't really care if the chef is Singaporean or not. I also doubt that they can taste the difference of a sashimi sliced by a young chinese chef or an expert Singapore chef who has upgraded his skills constantly by, say, training in Japan 1 months every year!



Thats why our garment put so much emphasis in education. We are not meant to do those jobs meant for those foreigners (eg f&b, construction, cleaning, etc), because there's no way we can compete with them. We are meant to have at least a degree & hold managerial positions, & earn big bucks. Thats how we can survive. This is the world of perfect competition. If you can't survive, it's time to leave -- sell off your HDB & go some country with very low standard of living. Only then u can compare & see if that's the life u want.

Answer 22

I agree. However the way i see it if companies trained foreign workers to a competent level, this situation will not likely to happen and the cost is still lower than employing Singaporean.



Yet probably Singapore companies might not do it and continue to keep cost as low as possible because its a characteristic of singapore culture which can be seen among average singaporean as well. It doesnt pay or rather singaporean do not want to pay for quality service

Answer 23

Overall is not cheap or expensive foreign worker.However we fight for surviving to keep Singapore country grow and maintain SME company still alive.However we can understand the Japanese in Japan,their worker is expensive but have more benefit.So we must study and learn from the advance and also backward country,where their low mentality also still can survive.Why our country always had this issue?When it will be ending?Like example you employ a worker with pay $1k,you also need to pay hostel ($180),levy($240),transportation($200),totally you're paying thousand plus minimum sum.Then the company also must have 5 to 10 Singaporean/SPR to get 1 quota.That show the Singapore Government still secure the citizen before the company can employ foreign worker.If by right I employ Singaporean and forget about foreigner,it can be cheap or not?Because of this reason,citizen will become more lazy.Forever this issue won't ending.I hope Singapore MOM law can go back to 1970's,easy to approve the work permit.Don't become a boss in Singapore and go other country that Singapore life is though.

Answer 24

Yes..I strongly agree with Mr Ho Kwon Ping statement. Despite the SPUR programmes some companies still go for foreign labour as a "short cut". If Singaporeans are given a chance to enhance themselves. I believe we can be back on track as the best service provider. We are paying Special pass holders a minimum of $1800 per month, sad to say some of our graduates are getting lesser than that. Sincerely hope someone can do something about this.

Answer 25

To partially agree that productivity growth is low due dependency on foreign would have been seen as a more balance argument.

Who would not want to cut cost in whatever we do. Our lively hood centres on getting a good bargain be it fiscal or physical activities. Is our government not towing that same line..

Our electorate has also been tweaked too. The constituency are thus group, so that young activist do not have to fight tooth and nails as in a single member constituency. In Part it also allows the government to implement policies without much hassle. Everything has its good and bad point.

However, when the electorate are face with financial problem, the focus is on the income one receive

and complaint.

As for foreign workforces influence, there are also some fiscal agenda. which Mr Low Thia Kiang

mentioned in Parliament that the Levy's collected amounts to a hefty sum of '$X' BILLIONS as reported in Todays paper on 3 Mar 2010. I am spell bound.

All other talks about productivity can be described thus: Employee productivity can seen as multitasking, or automation and to reduce manpower at that. Only those work that require manual labour becomes available.,thus the conclusion is obvious. Keeping my job is better than 'KEI KIANG' then to later become redundant.

This is especially so when being laid off because of seniority becomes first option. Pay too high of course.

Then as a elderly, re-employment is passed over for younger candidate or Foreigners. Reason obvious again. The last option for elderly Singaporean is to clean tables and toilets and scavenge for recycables at the Bins House. Even there, they have to compete with the foreigner monopoly.



Perhaps the caring government need to urgently do something for the oldies. A fraction of the Levy can replace all the empty TALK and put a smile on the sad drawn face and labor drained wrinkled physique.



I have noted that Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan spoke with compassion and his heart is with the people. It is my believe that he can harness support for the elderdestituteestitutes

Answer 26

I totally agree. Let's look at Singapore 10 years ago, our Productivity was one of the highest in Asia. Than we introduce outsourcing and getting the so called 'foreign talent' to manage our companies. They eliminate old workers some are very loyal and efficient - there goes the recognition of loyalty and introduce 'contract workers', 'hire and fire concept' etc. Subsequently when the 'flood gates' open 2-3 years ago as we need more foreigners into singapore, our population increased by 1 m foreigners as employers claimed singaporeans does not want to work and are choosy, it is because of 'peanuts' pay, how to support a family with $800?

We need to go back to basic? Maybe our 'think tank' need to attend QCC course and look at these problems at the 'root' instead of coming up with 'great' ideas which may worsen the problem.

I am glad Mr HO KWON PING is outspoken enough.

Answer 27

I disagree with Mr. Ho Kwon Ping

This is a politically correct motherhood statements.



First of all, one must first define lowly paid foreign labour Vs highly paid foreign talent.



Secondly, are lowly paid foreign labour really taking up the desirable jobs of my fellow Singaporeans or are these lowly paid foreign labour really helping us with jobs that Singaporeans fuss about. Think hard perhaps it is because of these foreign labour that other low wage Singaporeans have a better quality of life because the lowly paid foreign labours are the ones who are willing to do these jobs.



Thirdly, MOM or IRAS can help Singaporeans understand the total payroll earn by these lowly paid foreign labour Vs the highly paid expats who some are perceived as foreign talent. No doubts some expats are truly talents VS the Singaporeans



Fourth, Is our poor quality of service really because of this vicious cycle where relatively cheap foreign labour displaces the need to train and attract Singaporeans ? Regardless of the tons of heavily subsidised trainings for Singaporeans- I sadlyget more poor service from Singaporeans Vs foreigners.



Fifth, with higher foreign workers levy on the business owners, who really benefits from this extra $$- your guess is as good as mine- the government. And the business owners will need to find a way to maintain their margin- and the easy solution is to pass on the cost to all of us.



Sixth;- while banking in US is getting backlash from the public and Obama for the ridiculous salary package- one begins to question why are ministers managing a tiny country getting a much higher pay than Obama himself- but then my dear govt will argue that they are paying for the best talent ?!!



Lastly, motherhood statement on low productivity is ambiguous without the details. Breakdown productivity into industries and the govt should share these statistics.



Where will my vote go in the next election ? Your guess is simple.



I hope that our nation awakes and really understand some fundamental issues that face our generation today.



I still hope that the ruling govt can address the real issues and understand the needs of my fellow Singaporeans.









.

Answer 28

The statement is...totally STUPID

The failure of keeping a quality service culture is actually the differences between COST and EARNING.

For example:

Around five to eight years ago, we would tender a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) service for MRT Tunnel for let say 3 Million for a 36 months to 42 months duration. But as a negative effect from competition and so-called ISO procedures. Through out the years, the price actually dropped from 3m to around 400k. So, as a survivor stance taken by contractors, we would have to seriously reduced the cost of labours, equipments, as well as the cost to keep the services top notch. The clients would treat the services as a way to shut BCA mouth and keep the project going rather than doing a proper SHM. But when we are really into costing, labour cost actually won't effect much in the quality of the services provided (since top notch paid staffs does not guaranteed a top notch performances) but equipment, maintenance as well as software would really built up the cost.



So the real vicious circle ain't got nothing to do with cheap labours but rather the cost cutting effect of companies in order to survive an ISO controlled market and the cost cutting effect of clients.



Notes:

1. A proper SHM for MRT construction before Nicoll Highway Event was no lesser than SGD 10 million (Under Main contractor)

2. The price of SHM after NHE was +/- SGD 7.5m for a project twice the size (Under LTA)

3. The latest tender marks slightly above below SGD 2m and lowest tenderer would almost guarantee to get the project (Under LTA)



Btw, We had a vacancy for Snr Engineer with 7k pay. But how are Singaporeans going to take the job when they didn't start with a Jnr Position in the beginning.

Answer 29

Let's look at some of the larger users of foreign workers in Singapore such as the construction industry, the shipyards and perhaps the container terminals(PSA) and how they pay their contractors. PSA is known for their relentless push to achieve an ever higher productivity in cargo and container handling. They pay their contractors according to the number of tonnes or container boxes handled. This encourages their contractors' bosses to economize on the resources that they use to do their job and this is particularly in the form of manpower. If PSA indents too many workers to handle a relatively small number of boxes, it is the contractors who will be objecting vehemently.



In our construction sites and shipyards, payment are almost always based on man hours or the number of workers supplied (regardless of whatever price the contractors may be asked to tender for the job at the on start). Contractors sooner or later learned that the only way to survive is to "beat" the "system". How? Supply more workers.... productivity..? what productivity... stupid or what! All you need to do is maintain good relations with the main con's supervisors and project managers so that you can be given more quotas to employ more foreign workers and also to be given more overtime work every day. (All of these are the sinful anti thesis of higher productivity) Such a culture is still the norm in these two industries despite all the denials the management of these industries will offer you (shocked?). If we simply believe it because it doesn't make sense that they could survive on low productivity, delve into the millions that they save in underpaying their contractor through extremely low hourly rates and the high penalties the foreign workers receive if caught idling. Singapore workers work hard but they expect a fairer wage, main cons would not pay this. Unless construction companies and shipyard change their payment systems and be fair about it, an increase in levy will only cause added hardship to the wrong people, i.e. their contractors who are no more than labour suppliers (where the entry barrier for this line of business is low and no professionalism is expected).



I will therefore agree with Kwon Ping. An old shipyard worker once told me that that they used to earned more than $70 a day doing the same thing in the same shipyard in the 1970s as an 18 years old. 40 years of robust growth later, they still earn $70 a day doing the same thing in the same yard, albeit, after changing a few bosses (each of them having go bust). The only difference is that now he is swamped in a sea of low wage foreign workers paid between $2.40 to $3.00 an hour. One foreign worker was reprimanded for spending 15 minutes away from his job, and his response was" you paid me $2.70 an hour and I have already did for you at least $5 of work, what else do you want?".

Answer 30

The productivity was never an issue in a 'up' market until the downturn where jobs were loss. Agree with some statements that productivity is the cost needed to produce an output, then the question comes to mind is that cost. The answer is a 'demand vs supply'. If a job is not in demand, the cost to hire that employee will increase. If an employer needs to fill a position to do the task, he needs to raise the hiring cost till someone finds it attractive. Assuming we start to restrict the number of blue collar foreign workers that contribute to the construction industry in Singapore. These companies will have to hire more locals but at higher cost ; these cost will apparently be transferred to consumer...

Will that not affect productivity ? Maybe someone should invent a robot to lay bricks and clean up the table in the food court......

Answer 31

I do partially agree with Mr. Ho's assumption. In the first place, do companies really understand what productivity is and how it is measured. The government can keep harping on the subject but companies may not know how and where to start.



It is misleading to pluck a productivity figure from the air and expect all industries to achieve the same target. Labour productivity differs across industries. For instance, an industry which is highly automated is relatively more difficult to achieve further improvement than a labour intensive industry.



The general mindset is that any improvement in productivity benefits the employers. It is important for companies to share the benefits with the employees.



Do not under estimate labour mobility. Many employers fear that once an employee becomes skillful, he/she may jump ship. Under such misconception, are employers willing to invest in training or are they waiting for others to invest and they simply pinch skilled labour from the pool?



Employers generally understand the need to develop a quality service culture. We should find out the fundamental reasons of their reluctance and come out with appropriate measures to overcome the problems otherwise the productivity improvement target will always remain a target.

Answer 32

im a foreigner but i somehow agree with the statement above.



you singaporeans have a choice and yours is the final decision anyways. no man in a foreign land is where his voice heard.



then have all foreign workers send home back to their motherland and let you create your future singapore without us foreigners. since now you have the technologies and advancement both in economy, education and industry, im sure by your own volition you can stand up on your own feet.



just make sure you singaporeans can do the following odd jobs:



sewer cleaner

construction worker

gasoline boy

saleslady

security guard

street sweeper

tree pruner

factory worker

toilet cleaner

food server





if you do then i think by then you can call it a "quality service" since its not done by foreigners.



some more suggestions; dont be picky with a job most especially if your basis is just the salary. people in other countries are dying just to get the job but here as if you are just shopping. not all jobs are white collar, most of them are really blue. in a restaurant, not everybody can become a manager. someone should take care of the kitchen, the cashier, the cleaning, the delivery. that's what it makes an economy productive.



your complaining in the spurge of foreigners because there's too much competition yet you cant even prove that you can do the same job that they are doing...does this say that you are just saying non sense and inconsistent, dumbfounded and stupid complain????

Answer 33

First, i agree with you.



“Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.”

Albert Einstein



Singapore has the best quality service people in the world. Example: OLK or one leg kick. OLK is definitely better than the CEO and others likewise. The West like to crap about Sung Tzu without knowing what it meant. The values instilled in Asian industries long surpass the ISO9000s which the west created. i experienced this in work.



But our people service culture was murdered by the government deployment of foreigners. Using the easy way out, so to speak. And future is a goner. PAP is not good enough, if you agree to Einstien's thinking (see quote above). If i want to live in a Metropolitan country, i would have went to Melbourne, New York, Canada, Why would i wait for Singapore to grow up and create one?



i am still in the service industries. And as a freelance worker, i often end up in companies employing many foreigners. (1) Here, i felt like i was in a foreign land (i hate PAP), meaning: i am Singaporean in Singapore but felt like in foreign country. Singapore has no identity. (2) The olders ones prefer to retire with their savings. Some squandered all savings in foreign woman, creating problems for their own families. (3) Foreigners capitalised on foreign workers, by collecting monies to send them over, and other stuffs . (4) The foreign workers grouped together to control the industries, hiring their own kind. (5) Singapore , you need to research. The parents need to look after the next generation with their savings. New generation Singaporeans cannot survive, or compete with foreign workers. This the main reasons both parents have to work and having less children or none at all. And the reasons go on and on.....some unlucky one with degree will become taxi drivers, where foreign workers cannot compete because their level of English is poor. Singaporeans are well trained, with thinking skills surpassed that of foreigners many times, but now have to settle for less or no work at all. There are syndicate out there. i wont be surprised if many PAP members are involved. What else can they do?



.....

Answer 34

It is not the addiction or quality service lacking in Singapore. As a born Singaporean, my ancestors arrive here uneducated and doing menial work. Since young all of us been told to study hard, work hard, get high pay, don't be someone else labourer etc etc. Let others serve us because we can make big money, why not let the foreigners from other countries who needs the money to come and work for us.

If you say you are doing, say toilet cleaner, what will your friends say.........

If you say I am doing my own business, what will the reaction of your friends?

We want to be serve not the other way round.

I have been in the service industries for more than ten years, proud that I have done a good job. commended and had loyal followers till I retired 5 years ago due to my poor health.

Answer 35

I totally agree. Low cost labour comes at a high price too, so why not traine our own people to do the PMET job. Ofcourse there are jobs which some singaporean do not wish to do, example construction and ship yard, but pls bear in mind the same situation goes around the world and not only singaporean. We used to work in the construction as manual labour and life was hard, still remember the red hat lady? Let singaporean do the PMET jobs and, foreign labour can work in the construction and ship yard. Or we may let them work in the PMET than we go work in the construction and shipyard? Best of Luck sgp!

Answer 36

If productivity is measured solely by cost against the output. Then if you lower the cost at a rate faster than the drop in output, then you will experience an overall increase in productivity. Some industries are generally shunned by Singaporeans and hence the foreign workers are recruited to fill up the positions. Again, few years back campaign to attract foreign talents to pit their skills against that of fellow Singaporeans put many managers at a disadvantage even though it meets the objective of creating competition amongst fellow Singaporean and the talents.



The thing is, are we on a fair level playing field when we are to pit of skills against these talents who have had more exposure in their countries than us? The answer is no, but we need it in order that we grow. A very bitter pill for most to swallow indeed.



On those lowly skilled labor intensive industries such as renovations, cleaning contracts and etc. Less literate Singaporeans have to pit their dollar per labor hour against those from China and India, who are much younger and hardworking. Ended up, we are less productive as we demand a higher pay to meet ends meet while those salaries offered to these foreign labors are good offers as when their residual income are converted to their country's currency, it can buy more than what they can in Singapore. In short, how are these fellow Singaporeans to compete? Also, whether creation of such competition is fair when we are to work till 65 or 67 yrs old? Sorry I lost track as I no longer think I need to monitor this aspect as by the time I retire, I could be 80. :p



If the cost of living could be kept lower and that we have a more realistic measure of productivity instead of introducing competition or growing the population at the expense of many fellow Singaporeans, can't there be a better formula to make the situation better?



Last, we see foreign talents and workers competing with us in the private sector, why not we have more into the public sector as well? Maybe it will come to past that we will be lead by foreign talents in our public policies.

Answer 37

I agree. Producivity is equally proportional with worker's wages. And even if you got a chance to hire a highly skilled workers but low pay. You know where you may end up, right?... Chances are: you either loose the worker or you'll have a cheap quality of work for the cheap wages you give.

It's so simple. Let's put it this way. You will be the worker with

with a high or average skills be compensated with low wage and high levy, Then somebody will be a company Boss who will impose quality. What do you think? ...Let's face it if you want productivity

you have bear the cost.

By the way if Singapore is only talking to Singaporeans about this productivity, forget about this..

Thanks.

Answer 38

No, the foreign workers are hired to perform tasks shunned by Singaporeans. As a result of our strong growth since the 80s, Most Singaporeans are brought up with domestic helpers and do not appreciate the need to take care of the homes and people. As such, Singaporeans tends to avoid jobs in the service, retail, nursing and construction industries where you need to serve others.

In addition we develop into a generation that would complain, but do nothing about it.

The Government should only allow domestic helpers for families with a real need, eg. sickly and handicap.

This will develop a new generation of Singaporeans with a mindset of service. Introducing Home economics in school would not help our young as they are pampered at home where the domestic helper would would be the ones performing the service.

Answer 39

A quality service culture would be the exception, rather than the norm in Singapore. Its a fact we cannot change. Just look at something which we are famous for, 'kiasuism', have we in fact become less kiasu over the years? The simple answer is No. We have become more educated, more tech savvy, more wealthy. But not more gracious. The simple reason is because we are small. If America shrinks to one hundredth of it's original size tomorrow, you would observe the same phenomenon there happening too. When you put people in a confined space, with limited resources, you would observe less graciousness.



We shouldn't blame anyone for this, not the government, not ourselves or our neighbors. But just accept that as a fact which we will most probably never be able to change. Perhaps its time to stop talking about something which may never be fully relevant in our country and comparing ourselves over service ranking exercises.

Answer 40

From my angle of viewing this i should say that its time we singaporean to stand n unite, start believing we have our own quality side.I also understand that such a tough labour nobody and none of us would be willing to work under certain circumstances,thus we tend to hire these low-cost foreign labour.That was before

.

Now the agenda here is that we mustn't take this issue negatively,the effect of increasing the cost of foreign labour is to ensure those company who wants to hire the foreign labour they alternatively have to MARKED UP SOME STANDARDS that these foreign labour are WORTH spending for - and now its not about quantity but quality.This also creates an opportunities for our local citizen.



Facing such situation,could result some companies/ workers to double up their chores.but that's only for momentary, As time passed, we'll understand that by tackling and controlling the demand of these low-cost foreign labour, It actually enhanced the system and improved the quality of job done as the economic growth plays an important part in practicing and moulding a situation for the better.



Overall on these strategy, productivity growth will be high and the economy will continues to grow even better. we should all be prepared-its gonna be challenging and we have to be mentally prepared to adapt in this ever changing world.

Answer 41

Agree absolutely. It is a vicious cycle. The use of foreign labor extends from construction, shipbuilding, to retail, health care, banking, call centre and the vicious cycle will soon roll to most sectors. Where is the service quality other than cheaper labor, younger and less demanding employees who are not burdened by fellow Singaporeans' concerns over rising costs in Singapore- be it in sending children to schools or looking after aged parents. Employers benefit as they need not concern with reservist training, childcare leave, etc. What do we end up in our service sector - Orange Clockwork predominantly foreign workers which keep the costs down, and providing less incentives for the sector to upgrade productivity, and in providing reasonable pay to the service staff. Honestly you have an uncommitted service sector. Even the foreign workers are being kept in a tight leash, because they could be replaced by cheaper sources. The service sector is kept into this sad state. I still prefer to go to Macdonald and be served by the Singaporean aunties where you do get a Singaporean welcome. The foreign service personnel are on short term contracts, and when they have done their time, they would be replaced by cheaper sources. The other extreme is Japan, where the service sector is exemplary and the service really wow you, and you remember it for a lifetime. Also, it is the best advertisement, as someone who experienced the exceptional service in Japan, would happily relate it to everybody. The productivity is high, and they pay the service personnel relatively well. More often than not, the service personnel is someone above 45, where in Singapore, you are too old to be employed. One could argue it is cultural, etc. The difference is that there is commitment, and not like our Productivity campaign, which ran out of its shelf life, and now being dusted for its 2nd performance. At least it is fortunate than most Singaporean, who in this vicious cycle may not have a 2nd chance. There is little commitment - e.g. only in SARS period, you would see the government exhorting productivity in the cleaning sector. After that, all is well and forgotten, the floodgate is opened to cheaper sources. No wonder, sadly, our service sector is devoid of service quality and character. The employees be they Singaporean or foreigners know that they are easily replaced by someone from somewhere who would work for less. SIA has been upheld for its service quality. Yet it is comforting to note that you will find a fine balance of Singaporean staff in the cabin crew and especially the senior stewards and stewardess who are excellent service personnel. They honed their skills through commitment, trainings and staff retention.



We need a balanced approach. We need to upgrade the industry, to provide certain continuity, to have Singaporeans attracted to the sector and able to remain in the sector. Rather than putting the employees in a permanent transition, where the only recourse is to go for cheaper and cheaper foreign workers. Also, there is no point in training and retraining the retrenched Singaporeans, if they are unable to find employment under this vicious cycle. This in itself has many negative social connotations as more and more Singaporeans are being taken out of the service sector.

Answer 42

I have not really seen much of a 'quality svc ' culture here except for maybe foreign co's. Ever wondered where all the contractors spend their saved $$ fm cheap hiring labour? Karoake, merc (status mah), lolex etc. Sadly, the cleaner or labour intensive industries r shunned by locals. Cheap labour is here to stay not that I support it but it is quite embedded in certain industries as mentioned above. We might end up training these foreign workers to boost productivity cos our locals think too highly of themselves on many occasions and prefer to go work in an aircon environment and demand higher pay too! There isn't much we can do about it. The upbringing has been eroded fm start of kindergarten.

Answer 43

There seems to be an insinuation that cheap foreign labour mentioned in this case are not adding to overall productivity growth vis-a-vis Singaporeans. How true is this? I would think foreign labour, low cost they may be, are more hardworking AND productive and certainly are better at creating a quality service culture. I am thinking of the smiling waiters and waitresses I have met, from China, Phillipines, Malaysia, the boutique assistants with that warm smile and that accented though genuine welcome. Then I think of the sullen and grouchy Singaporean staff. Of course not all locals are like that, but my point is, local or foreign, to create a quality service culture you need people with the correct attitude, and this is something that cannot be trained easily.

Answer 44

Sounds like a no-brainer question. With cheap and abundent foreign labour, companies will just take the path of least resistance. It's only natural, but who suffers ? The ones that get vexed are the locals. How can you talk quality workmanship or service with these $600, $700 workers with 3rd world attitudes ? I recently pumped petrol at a station and because the auto-stop function was faulty, petrol gushed out and splashed onto the lower half of my body. I asked the China pump attendent standing nearby to feedback to their management, and she said nonchanlantly "no, this pump has no problem. So far everything's okay." I said wasn't what's happening right in front a proof something's wrong ? Well, only a China attendent can come up with such a Olympic gold medal reply: "We need more proofs to confirm there's indeed a problem...need more cases. Everything's okay so far" !!!! Are we getting cheaper petrol because they managed to find cheaper China attendent ? No, it's just to increase their profits. Ditto with other types of establishments. My point is - if a company's biz model is to rely on cheap labour, it shouldn't be in the business in the first place. The govt, however, is allowing this to happen. Therefore, low productivity, low quality, etc - you gotta put up with it until the head of the house hears the members living in it.

Answer 45

To cite a few examples: We have foreigners as cleaners, CEO, lecturers, managers, chefs, construction workers etc. Pay rise are not very common nowadays even in those big companies, with the emphasis on minimising costs, many companies are turning to foreigners. The locals, as a result feel that there is little incentives to be more productive with the lower pay. I really hope the government can do something to address the problem but I suppose this won't be the case so soon. I hope it is not until when the foreigners start to fill up even the government ministerial positions then the government start to realise that the problem is indeed serious.

Answer 46

Yes, Singapore is addicted to the low-cost foreign labour, but they forgot that educating is still important. It would be the same if they employ Singaporean, they will still need to educate them by sending them for courses where appropriate. They cannot expect these people to start working without educating them on the necessary standards. We all know, no matter where these people come from, their surroundings/understanding/culture is different from ours. Due to this, the productivity dropped to a whole lot due to no-motivation.



Now, Singaporean are so picky when it comes to work. A country that is in its developing-developed stage, certain Singaporean are not willing to do certain work. Take building industry, they won't want to stay under the sun to do all those heavy work. Furthermore, Singaporean already have the mindset that those jobs are for foreigners.

Answer 47

I strongly disagree with this idea, it seems like protectionism. In the global economy it is vital to keep the business cost lower & increase the value. If the person is concerned on the quality the whole world imports & uses products from low cost foreign country & where the workers are being imported to other countries as well. Most of the big IT companies in the world had given their valuable IT services to low cost foreign labourers in their country besides outsourcing to low cost country. I don't think those ideas are stupid, the persons view point need to change in the globalized world. Even in developed countries many decision makers are from low cost foreigners. In such a small country if the people started to think in this way the country would face serious issues in competing with other developed countries. The person must be able to see the big picture (whole world) & not a small piece of island. As a well wisher i support the ideas of our leaders to view singapore as global hub in the world. Our leaders provide a wide opportunity & incentive for training singaporeans must take seriously & utilize to be competent. It doesn't mean if the person comes from low cost country is stupid or of-spec in quality. All the views mentioned are personal & should not be related to any particular country or person.

Answer 48

Are we are talking about cheap foreign labour or productivity.We cant simply combine it together to raise productivity.Productivity don't happen the next day be it singaporean or foreigner.Many educated singaporean also don't really understand what is productivity is all about then what we can expect from cheap foreign labourers.Probably they never heard what is productivity in their life. they are merely here to earn the singapore dollars and exchange it to their cheaper currency and make good for their family.



What the singapore bosses don't understand is, this cheap labourers are willing to work here simply because of the currency exchange rate.I will migrate to australia if a grape farmer offer me cheap jobs plugging grapes for 1000 australian dollars, if i am a just earning 1000 sing dollars here. so don't blame low productivity because of foreign workers. First singaporean always believe that employing foreign labour help to increase economic growth, not productivity but do they realise that they too are helping the other countries in economic growth as this workers sending remittances to their home country it is simple as that. Well singapore will be always be a migrant country for another 100 maybe 200 years.Permanent resident and their children are here is to increase the population because singaporeans not reproduce themself ,but the same permanent resident child educated in singapore will never reproduce himself like us when he/she become an adult.so this is a continues cycle and we will keep on importing foreigners forever.

Change the mind state of bosses and beaucrates then we talk how to increase Productivity

Answer 49

Everybody out there are talking about low cost/cheap labour vs productivity/quality. But have we asked these questions to ourselves

1. The house we all stay are mostly constructed by foreigners. When ppl say foreigners do not do quality work, are the houses poorly built?

2. The road that we use daily is cleaned by a foreigner. Are the roads not good?

3. The central rubbish chute we use daily is cleaned by a foreigner. The bin is not clean?



If foreigners do not perform their duty properly, then all the above said would be rotting by now.



We will have to admit the truth that we will have to train ourselves to compete with them(foreigners) and to displace them out of singapore.

Answer 50

I have been out of work for a few months now, and I have realised one stark difference from what it use to be just ten years ago. Right now, we are not competing with fellow singaporeans for work, but rather we are competing with foreigners.

Singapore has become a hub for foreigners seeking employment. That's the sad truth about developing nations like Singapore. Unlike places like the US and Europe, where the country itself is big and the natural resources aplenty, Singapore cannot afford to take such a stance. The job market needs to be protected.

I agree with the above statement. Our economy is sound. But at what cost? We Singaporeans are feeling the pinch.

Answer 51

There is no right answer to this statement because it is based on grounds that quality service and productivity growth cannot exist because of cheap foreign labour. This cannot be true because each and every sector has different kind of trade skills. I also do not believe that foreign labour cannot be trained to upgrade their skills. The fact that many companies are favouring foreign labour to local singaporean shows that in terms of cost and production, foreign labours has the requirements to keep these companies going. Saying companies addicted to low-cost foreign labour and overall productivity growth is low is an overstatment. In the end, each company will have to calculate their own costs and productions to meet their over profit. There will always be low-cost labour, be it local or foreign. For there is a saying,"One cent of your money, one cent of my goods." I am translating this directly from a popular chinese quote. If there is a demand for quality service or goods, the firm itself will automatically rejust itself. Overall productivity growth is dependent on many factors but one of the most important factor is still; demand. Without demand, there can be no growth, foreign labour or otherwise.

Answer 52

I do agree with Mr. Ho Kwon Ping argument on certain industries like sales, production and services; but in industries such as construction, housekeeping and cleaning low cost foreign labour gives quite a number of advantage to Singapore economy with very little impact on productivity.



Khanh

Answer 53

Super Disagreed. The reasons towards low productivity should not push to foreign labour whereby it is really unfair. Personally , i have experience with contacting the foreign workers themselves and that i have to work and liaise with them in term of construction works in the site. Although they may not speak perfect English. But as long they are given basic training ( which is a must ) they can really work as good as they required to.

In fact , when I come across some Singaporean workers , they always want high salaries with low working hours , they don't work OT even higher pay will be given. Worst they drag time and work slow or they simply don't do this and that. If foreign workers were given to them , they push all the jobs to them.

So low productivity because of foreign workers? no offend , but i think Singaporean are too pamper , they say the foreign workers taken their jobs , but when my company open vacancy towards Singaporean offer with a good salary to ask Singaporean to work at the construction site , three things happen:

1. Very few people interview

2. those that interview provide more troublesome demand (request more salary or lower working hour with good benefits )even some of their experience or knowledge is zero rated and worst than a foreign workers.

3. Work less than a month , they resign after all free training is given.

If Singapore want high productivity , I feel that Singaporean must learn to view in different aspects and see if they willing to take in the jobs that they do before complaining ,after all by sending the foreign labour away , that will only causes higher expenses towards the companies which generally imposed to the consumers.

Answer 54

Well, I don't agree with him, personnel I do think that we as Singaporean are too choosy over some career prospect. During the last recession, even thou the CDC and the government did help the citizen to look for job but at the end of the day, we rejected them. And the government did stress to citizen to change their career mindset, at the end of the day it didn't help.



A quality service culture, well, if we singaporean reject lower salary job, who else do we turn to foreign worker. Don't tell me Mr Ho Kwon Ping didn't employee foreign worker to fill job that are being rejected by singaporean. Sometimes, we do really need to 5 step backward and think for 5 mins. Are we complaining too much .

Answer 55

not really agree, at first we must think about why there is foreign workers in all around the industry? And lets agree on this, if the local work force shows the interest and commitment to their work, this problem will become a less problem. Also, now this young generation who graduated from high school or university (education, qualification) and become PMET category, but whom do not have an actual "LIVE" experience in managing people and relationship or perhaps he or she doesn't really know what they are doing but they just want to wear that Management JACKET even they are not fit. So this may cause many problem to the team such as low motivation, no clear direction, lack of personal touching to individual...... Do agree that motivation of individual come before productivity of a company. I have a friend whom is mid 40 work as sales person and recently took up a Master Degree of the Hospitality & Tourism Management, while I ask him what made him decide to divert his career to another industry, the asnwer he gave me is after the graduation he can move on to be a lecturer in shcool and he will enjoy more on his OFFICE hour work plus good income, do you believe in learning from a book can teach a wonder to the young generation and is he able to motivate or inspire his student in future? Lets not push the blame to foreign or local work force, but you, yourself.

Answer 56

YES. THERE'S A SAYING," IF YOU PAY PEANUTS, YOU GET MONKEYS." SO IF BOSS ARE PAYING LOW WAGES, THEN THERE'S NO SERVICES, ONLY MONKEY SERVICE. THERE'S SIMPLY NO PRIDE IN DOING THE JOBS.

14 years ago(1996), when I was waiting to go for my tertiary education, I worked as part time waiter and pump station cashier. My pay is S$6 per hour as waiter and cashier is S$1200 per month. Today, these jobs are still paid the SAME! Worse, in some placeS, waiters are paid S$5 now . Consider the prices of housing, transports, makan, groceries, telco bills have all gone up a lot! Service lines are suffering and yet some employers are complaining that they can't pay higher wages.

With all those increases around us. The money must go somewhere. It's either in the employers' pockets or in the government' pocket, just not in the workers' pockets.

Answer 57

LISTEN UP for those who agree!!!



Firstly, cheap foreign workers are useful to fit into jobs that Singaporeans shunned especially in the service and construction sector, generally. Quality in the service sector (assumed it applies generally to service and construction sectors) may slipped a few points for continued cheap foreign labour policy, but even if the policy switches to attract Singaporeans with the need to train, will it still be enough to entice Singaporeans to work in those jobs in the first place. Answer is No, because the Peaks are not competitive enough and the hours are infavourable.



Also overall productivity growth of a country relates to not just low income jobs, but middle to high income jobs too!!!

Is it justifiable to brand the low-cost foreign labour intensive policy as the sole reason for the country's low overall productivity ? What happened to the high end foreigners who hold positions in the middle and higher income jobs? Should Singapore hold the responsibility to start to re-training Singaporeans for those jobs too?

I DISAGREE!!!

Answer 58

Strongly support the comments of Mr Ho. A quality service culture need to be deep rooted, sustainable and continue to progress to a higher level on a continuous basis. These requirements cannot be achieved with "part time" labour force that is likely to keep changing. The dependency on foreign workforce as a quick solution to cost cutting will in long term is likely to lead to a reduction in knowledge and skills of Singapore workforce at all levels in time to come. As such maybe a self -fulling prophecy of anti-productivity growth. Recently had a dinner in a restaurant and was shocked to note that from the manager to most waiters & waitresses are not locals........it seems that I'm not dining in Singapore and subjected non-Singapore service level.

Answer 59

This is such a simplistic analysis of an overly complex issue. First of all, cheap does not necessarily equate to low quality. Corollary to that, a highly paid individual will not necessarily deliver higher quality work. Ask anyone who has worked for an idiot who landed a managerial position because of political connections. Besides, foreign workers are so thankful for the opportunity that they would do everything to hang on to their jobs. Contrast that to Singaporeans who are perenially demotivated out of a persistent notion that they deserve more than these foreign louts. Honestly though, for the starting salary of a newly graduate Singaporean from a University, you can get a Masters Degree holder from some other country with better communication skills and work ethics.

Answer 60

Yes I agree.

I notice that in the construction of roads e.g., just to dig and pour water/ cement requires 5 foreign workers. 1 worker pour water and hold pail, another smooth out the cement, another pair does the same and another worker standing nearby to watch. I think we should think of how Singaporeans can do the same job with better equipment, using less manpower.



20 years ago when I was in France, notice a young French man cleaning the streets. He does not use a broom and pan but manovering a machine around that cleans the streets. I am sure he is paid well to want to do this job which is a skilled job.



Japan does not import foreign workers to do menial tasks. So I think we ought to increase the pay of skilled blue collar jobs and make use of machinery to make the work more productive. In developed nations, blue collar skilled workers are well paid and in demand.

Answer 61

I would rather the foreigner leave the singapore as soon as possible. It will make the singaporean lost job for another 10 years again. 10 years later, we can see elderly on the street turn to be a beggar. It best the government DUN EMPLOY CHEAP LABOUR FROM OTHER COUNTRY. It is NOT FAIR FOR SINGAPOREAN. Dun mention about cheap labour. I had seen the PR china woman or PR china man can work in the police force as IT service. I find our government did not think about singaporean status and bad condition lifes. NOT EVERYONE OF THE SINGAPOREAN ARE VERY RICH. WE STILL CAN SEE POOR ELDERLY HAS BEEN RETIRED TURN TO A BEGGAR IN THE STREET.



Please think about it.

Answer 62

Yes, I agree. I had bad experiences with foreign laborer in the retail industry, The 24hrs outlet hired most of them and they are mainly rude Filipinos who uses foul languages on customers. Sometimes your day went shopping were ruined because of bad customer service. End result in more unpleasant stress on customers then when what should be a pleasant shopping. Singapore once had a courtesy campaign and Singaporean were brought up to be courteous, While foreigners doesn't understand the culture they are not trained is their companies failure. And productivity is more or less about service.

Answer 63

I think we singaporean have been misled into thinking that companies need to rely on foreign workers to survive. This is basically nonsense. The problem lies with the bosses, especially the local companies. These bosses just want more profit at the expense of local workers. To these bosses, quality comes last, their wallet comes first. It is not a matter of survival. These bosses can survive, together with the rest of the employees, but the bosses want more money for themselves, therefore they hire foreign workers. It is luxury for the bosses, not survival that is the problem. Greed is the ultimate problem for the bosses, and the whole issue!!!! I am working in a local company and this is happening. Bosses took all the earnings and gave the staff a small token of bonus, so small that it is as good as not giving at all. This is true.

Answer 64

Goodness, its more then just foreign labour, personally, I think this is just another excuse for the PAP government to find new ways of increasing their revenue. Oh and don't worry, I'm sure they'll find a way to justify it or better yet, make it seem like they are actually taking less. (They have to be good at something for all the money they pay themselves!)



Real service will only come when people feel worthy of the work. Our society has grown cold. There's a lack of real sincerity here and I think alot has got to do with the sentiments of being singaporean. We may all seem to be having it better but within... I don't know... something big, very BIG is missing.



But I do feel that if you pay better and give people a way to feel that their work is appreciated, the service will improve. (THe employers and bosses thus have to take a lead here)

Answer 65

I believe that like the western world and other developed world it is ideal that we still leverage on foreign talents with specialized skills set rather than having to take in unskilled laborers and train them. As a Singaporean, I have been in the oil n gas industry for more than a decade where i had taken on apprenticeship as a junior technician. My tasks in the beginning was as good as a laborer. Knowing that i have a fair salary to draw out at the end of the month I was willing to do anything. I gradually improved my skills set and progressed till today. What i'm trying to say is that given a good and fair income to any willing Singaporeans, will only increase productivity and more specialized skill set can be developed and more local talents can be produced here made in Singapore. I always wondered if any vessel or ships built in singapore are built by the hands of fellow singaporeans. Any tarmac is being laid by fellow Singaporeans any bricks are being laid in the buildings we live in? I have travelled to several places in the world, and some of them are just as expensive to live in, with locals producing their own products built their own buildings and it is regarded as a specialized skill set to be a construction worker. If we adapt that mentality we as Singaporean, with a bit of education from our government, I am sure that we can break free from foreign dependency.

Answer 66

For answering this issue, every body have to understand that Cheap labour have very less to do with quality and productivity. If a company having cheap labours, do you think that the manager considered only the wages? Mostly all the company having Production Managers and Human resources staffs with Singaporiens. They have cetain resons to appoint forigners for particular jobs. Pls check and deal with this case. If you saying that cheap labours are not quality premotors or productive, that shows the Managers are not doing their jobs well. We can be more productive with the same manpower or less. I think now Govrnment is foccussing in that matter. Pls use the time which you using to blame others innovate new ways to increse the productivity together with quality.

Then you will get answers. We have everything as standard certification and why we must blame manpower. So people must understand that the certification is not enough and practically we must do things.

Answer 67

I do agree to Ho Kwong Ping to an extent on our quality of service lacking behind some countries in Asia especially Japan and Hong Kong.But that does not mean employing foreign worker has bring down the quality of service where i had witnessed in the Food and Beverage,Department Store and Public Transport.In fact these foreign labour has fare much better than our Singapore comrade who are lazy and always complaint.These foreigner are willingly to serve with a smile and work long hours.



Singaporen has shun certain jobs like construction,kopitiam cleaner,bus driver etc etc.If we do not employed these foreign worker to all this dirty job who is going to do it?



Singaporean are a spoil brat and they will complaint every things pertaining to their advantage.

Answer 68

I do not find foreign labour cheap, low cost or cost our productivity low growth. There are some whose salaries are on par with Singaporeans. Even those with lower salary but compare back home in their country of origin they are considering getting alot more. (e.g: just these 10 years, how many beautiful landscapes, condominiums, shopping malls, etc have been built, without them able to take hardship or just resign and hop job whenever they want.....i believe we wont be seeing all these so soon) I would like to take this opportunity to thank all foreign labour that had help our clean and beautiful and what we Singaporeans are so proud of ....COUNTRY.

Answer 69

I think the speech holds great deal of discussion as I think he has right thought about recent foreign workforce. There's no right and wrong answer, he did identify well and state out our voice and feelings we hardly express. So the speech I've type isn't taking side but it's a point of view shared with him and community.



It is true what his statement told a lot about Singaporean's style of recruiting, and his speech are stated topic that it is rarely discussed among the government. So it is true Ho Kwon Ping stated out with reason that everything rely on foreign workforce in the past to future which shape Singapore. But what's the motivation have been place on Singaporean to work?



We've been so hardworking and place everything on foreigner work for us, I don't see everything is too late if it taken to discussion before lead decision whether international liason office are needed. I think his statement can ask for open discussion to have justified reason before it lead to decision making.

Answer 70

I totally agree wih that. In 2000 when I had a career changed to IT industry, I was given 1 month programming course and 2 months on the job training.

Today, will employers still spend money and 3 months to train a local? The answer is definitely NO. In my department, out of 10 programmer, 8 are foreigners. Wherever a certain skill set is required, a new foreign's worker will be employed with the required knowledge, and the existing will be told to leave once their skill set is outdated.

Answer 71

Many of them are foreigners in my company. Despite my effort to have conversations with them, I only get negative comments about Singapore and our culture. This has made me to spend my break time alone listening to music. Although I'm a singaporean but it seems like I'm the foreigner when comes to my working environment. And I disagreed that Singaporeans don't take low salary job for that is what I'm getting and I like my job.

Answer 72

Improve administration procedure to improve work flow and reduce cost/time.

To hinder the work flow just because a department wanted

to protection themselves from trouble rather than looking at the company productivity as a whole.

Every productive workforce mind set should be focus on doing work

that can help to reduce cost in long run.

Even a good quality customer service helps,

which may end up with more customer satisfaction,

less time dealing with complains.



I once seen a small japanese no

Answer 73

I think the above statement is too restricted in scope.



Service is a luxury good. The only reason why they have to make service cheaper and cheaper (what Mr Ho refers to as the 'vicious circle' / vicious cycle) is because customers don't want to pay a lot for it. That's the only reason why there is a need to get lower and lower cost labor. Service is simply a luxury that people are not willing to pay for.



The counter argument is that while customers don't want to pay a lot for it, they DO expect to receive it. If they don't, they simply refuse to do the duty of a customer, which is to consume. Therefore, we have a situation where a luxury good, from the businessman's point of view, becomes a necessity.



What's the solution?



Move your business to a place where customers aren't so cheap and stingy. If they want good service and are not willing to pay for it, then its really NOT WORTH doing business with them, because in the end:



1) you will lose

2) your employees will lose

3) there will be no winners

4) the situation will be unsustainable



There is another, more pleasant solution.



Singaporean customers need to become more gracious.



But in MM Lee's own opinion, this will take another 2 to 3 generations.



Conclusion:



Slowly wait. Meantime, practice your business in more reasonable conditions first, eg. in Batam, JB, BKK, etc.



I'm not saying that Batam, JB, BKK are fantastic, but at least if you have a decent level of service, you can hope to sustain it for a good period of time there. In SG, if you try to sell yourself based on service, you will lose your pants within 2-3 months, tops. (assuming your business costed 15-20% of your nett worth to set up).

Answer 74

Sounds good in theory but let’s get real. Just look at taxi drivers, a profession reserved only for Singaporeans. If you look at the level of service taxi drivers provide here versus, say, Jakarta (particularly Bluebird taxis), Bangkok or Hong Kong, we suffer by comparison. On the other hand, look at Singaporean Airlines with its unmatched service. Do you think they could do it if they were required to have an all-Singaporean crew? And I can't see Singaporeans replacing foreign labour in boring, dirty or dangerous jobs, (i.e. factory workers, cleaners, building construction etc), no matter how high the levy goes. Sufficient numbers of Singaporeans just won’t take those kinds of jobs. Also, how many MNCs will continue to base their regional or global operations here if they can't bring in staff? (and if they have to leave, the Singaporeans working for them will lose their jobs too). The bottom line: we need foreign labour and will continue to need it.

Answer 75

Not all cheap foreign workers are unproductive. Just compare the Chinese workers who work as coffee shop helpers, their productivity and services are far more better than most local Ah Bengs, Ah Lians or Old age Uncles and Aunties would deliver. However, in a job environment where skill is a concern, example construction or nursing, a more qualified and experienced local or foreign talent (not cheap local or foreign labour) can speed up the deliverables and produced much better quality and productive results.

Answer 76

How did Singapore become addicted to low-cost foreign labour? It's not just that Singaporeans are unwilling to pick up the slack for labour-intensive service industry jobs, but also due to our own culture and society. We should ask Singaporeans why it is that they are shunning such jobs. It is prevalent that most of the staff in similar lines of work are half-hearted in their chosen jobs, because of the high expectations that society has placed on Singaporeans, that we're must always be above menial tasks. If you ask me, Singaporeans are being sidelined due to their own arrogance due to the mindset cultivated by way of governance, society and culture.



In my opinion and by observation, if Singaporeans look at and treat with disdain service-side employees (who most Singaporeans really don't treat courteously), why should Singaporeans be bothered to work in service industries? Couple that with the low pay of such jobs, and the attitude that these are jobs meant only for those who can't make it in our educational system, and it just about sums up why Singaporeans are going to lose out to foreigners in the long run. For all the pride in Singapore's education system, most people are failures due to their arrogance and ignorance.

Answer 77

First of all we need to think of the source. Why Singapore is looking for cheap labors? On a whole Singapore is a small country which is turning expensive for investors to come in. As china and india is competing its stand on development and productivity. If singapore needs to survive in the market with small landscape they need to be unique in something. This admits for the cheap labour in singapore. Since singapore is asias logistics hub and provides cheap foreign labour ( As singaporeans are not to be considered a cheap labour ) MNC's are willing to invest in singapore. Since majority of investors are MNC's they wont look whether the worker is singaporean or not . They need productivity and service excellence where by foreign workers are considered more flexible in it. It is clearly a false statement that "addiction to low-cost foreign labour, overall productivity growth is low even as the economy continues to grow." Foreign workers are trained by singaporeans and if their quality is low then the training leven and quality of the trainer is also low.

Answer 78

I don't understand, why the media gets confused with the foreign labourers employment here? The picture taken does not seems to look at the service sector industry. Where do service sector gets their cheap labours? We are not talking about the construction orr domestic part of industry. Get the statistic right first please. The foreigner labourers that we should look at that causes the service standard to fall in Singapore are labourers from China, Vietnam,Iindonesia,Tthailand, Malaysia, Philippines, and India. Therefore, my answer is "Yes" these foreigners that do not speak English and are employed in the service sector will affect our service standard. Thank you.

Answer 79

I fully agree with what he said. The reason is nowadays employers still depends on cheap labourer to do their work as it makes business sense.



Construction is an industry that will be doing it as long as we need to build new buildings. Training is only given to workers when required by MOM or other governing authority. After a year or two when workers work permit expires or project complete, they are usually sent back to their country. When new project starts, 5% to 10% of the skilled workers are use back to lead the rest as unskilled are paid less. It has been this way and will continue when the cost of doing business are so competitive.

Answer 80

Agree......now the one making noise regarding this foreign labour is the employers. Why? Coz they have to pay more; they want justwant cheaper labour that can work 24/7 ;Sporeans can't do that coz we want to enjoy ma.....pls spare the crap that Sporeans not willing to do the job , in some sectors yes but most of it No. Can someone then please explain to me why if a Sporean is willing to take a low paying job and all the crap that comes with it , a foreigner is still preferred ? And why is now there's a lot of vacancies that requires workers to be conversant in mandarin......i thought English is the working language???? Just coz cannot speak mandarin coz have to liaise with this china import ; job cannot get la......am I in China?????



In general , if a survey for employees is done , I am sure majority will be displeased with this foreign labour issue.......the solution is to tweaked the quota....Govt should ensure that Sporeans must be employed over foreigners if both are applying for the same post.....Now salary is dispressed coz of these foreigners......

Answer 81

Yes, but for a different reason.



Quality service culture doesn't exist because there are no patrons.



If you want culture, you need patrons. Patrons pay for the seeding and growing of a culture.



We cheap skate Singaporeans think that service can be 'trained' and 'inculcated'. That is just classic Singapore thinking.



Service culture stems for intrinsic culture. We are cheap, we are practical, we are academically capable. We are not willing buyers, customers, nor patrons of a service culture. Neither are we renown for our graciousness and cheerfulness.



In other words, we are not willing to pay for it. We will always make our buying choices based on price.



To paraphrase an oft-heard mantra: When the buying starts, the service can too.



Don't want to pay, but want to receive? Which hole are you living in?

The hole of the small mind, that's the one.



Change will come when we make our expectations more reasonable, and are willing to pay for more than just hard, physical, gratifying goods.



If service is important to us, we as customers must dictate the reasonable price we are willing to pay, and ONLY THEN will businesses come out of the woodwork to provide service levels that we feel we want or need.



When the buying starts, the somebody will start selling.

Answer 82

Let me answer this by disecting Mr Ho's question into smaller bits.



1. A quality service culture therefore does not exist in Singapore



In Singapore where majority of the population live in the heartlands, thus doing the shopping in that vicinity, service culture barely exists. Even before the influx of this foreign workers (seen mannig foodstalls), local who worked there provided bad service. Service without a smile, no please, no thank you. Instead when we purchase something we are the ones saying "thank You" to sulky face! Now with the foreign workers it's even worse, we can't even tell them what we want!



So yes, Mr Ho is right to say that service culture does not exist in singapore, let alone Quality service.



2. "because of our addiction to low-cost foreign labour, overall productivity growth is low"



It's not because of our addiction. It's merely an extention of point no 1 above. We simply do not have it in us to provide quality service. The workers are only as good as the boss. It's a top down approach. If the bosses themselves do not practice good service, what are they handing down to the employees...obviously nothing to do with good service. If the organisation does not practice quality service, who are we do expect the foreign labours to provide quality service...it's bordering to hypocricy!



I believe most of this foreign labourers - be it cheap or otherwise - are trainable. And once trained, they will exucute. But are their bosses willing to be trained and change in their ways?

Answer 83

This article is from the news:

SINGAPORE: A new Productivity and Innovation Credit scheme to support investments in innovation will also be introduced. It will cost the government some S$480 million annually.



Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said this in his 2010 Budget Statement on Monday.



The scheme will provide tax deductions for investments in a wide range of activities, including R&D and design activities done in Singapore, automation via technology and training of employees.



!! You see Tax incentive given to company , after company automate no more need employ

RD engineer , Design engineer and Technician . More Singaporean out of work .

Benefit to company = tax deduction from Gov

= No need so many Engineer ( More profit )



For Singaporean = 0 ( used our money make us jobless )

This is BS, next time i vote not to Pay and Pay any more .

Answer 84

Agree. From observation and living through these last 40 years of adult life, my conclusion why quality service has not improved is - mindset and the nurturing of the citizens borne over the years.

As all that come to life here are not equal in terms of intelligence, industrious, wisdom or understanding. There will be those that will remain at certain level while some may move upwards a few steps or further to success and benefits in materials or immaterial things. The wisdom of parents is the 1st line of improvement in ones' life. Hence the nurturing of the child, rights and wrongs, directing, leading them to understanding are all through nurturing from birth to death. The child needs to be nurtured by means of showing, teaching, explaining, why, what, when, where and how to be polite, generous, willingness to help others without 2nd. thought. Until these foundations are fostered into ones psyche, a person nature without such background will tend to be awkward and find it hard to selflessly provide good and quality service.

Answer 85

I think the minimum wage for Singaporeans would help to raise productivity and encourage training. With a higher wage package, the locals will be willing to take on jobs that uses foreign labour, take on more responsibilities within their job and exercise more initiatives and creatviity in their job scope. Economy wise, higher pay package also encourage more consumers' spending stimulating the economy. Higher COL? Not if you keep a lid on the external value of the S$.

Answer 86

Agree! Low cost foreign labour only attracts uncompetitive work force, thus affecting overall productivity of the country. It also add to the livelihood and lifestyle difference between settlers. It also creates deep stress to employees regarding their means of keeping up with the 'high status' of living in the country in which, in the future, will create a huge gap between the royalties and 'struggling-uneasy-growing-number' meager settlers. Let us help maintain the greatness of Singapore.. -well, everybody is entitled to their own opinion. We dont necessary need an argument, we just need to set on it and talk it over, take it as 'constructive ideas'.

Answer 87

AGREE OR DONT AGREE? it depend who you experience with. Recently I call up SIA to book an air ticket . Well knowing this company offer the best service. On the side of the phone was a foreign female voice it is ok to me at first. Unfortunately after talking more then 20 minutes I still can not understand what he is trying explain to me. So I requested another person to service me -replied was unable to get another person. So I hang up the phone call again hopefully someone else can speak better english, again there is another foreign voice this time is a male voice, after about 15 minutes talking again same thing happen i totally can not understand their so call "english".



I give up calling SIA



I call up a local travel agency and with in 2 minutes i book my air tickets.



Do you think this is call productivity??? or only think of low cost only.



It wasted my time and also company time and money for training a person that can not get the sales.



And worst of all it give a very bad services.

Answer 88

I agree, the mindset of getting cheap labor must be changed into the mindset of productive / quality labor.

As a businessman, the ultimate cost of having more expensive labor is very much compensated by the productivity and quality that they produced.

Having cheap labor may present the company with ability to hire more, but at the same time, the problems of managing the more do not commensurate with the benefits the cheap labor bring. Problems may include complacency to employers in treating the labor as a valuable investment to company, as well as eminent environmental & society issues to Singapore.

Answer 89

Singapore is attracting more foreigners to fill in the labor market until now a-days. These people are being paid by employers normally thru local currency. However most of the foreigners who worked here spend only a small amount of their wages in Singapore (food,lodging, fares, etc.), the rest is being saved and sent to the family in their home town. Does it affect the overall productivity? Yes, it does even to the economic growth.

Answer 90

Well, looking at this we cannot just arrive to one conclusion.



1. Reality Bites : What you learn is not what you work.

Construction Industry: how many of the trained workers breaking stones or handling drilling machines are certified. In the real sense, insisting on certificates rather than experience dosent make sense when one can get certificate from private institutte running this course to churn some quick buck and sent the workers.



So are Local Singaporean willing to get trained for tough heaty jobs, bearing the hot sun, working late hours to beat the cheap foriegn labour.



So recruiting companies should run their own certificate, joining hands with Singapore training centre (reputed one only with strictest control) in a phase base manner to the existing foriegn workforce who are living and working in Singapore for the past 3 years (min). Once they are recoginized and certified they can be retained by next hiring company easily. This way we can bring in quality to foriegn workforce. Over the period of time those not certified will be slowly pushed out.



For singaporeans book knowledge would not only be enough, they should be deployed on the site trainnig along with foriegn workers, then wage gap ( are singaporean willing to work for (16 to 20 SGD on a daily wages) so normally for example if painting a house could cost 2000 SGD with foriegn workers, It would defintely shoot up the cost say you will end up paying 4500 sgd considering the quality trainiing for singaporeans and wage structure.



Then all Job dosent need Precise quality training, like cutting grass, cleaning toilet, breaking road or diggin tunnel It can be learnt on the job with one trainer for one or two day.



So in a way we need to train Singaporean on those jobs where precision is required and niche area where foriegn workeres are costly to get thework done and where end product demand quality.



so I think there is lot more planning and more we need to do before we jump into a narrow thought on this subject.



We cannot say overall productivity growth is low coz of Foriegn workers, or productivity growth will be higher if we train and attract singaporeans.



It involves, cost, time, scope, ROI etc... So I think we need to look at this issue in a broader perspective.



Raju

Answer 91

I don't agree.

I think it's the matter of is it worth it. We have limited resources, companies most certainly have limited resources, especially in $$$. Is it worth it to spend too much money to train a worker to built bricks or clean table? Or is it better to invest in other field where it will bring more return?

I think it will largely depend on which industries the government is focusing right now, so those industries should get more resources. We are not competing in Singapore, we are Singapore competing with other countries. Government cannot take care of each individual lah, please be more realistic. If the government try to shelter for Singaporean too much, it might lost the competitiveness as a regional hub with high quality labor and reasonable cost, compare to lots of other Asia countries like HK, Japan, etc.

Answer 92

I think Ho Kwong Ping has a case in point.

Do we want to build a building, or a tent?



BUILD A BUILDING

Pros:

It's permanent

It'll go a long way

It belongs to you

Can weather a big storm

Cons:

It's painstaking

It's costly

We need to work on the foundations - the higher the building, the deeper the stakes.

Takes time

Cost analysis needed.



BUILDING A TENT

Pros:

May look good

Can build a big one

Cheap

Can be removed when undesirable

Easy and quick fix - no hard work required

Cons:

Temporary

Short-term

No foundations

Cannot take too big a storm

Answer 93

Agree. We pay our head of state big sum of money and they said they are doing a good job, if we pay those who in the service industry a commensurate salary where it can cover the rising cost of living like food, transport and mortgage then i'm sure Singaporeans will take the job and we will be more productive, we don't even need foreign labour.

Answer 94

I completely agreed. However, there is another important factor contributing to quality service culture.



The word "culture" is define as "the attitudes and behavior that are characteristic of a particular social group or organization" and " the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another."



Hence, we need to cultivate quality service from our own citizens and pass down this quality from one generation to another.



If our own citizens do not believe or educate in and practise quality service as a child like a tradition that is pass down from parents to children, our quality service culture will always be status quo or further deteriorate by any kind of external factors like foreign workers.



So YES, our quality service culture is definitely worsen by foreign workers esp. the low-cost labour but our own government need to start 'brainwashing' our people on quality service through school education, campaigns (like our courtesy or no smoking campaigns in the 80' and 90'), incentive, etc.



And with that initiatives, it will take maybe a generation or two to see an improving in our quality service culture. Otherwise, we can whine all day about this topic and nothing will change.

Answer 95

No, I don't agree, Do you think the Singaporean will do those low wages jobs, like production and sweeper etc........, Most of us Singaporean always hope that our children to study higher like what our goverment teach us. So who do all does low cost jobs. Do you want your children to go and sweep the road with GCE O Level or higher. Don't just think of your own trade that can get local, so said something that hurt other trade that empoly foreign worker. Some trade really need them "foreign labour".

Answer 96

lets see... all the answers here are written by Singaporeans.. I am a foreign worker in Singapore.. Been here for more than 3 years.. Working for a reputed hotel.. You should all know that M.O.M has very strict regulation on how many foreigners a company can employ.. there is a certain number of quota allocated depending on the number of Singaporeans in the company.. Now frankly speaking, i understand that there are a lot of foreigners working here juz for the sake of earning.. But not all are the same.. We are working hard and contributing as much as anyone for this country's economy.. talking about F.W levy and costs, its just another excuse.. and about preferring foreigners to singaporeans.. if u are a company hiring and there are two applicants, a foreigner with degree and 5 years of experience and a singaporean diploma holder with a year or so of experience, who will you hire? Let me put this straight, being a foreigner trying to earn a living in Singapore is not easy... We do not have the same benefits as Singaporeans do in most companies..

Now lets move to the foreigners who are working in low skill sectors.. most of them are from India , China and Bangladesh.. And some do cause Quite a bit of nuisance.. But if companies stop taking them and want to hire Singaporeans, will i someday see my Singaporean neighbour cleaning the drains of my block? or my singaporean friend washing dishes in my hotel? or my friend"s Singaporean father trimming grass at public parks?

Think about it... Singaporeans are doing better paying and easier jobs than most foreigners in Singapore.. If you want to throw off foreigners from your country, are you prepared to take over these kind of work from them?????

Answer 97

Of course, I agreed. The low cost foreign labor will have drastic effect on productivity level in the economy. The communication link must be there. Employers cannnot anyhow employers foreigners

whom they think can pay the lower salaries and make the government the scape-goat for increasing

foreign levy to curb the influx of foreigners entering the country. This plain 'stupid" for employers in Singapore to do that!

Answer 98

Agree to the point that cheap foreign labour mentality is very much different from local workers.



Also note that after the cost of the levies ,accomodation, air tickets ,etc; provided for the foreign workers , the amount of monies spent actually does not differ much from recruiting a local worker

of the same level.

Answer 99

No I disagree with the answer.



It has to do with the customer service in Singapore is not well paid verses the standard of living in Singapore and when you compare it with other sectors. As a customer service officer, we are only paid on the average of $1200 - $1700 including CPF and customer service allowance with a mere increment of just $50 to $60 a year, With the standards of living in Singapore, who would be passionate about customer service.



The mindset generally lies that the customer is just enquiring about the product and we are supposed to service with excellence provided. Some ppl do not understand that as a customer service officer particularly the call centre, sometimes the call volume is very hard and we meet difficult and nasty customers. A lot of background work and coordination has to be performed and it is not as easy as just replying to a straight forward answer. We also met some nasty and unreasonable customers too.



To up the level of service, first we need to look at the pay package and the increment going forward. Not just a mere $50 increase after waiting for a year.



As to foreign worker, I feel they are still important as to them it is a matter of survival. They have to earn the money to give back to their agents at least for a years of labour. If taught properlyely., they should be able to provide a good service unless it is not in their character to do so.



Government should play out a ratio on the number of foreign workers in each service sector e.g. call centre, retail, food industry etc. They should look at customer service as an important skill set and not just answering to enquiries with a better remunation for each passing year other than an increment of $50 and when the recession comes, freezes our pay increment indefinitely.

Answer 100

If productivity is measured solely by cost against the output. Then if you lower the cost at a rate faster than the drop in output, then you will experience an overall increase in productivity. Some industries are generally shunned by Singaporeans and hence the foreign workers are recruited to fill up the positions. Again, few years back campaign to attract foreign talents to pit their skills against that of fellow Singaporeans put many managers at a disadvantage even though it meets the objective of creating competition amongst fellow Singaporean and the talents.

Answer 101

Hi,

i am fully agreeing with mr. Ho Kwon ping and future lies on skill rather then cheap labours, having cheap labour not only jeopardize the industries also tarnish the image of the country, therefore authorities have to think about it seriously, if country want to stay compatitive for long time.

Answer 102

I completely disagree that foreign workers are synonymous with poor quality service delivery/productivity/competence.... Would business owners be hiring foreigners over a local if they could not deliver??? (Well, yes if we couldn’t get a Singaporean to fill the position in the first place because the job wasn’t glamorous enough).

Answer 103

It depends on how you use the foreign workforce? Like for example if it's about construction there's a group of people who are willing to work even if the pay is low. And the employer needs them not only that they can save cost but also because they are more hardworking and experienced to that kind of work. When it comes to retail and F & B business, another group of foreigners are hired because they're good on customer service and they can talk better English (American style).



Employers will never hire them without a good reason. Ofcourse there's productivity on it because they're better on that field.

Answer 104

It depends on the industry. For example, foreign labour is almost necessary here for the lower-skilled or labour intensive jobs which most Singaporeans shun. However if they are competing with Singaporeans for skilled job sectors then it becomes problematic. There is no blanket solution - the remedy should be tailored according to different industries and their needs.

Answer 105

Yes & No

Yes, Most of the employers don`t bother about productivity as they get cheap labour by any means. Somehow employers are still getting quotas to employ them.Cos they earn them more profits into their own pockets.They are not bothered about service levels.

No, Few employers are employing the right foreigners who bring up the service level.Very few.

Since the early 90`s there were no noise about productivity.I guess its all because there are more Singaporeans losing jobs ,that suddenly there is these sacred word called productivity is heard often.

Answer 106

Well one thing for sure addiction for cheap foreign workers is one subject,productivity is another. As for foreign workers they come here to work and to earn and income for their family back where they are from. But by having to many of them working and cutting down on our own local workers by replacing with foreign workers is the cause of quality service and productivity. where for instance we have language barrier and one things for sure we cant understand them be it whether we are customers in our own country. As a singaporean we definitely can/will give quality service as well as productivity so as to put singapore in the map. But with certain things like foreign workers getting to many of them working in singpore and employed by singapore companies due to cheap salary. it means 1 local worker can be replaced with 3 foreign worker and thus we cant complain of the quality service or productivity. Till now many has said economy is building up after the last recession but why is there still locals finding hard to find a simple job. So make it even and fair i can see that no one is willing to stand up but is it going to remain this way? so we cant really complain for all this, we should find a solution.

Answer 107

I think foreigners will also be able to provide quality service given time and the appropriate training. But it will take much longer time to train them than Singaporeans who are familiar with our own culture and languages. Rather than spending time and money on training the foreigners, why don't we increase the pay for Singaporeans to attract Singaporeans to provide quality service? I think if the pay for the low-paying jobs are increased, hardworking Singaporeans will be willing to take up the jobs. Perhaps subsidies can be given to the companies which increase pay to attract Singaporeans to their jobs instead of employing foreigners.

Answer 108

Can we face reality for a moment! For many jobs that foreigners are doing right now, I dare challenge anyone in his / her right mind that she or he is willing to take up. For instance, can a true blue take up a toilet cleaner job, meh? All these cry about foreigners taking up our jobs is a real crap. What is that, with these hardship place on employers, like doubling levies and so on is just going to make many business close shop and increase cost to the final consumers, man! Reality Check Please! No matter how you train Singaporeans, we can't and really won't accept under going training for a toilet cleaning post. Would you now?



Just a little ago, everyone was talking about how much we need foreigners to add on to our productivity and dwindling population. Please don't change the message so quickly. It seems our thinking is always changing. The truth is we need foreigners at and from all levels. A society is like an eco system. When you have top talent only, who is going to clean our "toilet" produce? If everybody is a doctor, who will be the patients? Thus, we should and must keep our door open to foreigners from most levels. If you only welcome the elite, who will carry their nightsoil? A Singaporean that has been upgraded? Hardly.



Our forefathers came to this land from even the lowest of levels. The result was a good human eco system. Remember the nightsoil carrier? And the 36 door truck driver? They did us good even though they were lowly.



But face it man, if you want me to consider anyone to be realistic, Singaporeans just won't and can't be expected to go back to those times when we are willing to do those things. Imposing a levy at this times is not going to help our competitiveness, nor make Singaporean take up the jobs their subconcious won't allow them to.



If one want to talk about the upgrading of productivity of Singaporean, I caution you to have a reality check. Such policy will not work fast enough, and never for some types of jobs Singaporeans shun. Imposing levies is not going to help. Please don't spring ideas too quickly without checking the ground, doing feasibility studies, seek the advice of employers and workers alike.



Let takes a further example. Can you force highly educated Singaporean women to marry lowly educated men by taxing with levies?



So can Singaporeans really be forced to go back to upgraded toilet cleaning or not? A high and mighty imposition of levies without reality check will just increase our cost of living, my dear Singaporeans! Your cash will just be in this minute and out the next.



You saw the Channel News Asia's news segment on Malaysia's employers talking about the same things?



Remember the "Stop At Two" campaign and the effects it has on us even now, thirty years later. Take caution with policies, people or we will be just hurting the whole economy. The first to be hurt is our local SME.

Answer 109

I agree. If there are limited foreign labour, the companies will be motivated to more productive. Either by using more capital intensive processes or training existing workers to be more productive.



This might result in higher cost but it will lead to a more productive and better trained work force in the future.

Answer 110

Well .... there's always a saying that "If peanuts what you pay! Monkey Business whats you get" We've been struggling being part of this so what was said Nation Building, with our Mind set, Goals as an individual and as in Our National Pledge. We Singaporeans always willing to go miles more ending up being known for Our Multi Task work force.



It's really frustrating when we were told that we Singaporean being choosy in our career. I do strongly feels that more and more Singaporean are under employed meaning to say, doing something that we out of our area of expertise, example, Bankers, Engineers, etc, ended up being a Taxi drivers and some even worst ended up being Security Guards.



All our efforts in being part in our Nation Building being under appreciated.



Foreign workers have only one thing in their mind making enough money and brings it back to their country.

Answer 111

I agreed but only 50%. Because, do you think over all productivity growth and quality service will improve if Singaporeans instead of low-cost foriegn labour? Any doubt?

Answer 112

If you take a relatively closed employment force like Australia as an example, you will have a high wages with relatively low productivity work force. Globalisation drives productivity with low inflationary effect. From the economy standpoint, it is a very good thing. Singapore is a small economy with no resources, it relies heavily on its highly globalised and flexible economy to continue to provide a good and prosperous economy to the people.

Answer 113

Yes! The fervour to be productive in work processes and the vigilance to wean off all counter-productive practices that existed in late '80s and '90s from the lowest scale to higher grade offices is seemingly absent. Be it the Civil Service, Statutory boards or local and MNCs organisations productivity and measure of performance were always evaluated on group or team basis.

But now such bottom-up team effort with productivity in mind engagement is no longer evident.

Softer option to engage foreign workers, compromising productivity, is more favourable to the employers.

Answer 114

Yes. After a few years in a service related industry and now a homemaker for the time being, I truly felt that foreigners who come to work in the service line especially , they need to speak well or at least have an open mindset towards how to approach their customers. I feel its a challenge for them though because it also takes the leader to cultivate them because I used to supervise 15 different people of different ages and races in the front line service.Generally speaking if you want to attract foreign workforce,shouldn'tt it starts from the top itself. Service and productivity cant just be bought but we also have to cultivate them to a higher standard which requires more time and energy which employers now days dont have.

Answer 115

Guys,



Funny that here we are all bashing about foreigners snatching local jobs and lower the overall productivity while we still shun all those "low grade" jobs?



Seriously, can someone enlighten me how an increased in productivity of locals can replace all these jobs currently held by the foreigners? Does it mean next time, an accountant can also multitask as a brick layer in a construction site? Or sales manager who will double up as a toilet washer?

Answer 116

Cost of living in S'pore is too much high. Both employers and employees hit by this. Ofcos for employers they have to cut cost in order to sustain in their business. One of the solution by employing cheap foreign labours. As for our fellow S'porean, we can't afford to have low wages...we can't survive with the cost of living here. The one who benefit here is our goverment and the rich. Our MPs are among the highest paid in the world. They have no worries about the cost like us little people do. While SMEs still struggling on their own feet, big and giant companies being supported by Gorverment or from their base overseas companies. Our government always take short cut and easy solution by abruptly increase levies, taxes, fee hikes, ERP and GST...etc... as if these increment are the only solution to ease core problem of the whole issues. They the one shud look on productivities and other avenues rather than suka-suka increase here and there without study the real cause of problem. Are our government trying profitting from our miseries???

Answer 117

No, low cost does not mean poor quality. In fact, I find that the 'low cost foreign labour viz. waiters/waitresses, cleaners etc do a better jobs than Singaporeans. They are more service oriented, gentle and smile readily.

We should allow 2 levels of service like the cheap polyclinics that use foreign nurses and doctors and the more expensive private clinics that use Singaporean doctors and nurses!

Answer 118

1. Agree. We cannot rely on cheap labour forever. When will it end? Let us crack our heads on how to improve productivity.

2. I am not concerned with jobs that Singaporeans do not want e.g construction, general labour, cleaners, etc. I am concerned with jobs like sales person, waiteresses, clerks, receptionists, hotel F&B etc In other words, simple jobs where young Singaporeans can do. The govt is importing PRC and Filipinos at the expense of young singaporeans This is not fair to young singaporeans. Especially to those who has to do NS!!



Please do not import young foreigners to take over jobs of young Singaporeans. Help us!!

Answer 119

When overhead in terms of rental/leasing and material is always on the high and ever rising, business owners tend to cut corners and save on using cheap labor and lower quality material.

In the end its consumers who would suffer but the business would not as it is happening on sectors wide scales across the board.



These cheap labor would be quickly replaced once their contracts ends, thus there is no need to train them too extensively or groom them to keep up with current or future demands.

The lack of min. wage laws or labor union interventions means that there is no regulating bodies to dictate what wage an employee in a specific position should earn at least.



Lastly, a singaporean in general would not want to be associated in a job sector or job position that is known to be those for cheap labor. so i agree service standards would never improve in singapore

Answer 120

Yes, the addiction to low-cost comes about mainly due to acceptance of lowest tenders. To maintain any potential of profitability, eg. main contractors will have to source for low-cost foreigh labour. In the past, in the construction industry in late 80s, malaysian workers were common, in the 90s, thai workers but lately, workers from China, Myammar, india are the norm. Why? Clearly, due to the higher cost of Malaysian and Thai workers. Even though across the construction industry, the productivity of these Malaysian and Thai workers are viewed in high regards.

Answer 121

I am in the middle of agreeing and disagreeing. Which in a sense that, it really depends on the profession. In IT industry, financial sectors, supply chain, medicine and kinda work, foreigners are so qualified and they relay rely on quality. Where as, the labour, who really come to Singapore to yield money. When money is in picture, the so called "labour" is not focusing on quality or the value of business growth. So, yes, foreigners who works for money, they indeed never show their quality skills.

Answer 122

I agree. Instead of increasing the levy increase foreign worker salary. This will give more productivity !

Singaporien will cry if Foreign Workers leave Singapore. Its a fact that Singaporien hate to the dirty job. Its also a fact that they are lazy. Singapore economy will dip once the foreign workers leave Singapore. Small business will suffer huge losses and will end up closing thier doors.

Answer 123

The answer is simple, i ask u if you are the boss of the company when two qualify candidate came for interview one was foreign and other singaporeans which one u will choose foreign with low salary or singaporeans with medium salary u will choose foreign right cos low salary and can work multi tasking can save more cash for the company.

Answer 124

Quality service comprises of various levels of services before it reaches the end consumer. Yes, high tech savvy services require trainings, but what kind of services are you talking about when your job is to sweep the floor, stir the soup or cut the vegetables? If we can't get Singaporeans to work as chefs, because does that mean we have rise the wages, or upgrade our staff? ok, if you say upgrade the staffs. Do you mean buying machine to cut vegetables when you are selling rice or noodles at $3? Then 10 years later, no one is able to cut vegetables without machines. Is that call productivity? i really doubt so. Rise the wages? Do you want to pay more for your food?

Answer 125

Bro kindly wake up .are you dreaming land, from the pass the low cost foreign labour who work in singapore make the country up the chart not you or me as for me allot of bosses ,don't treat them well, the agent and the company should be responsible to send them back when they have completed work . at present the government or the mou letting the agent bring in to many chinese worker ,who don't known english at all ,if the government increase the levy the agent wiil charge the worker more but the work suffer more . yes we need foreign worker but make sure the know english or malay.

Answer 126

Yes definitely I agree, I am also a foreigner working here as Draftsman to QC-Engineer for around 10 yrs. in construction sector, (Precast Building Industry), As I was always working together with workers from most nationalities, I can compare qualities of work result from diff. foreign workers. "addiction to low-cost foreign labour" this is exactly what happened to one of the Companies I was involved with> during early stages these company were hiring Thailand and Pilipino workers in our production operation, Productivity and Quality produced are of well above average to good as I would say, after the Economic downturn back in 1998 the company resourced to cheap labor taking in diff. nationalities with very low skills. the outcome was >slow & Low productivity, Quality of products are way below the standards to poor at worst. I'm not opposed to sourcing with cheap labour but it should be done in correct manner of choosing a good skilled worker. perhaps companies and Gov/authority will not just rely on agents to simply pick-up workers without passing through Test. Trade test to be conducted before deploying workers to a certain industry should have been done. Since I am in construction industry I notice that very few Singaporeans are interested in doing Skilled post ( Carpentry, Masonry,Steelwork,Finishing,) and I can say these few I worked with have done much much better than foreigners hired, I think the Government will have to take a move in introducing courses on these Skilled post. I'm not sure If there is at the moment? other countries I believe have these couses in Carpentry......Masonry so on. a competetive wages will then be determined, who knows foreign workers coming in might be entice to take courses to cope up with skilled standard set. I'm very sorry as I focus my views in construction only....Thanks for this Link hoping to hear more from others,

AmorBG

Answer 127

"There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person's lawful prey.



It is unwise to pay too much, but it is also unwise to pay too little.



When you pay too much, you lose a little money, that is all.



When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything because the thing you bought is incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do.



The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot...



It can't be done.



If you deal with the lowest bidder it is well to add something for the risk you run.



And if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better."





John Ruskin, 1819 – 1900

Answer 128

Foreign workers, despite their low wage, are more hard-working and work longer hours than local workers - primarily due to their need to earn as much as possible (to pay debt to employment agents and send money home). Many even ask to work OT. They KNOW WHAT IT MEANT TO BE POOR!!

Its survival.

On the other hand, the local worker (except the older ones) does not know what it meant to be poor with no money for food or education for their children. Everything is a given (by the Govt with rebates and bonuses and incentives). Parents need not work coz their children will provide or viz versa. Life is too good for many and as a result, they cannot take hardship - like long hours or working under the sun.

Productivity is not so much about how much you train and how much you invest in technology. Its about commitment and passion for the job. PRIDE to do a job well and quickly.....sadly, many of our workers, including PMET, have lost that. Money, today, is the driving force. Bring back pride, commitment and passion and you will have productivity increase!!!!! My 2 cents worth....

Answer 129

As what i have observe in construction jobs, "locals" we refer to singaporeans always take the safety personnel position. I hope you reADing this already know what i am implying about the safety works. However the management greatly affect the execution of the job, the quality and quantity of the progress. my boss is black = not referring to black americans, but his strategy is too bad for me. Heres the situation that made the current scene worst, we have a low progress in jobsite for this reason:

1. foreign workers are not skilled this is because they hire them so cheap

2. foreign workers are not skilled but they get hired because they have some recommendations from friends or bosses.

Because of the low progress, my black boss took action heres what he did:

1. Hire more cheap foreign workers to increase manpower

Consequences:

1. too much manpower means greater risk at site so the need for safety personnel increases

( locals go happy2x because they get employed )

2. Still no progress because the effeciency is too low.

3. Many workers were idling ( doing alibaba work )

Results:

1. Clients ( investors ) not satisfied of the work delayed project completion with low standard.

2. Skilled workers are force to lower their market value to get a job.

3. Skilled workers who are not happy with the management always look for another company who can satisfy their price. ( resignation increases )



Additional Info:

1. A 2 yr technical course cannot be called an engineer and cannot be compared to a 5-yr engg course. ( thats why americans will never like these black guys )

Answer 130

For low income jobs, are Singaporeans willing to apply for the position?

Singaporeans want more than high salary. They want comfort in office (eg air con), they want office to be close to their homes, they want good services packages eg dental plans, they want to have attractive co-workers and the works.

So sometimes money is not enough and better perks to be provided.

Why do we teach our very young kids in schools that construction worker jobs are not as prestigious as a bank manager? Does the new primary school career program introduce kids about construction worker jobs?



For mid level income jobs, will Singaporeans stay around after they have received training?

Or will they migrate to Australia after getting trained and obtain work experience in their field?

What is the risk to the company after spending thousands of dollars to train an employee and later the employee migrates to Australia after learning all the tricks of the trade and contacts?



For high income jobs (eg high management), these Singaporeans just take the money. So of course they want cheap foreign labor because they want to leave more money in the pot for them to take for themselves (eg give themselves fat bonus for increasing productivity by hiring cheap foreign labor)

Answer 131

i agreed that high pay will lead to high productivity. it simple to understand .



1)Foreigner are working very hard from morning to late night is because of money. you might said that their pay is very low. But compare what they get against their wages back home and currency , they are actually having high pay . no wonder they are working very hard



2) If the company in Singapore are willing pay the local a little higher salary , the Singapore will be working a little harder . is all about how much you willing to pay.



3) If high pay does not lead to high productivity. I think we Singaporean will not willing that our minister asking for high salary either,

Answer 132

Cheap labour? To you Mr Ho, is cheap...think of those SME who are trying to earn a living out of this cheap labour and is still not getting anywhere what you are getting. And to Josephine Teo, who are you to speak on behalf of all Union Leaders and firmly reject what you think is wrong? Though I don fully agree with Mr Low's idea of scrapping foreign levy's altogether but the fact that it was put in a way that one person represent the entire UL entity really disgusted me!

Answer 133

I do sincerely agreed with some of the you . I do notice that why in Singapore we are employing more foreign workers .

Firstly most Singaporean will never stays in this type of jobs like worksites , dormitory cleaners or housing estates cleaners .They will think it is not worthy of them to do this type of work so contractors could not get local workers and have to resort to foreign workers who are more willing to take up a job no matter how difficult , dirty or degrading it is .

Previously I do have seen our locals taking up cleaner jobs or odd jobs but not now .

Maybe we have grown to a stage whereby face value , comfort and quality are in our mindset .

So to me why complain when there is many jobs to be taken but why becomes too selective and forget that we still have our family to feed and take care of .

Answer 134

Agree absolutely.. though I'm not an economist but look at your poor nieghboring countries who practice cheap labor. Did they grow economically.???



Now you practice what the third world countries are doing Cheap LABOR..

Not only your Economy is affected but time comes when all of your Best Worker will

migrate to high wage countries...

Your country will end up run by foreign slaves as somebody says it.









leonzu..

Answer 135

There is no way another country is going to care about the quality of a product sent to the United States. Most of the countries out there countries out there want to live the way we do with the freedoms and privileges we enjoy; yet every one wants to blame us for what is wrong with their own countries. Don't get me wrong those that are head of the capital financing and government in this country care more about PROFIT than people of any and all countries; including here. They know who they are! Capitalist have found out a long time ago that a persons desires, needs, and wants for themselves and or those they profess to love and care about can be manipulated to achieve profit and or actions that has no ones best interest in it but their own ,not the people.

Answer 136

Agree. Ironically, cheap labour is just but one way to boost our shortfall of human resource. However the implication that follows is of a major concern due their level of skill that reflect our overall productivity. Low skill means the worker works by waiting for instructions whereby productive worker works by taking initiatives. Rewind back to the 80s and early 90s, we singaporeans were the best worker rated by BERI and won such recognition time and time again because we learn from genuine foreign talents and compete to the benefit of our employers but since the influx of so-called foreign talents, our efficiency went down, not because of ourselves but because of these foreign talents. Sadly, majority of these foreign talents came here to learn from us. Quality and productivity went down caused mainly by low moral faced by we singaporeans multiplied by the workplace environment and treatment by employers between low cost foreign workers and us.

To recover our productivity to the days of BERI rating, internationally recognized and respected efficient singaporeans, I'd suggest our ministers concern look at genuine talents that inspires us to learn and compete rather than volume. Humanly quality and productivity are by the individual Will, Passion and Moral. Well said " pay peanuts get monkeys" thank you.

Answer 137

Extremely disagree, in my opinion foreign labour play significant part in productivity growth as well as economy growth of Singapore.

I accept some of the foreign workers spoil the quality of environment, but overall result is

(i) Advantage to Singapore company

(a) Level of labour cost

(b) Working Time

(c) Level of Headship

(d)Labour Security deposit brow from the worker, etc., and note that some of the Singapore companies get commission from agent to recruit the new/existing labour to their company.



(ii) Advantage to Singapore Government

(a) Levy

(b) Fine & Penality

(c) Job opportunity

(d) Income from Tourism

(e) Utilize foreigners brains to develop this country

(f) Foreign investment etc.,



Finally my conclusion is foreigners are unavoidable factor to develop Singapore.



Vijay AL

Answer 138

how do you define productivity? Output/input



Output is usually defined as the the sales or turnover.



Many ways of defining input. If input is defined as the number of manhours put in, then the above statement is correct because the value generated by these people is usually low.



If input is defined as labor cost, then the statement is total rubbish. Imagine you employ high salary Singaporean to do menial task which cheap, untrained, unskilled foreigners can do. What will this do to our productivity?

Answer 139

I agree, Singapore is flooded with foreigners, it is not a good sign in term of social, economy and the emotion of local Singaporean

Answer 140

I agree. I think the government is not "getting it". I think the majority of singaporeans are not worried about the menial jobs i.e cleaners , low skilled construction workers and so on.



We are more worried about the mid level jobs . Please walk into Tan Tock Seng Hospital pharmacy . Why do they need to hire people from overseas to take up jobs in pharmacy department in a government operated hospital ?



I am very sure that many diploma holders will take up that job .



Please walk into our airports. Look at some of the jobs taken up by Indonesians and foreigners in customer service positions .

Answer 141

Yes.



Many short term foreign workers ( such as those here for 2 to 4 years contract ) their main purpose is to earn as much $ as they can.

Not all but most of them are not putting in their effort to increase productivity, instead they are trying to slow down their job so that they can have more overtime and increase their income.

Me as a middle management staff had experience many such case in few company that I had work with, include my company that I'm currently with.



If you employ Singaporean, is different because it is our long term career and most of us will put in effort to perform and aim for career advancement. I agree that there are some black sheep too.



To those contract foreign worker, even they perform very well, there is a limitation for their career as they are not stay in the company for long.



How many of them will really put in their very best to contribute?



Thank you

Answer 142

I don't agree. Lets face facts. Everybody knows that S'poreans would not take up blue collar jobs like machining & engrg work and even construction jobs.. Even if they were to take up these kind of jobs they insist on high salary, not willing to learn to be even more productive, always complaining about every little things. Where as the foreign workers are so hardworking, willing to learn out of their work scope. We need foreign workers who are much more productive to keep our economy growing in these industries..

Answer 143

Many employers, the good ones, have shared that Singaporean workers are fast, efficient, reliable and give superior performance under good leadership. Sad to say, most managers / bosses are themselves weak in dealing with workers, which is a big contributing factor to our low level productivity. I remember reading an article a couple of years ago which quoted Philip Yeo recommending if he has his way, he would make it compulsory for all SME Bosses to attend Management course. (or something to that effect).

Answer 144

My father in-law is being hospitalised for almost a week, sadly the observation here seems pretty bad....why ? because the foreigners working shift are waiting to go back and then the handing over of duties was not done proper,??? The nurse forgotten to give him his medication earlier. 5 DAYS no shower too ...because he is sleeping all day. And when questioned about his condition...dont know ?

When the new staff takes over...they ask us this question...Has he taken his medication ???

What going on ?...then later another dose of medication is prepared...now the want to give him 2 doses....wouldnt that be an overdose ? they are not doing a good job .



Now...govt. approves more foreign talent...then give them PR .....

so can account for better supporters and win votes for this coming elections...ya ?

Answer 145

yes i agree. You need to travel alot and go and visit places in us, europe ,australia and japan. Do they have an influx of foreign workers? i don't think so. How are they managing ? The services provided are still up to standard without these cheap labour. One think for sure they have a minimum wage. That gives the person some esteem whatever work he does. Whether a janitor , waitress, garbage collector it doesn't matter. They still earn respectable salaries and will work hard to keep their jobs.

Answer 146

by sending away these relatively cheap foreign labour, let's see how many singaporeans will work as cleaners, dishwashers and construction workers. i believe more companies would be closing down due to manpower shortage issues very soon. It's a BIG mistake to kick out these relatively cheap foreign labour just to make us happy. Our local industries will only suffer more.

Answer 147

Quality Service need not be using cheap labour. But low cost labour without proper service training will not get you the quailty. Bluntly, It is our expectation of Quality Service in the first place. You tell me - what is Mr Ho's measurement of quality service?



Singapore imports low cost labour is to solve worker shortage. Whether Singaporean shun away from these jobs is a different issue. There will always job that people avoid and there will be takers. This is a norm. Apparently, we have twisted it so much so that Singapore shun low cost job? Wonder who came up with this assumption... pulling irrevalant facts to cause confusion.



Low cost labour is an advantage especially to business people. This is a fact right? It is just that low cost (if = low pay) is not any average Singaporean can survive and substain with committment such as HDB flat. Of course, there will always be some black sheep Singaporean who are very choosy for jobs with thousand and one reasons. Honestly, do you chose jobs given a choice? Low Cost foreign workers who come here hardly have any choice - it about start doing any jobs that come along and sending money back to their hungry kins at home. So their choices is very simple for now! But if they get more affluent over time, their choices will automatically be more. Then, we will face a different problem all together.



Over time, choosy Singaporean (if I may say) has somewhat calm down to take up jobs that comes along. But with our economy affluency for so long, you think we can resist eating out, restaurant dining, buy branded stuffs etc. Yes we can. Especially the middle age group that is shouldering family responsibilities. This group is down to their kneels to make ends meet. Who are these people? Mostly age between 35 to 50, used to be executive and managers in companies or with well over 15 years of experience. If you wish to continue and argue if these group of people can take up low-cost labour job, please be very particular about which category of low-cost jobs you are talking about. Then, that will make comparison meaningful.



Services industry, apparently, is a way up (not out) for most Singaporean. For a nation standing tall in economy for so long, it is very difficult for their people to turn around and serve others. Very strange right? But there is a que to this. Look carefully whether you are in the front end or back end of the service line. You may notice that Singaporean is stronger in customer frontage because of our languages. As long as we can "think" customer, we can get there -> "quality service culture". To be "quality" enabled, it comes with a price -> you may need to unlearn all your old stubborn stuff and picking up new service skill because you may be facing human being (Customers) now. "Unlearn" is a damn difficult thing to do, you know! Even if government pay you to "unlearn" to pick up new skill at some learning hubs....



In my opinion, Quality Service is irrelevant to cost of labour, foreign or domestic. Quality Service is an expectation normally received best when the willing talent joins the right service industry. While job satisfaction plays a crucial part, ability to retain the talent is important part of the HR strategy. But retaining service staff with top dollars, you know where to find? Let me know if you do.



One more thing; There is not supporting facts that productivity growth must follow economy growth or vice versa. Am I right?



Sorry Mr Ho, I cannot agree with your statement but I do acknowledge your intent is good. Thanks for standing up for Singaporean!

Answer 148

I fully agee with HKP .

we just take 3 min of our time to witness some of these typical daily activities aruond Spore :



1) road works : 1 lorry driver standing aimlessly at the worksite .

typically 5 to 8 workers team . 2 to 3 of them working hard while rest of them rest or

waiting for instructions !

( 3 out of 12 head actually working i.e 25% production ?)



2) recently done works ,redo :

plenty of such incidents especially renovation works to house ,office or road repair



( repair or redo means : inconvenience to public + wasted materials which are

imported + possible more damage to adjacent areas )



3) unproductive workforce takes up limited space in terms of housing ,public transportation ,etc ??



Sporean policy makers must wake up n take stock that there is NO such thing as cheap labour ??





Mill G ,27 yrs in construction related activities n graduate civil engineer .

Answer 149

Yes, i agree completely. From the bosses that require large pool of labours, cost is the most critical factor in their business. It only make sense to get labour from the cheapest source to meet their obligations to the contract with their customer and at the same moment make a "very healthy" profit.



Bottom-line, it is a business, do the bosses really care about quality service after the last downturn? Where they need to make up from lost time and opportunity to make sure the company survive and stay afloat. That's the reality.

Answer 150

The Europe and USA unemployment are due to cheaper product from Asia. Many european out of job. They are very productive as SM Goh mentioned as multi tasking. Since one man can do so many things than why employ so many worker. In this scenario, productivity means lesser job. Do we have to send all foreigner that take up dirty and lower pay job to go back to their home country and let Singaporean having such job.

Answer 151

No need to talk fanciful .

Our low-end auntie / uncle have suffered for a very long time .

20 years ago , salary was 800 now still 800 if you are lucky , of course different people.

Who benefitted ? you should know .



You want to corelate foreign workforce versus prod.......ty



Still trying to fool the aging Singaporeans ?

Answer 152

I no agree some points. Foreign workers cheap but lot workers educated and fast learner on the job. my point of view they are productive even we are not provide training because they have to be productive other vise they will replaced with some other workers (they are in survival mode). Competition is the best way to train people. Increase the levy to match with local people salary (Levy+foreign worker salary= local people salary). In employer point of view expenses same for local and foreign workers. Definitely they will choose talented people.

In short term may some people face problems but long term everybody mindset will change and they can be productive.

Answer 153

Both yes and No. The willingness to work and the dollars you pay them. Does our bosses recognise our service or only wanting to have cheap service.If service standard look at our Singapore woodlands custom officer and compare them with the Malaysia Johor Custom officers. The later is better the smile and the friendly approach. They are improving but we are getting from bad to worse. Wake up Singapore.

Answer 154

Definitely true. Singapore has been building an Aztec economy based on manpower rather on tech. With 1.3 bln of Chinese and 1 bln Indian population, going labor intensive in a country of high land and social cost is sucide.

Answer 155

I admire HKP for having the guts, pragmatism and realistic in his assessment of the current employment situation. It is not about protecting S'porean job but cheap labour come at a price. How many low cost countries workers can produced quality products? Compare this with the Japanese, American and Western European workers

vis-a-vis emerging countries workers. This speak for itself.

HKP know better as he has his company branching out into many countries. I salute him. Bravo!

Answer 156

yes.. why should we invest so much on productivity equipements when we have full pool of low cost labour... equipement cost always higher and cant cheat.. low cost labour is cheaper and easily cheated.

however.. i like singapore continues to use low cost foreign labour.. as a charity base country so to friends friends with countries around us.. so that we wont have many money but no makan.

Answer 157

101% AGREE!

I dont have to look far, my boss is employing more & more China.

Ever since then, we got alot of complains cause these China being racist.

They are here as a migrant should respect & follow Spore culture. They talk so loud, attitude problem and act like this is their country.

I dont understand why these people could secure a job here when they have NO KNOWLEDGE OF ENGLISH. Their only expertise is pissing off angmoh & English speaking clients.

Singapore is not a high class city.

Answer 158

YES. Onely low cost or not qualified people for that desired work. But we have to correct the statement that from Low cost to unqualified FW. Because , here mostly all are very well qualified FW but they declared that non skill worker so that they can give low cost and cheating THe Govt.

Answer 159

Will You : Work beyond the normal working hours (9am - 5pm) when you have night classes to enrich yourself and yet find a place to have yr dinner served by foreign workers?



Will You : Work during Weekends when you have gathering with yr friends or family outings and yet have hot delicious food served to you. If yes, you need double pay to work because you sacrifice yr weekends and will you willing to pay not double just 20% more to pay for your food (due to higher manpower cost for company)



Will You : Helping Small F & B outlets to survive just to pay additional 10 - 20 cts for your drinks

or just patronise those giants Supermarket like ShXXX SiXXX or NTXX to get the best deal where

small F & B outlets get just 10 cents cheaper for every 10 ctns of soft drinks we purchase when

the giants can afford to buy 1000 ctns at a time.



Will You : help to clear away all the mess after yr meals or expect somebody to clean up for you because you said that you have paid for it.



Will You : Ready to increase your productivity and ready to work extra miles when all the foreign workers return to their home towns



Will You : together working out with the company when at this time the company couldn't able to provide a clear picture of yr career path and expected salary increment when the increase of productivity will eventually bring up the salary level of locals like what the government said.



The foreign workers are here to help you handle those jobs you do not want to do, those hours that you want to have time for yr family. How foreigners can take away job opportunity from the locals when the government have set a quota for hiring foreigners??

Answer 160

Hey Guys,



If you read the comments of any of the guys, the english is not proper, then how can we be expected to communicate or leave alone, deal with the intricate clauses or contractual/ Technical wordings in any of the business documents.



This lacuna leads the foreign labor to come in and replace us. Of course foreign labor is required here, without then survival of this "small red dot" in a competitive world is impossible

Answer 161

Agree completely, I was shopping enquiries a departmental where there are many China foreign workers; they were unable to answered my question in English but answered me that you are a chinese why are you not speaking Chinese language. I told her off at her face that English is one

of the four official languages used in Singapore.



The problem is how these workers are granted work permit without basic English knowledge in the first place.

Answer 162

Yes, increased investment and growth relative to labor reduces the margin of surplus labor -- that is, reducing the margin of surplus labor reduces surplus value. If we at least agree on some grounds that Karl Marx's theory that the profit rate is equal to the surplus value and that if total capital is divide by surplus value, a fall in surplus labor relative to capital would lead to a fall in the rate of profit. A easy example is a company who is constantly expanding capital through increased cheap productivity, like StarBucks. Their increase in relative cheap productivity reduces their profit, they respond by increasing productivity even more, in turn reducing their profits further; leading to a vicious cycle of diminishing returns and self-cannibalization. Capitalistic societies by nature are adherent to crisis and the depletion of capital -- most will argue that globalization is not a root cause of this (free market capitalists at least). I feel however, that not only is there extreme displacement of workers from the globalization of a cheap and ready labor force, but globalization as a whole tends to perpetuate the inequality and exploitation inherent in capitalism, leading to class conflicts and struggles. The true 'vicious circle' lies in class struggles that eventually surface in 'bubble' like economies who over indulge themselves on cheap labor.

Answer 163

I totally disagree with the statement. Low cost labor does not necessarily mean low productivity. Some people from other countries accept low cost labor because in their own country your low cost is not considered low cost. Try not to equate low cost to low productivity. I heard from a fellow Filipino who is seeking a job there that eventhough the employer wants so much to hire them because of the quality of work that Filipinos provide, the employer cannot hire them because of the quota and due to the crisis. Do not get me wrong, I praise Singapore government for prioritizing their people. Still, my point is try not to equate low cost to low productivity.

Answer 164

Cheap foreign labors are here to work, and we tell them what to do and how to behave, they'll surely do, for they know why they are here, they get paid for whatever they deliver, even sometimes get nothing from OT and work long hours and choked up with abrupt changes of shifts, they just need to learn from managers or their leaders -the Singapore way of quality service,the culture just mentioned above "that does not exist"..if the manager itself doesn't possess this quality how can he/she inspire and motivate his people to be productive? there's company where in the sense of ranking and status,all think that they are all bosses with their don't-care-lah! attitude and it's-not-my-basa way of thinking.

Answer 165

I do not agree,

Whoever- low wedges workers working is under strict norms of Quality,

Govt never ever compromise quality for the sake of cut cost. yes if they get the quality works with lower wedges why Govt dont have to go for it?

Ultimately it is our Money and our Benefit.

Sir do you think Local Persons are ready for such jobs?

like digging on the road in the middle of noon, and so many things? with such income?

If local people still willing to work

then do you think are They going survive with this kind of wedges?

I do not think so.

Jay

Answer 166

Why many contractors are using foreign labours mostly are due to the nature of work could not be engauge by Singaporeans. Example, road cleaner, construction worker and grass cutter.

Answer 167

Sgreans (males in general):

Serve NS for 2 years being paid peanuts.





After NS come out to continue to study,no peanuts.



After getting degree,compete with foreign monkeys on who gets paid the least peanuts.(on top of reservist duties...if that's what it's called nowadays)



Then pap brings out the "productivity peanut" from the 80s and say"do more with less peanuts"



As if that's not enough,pap says,we need more monkeys now go home after work and make me some monkeys.



Buying a tree in sg nowadays is like around 400K expensive but as long can buy can liao..but nooooo we compete monkeys who have taken up permanent residency! Last i remember HDB stands for Housing Development Board,set up to provide affordable PUBLIC housing for local monkeys...now foreign monkeys can buy as well...I guess public now means as long as you are not part of the government,you are considered public...



and then we realised,nowadays,bananas,coconuts, public swinging veins all getting more expensive and our peanuts getting smaller and smaller.....and then come the 8.8% raise on tarzans peanuts....



this is life in sg.smaller peanuts,expensive bananas and continuing raise on tarzan's peanuts....no wonder local born and bread sg monkeys are becoming a rarity with its declining birth rate.....



so lky,we not hard working our problem right?you don't need to do a single thing right?



then sg population dwindling is you problem...don't expect us to do anything...

Answer 168

I don't agree on it because it's not just simply about cheap foreign workers creating low productivity.



It about top management who always follow shortcut and quick fix to solve most pressing issues.

Most top management in Singapore like to make decisions solely base on return of dollars and cents in short term. They're good at exploiting loop whole (for fast relieve of pain) instead of going "down to earth" and diligently tackle problems.



Commitment of top management is simply perceived as agreeing on budget spending to solve particular issue rather than getting their feet wet, zeroing in and solving real root causes.



The nation need to go for massive upgrading of management skill/concept which targeting higher management and top management.

Answer 169

I fully agree, but here lots of things are price driven and the mentality is unfortunately too often to accept lower quality but cheaper price. Sometimes even botch is delivered, not a good trend for the future.

Answer 170

I thinks you are BIG enough to thinks about cheap labour

But its OK because they will shown to the world the Quality and Productivity made by Singapore.

Because most of them get the qualification or certificate from our country.

Lets The World Laughing At Us.

Answer 171

Yes. Totally agree. Due to the influx of foreign workers, our streets are getting dirtier, and service quality drop tremendously. Been to restaurant with huge number of these workers, they just simply cannot be bothered with you at times. Even in the fine restaurants and hotels, you are experiencing these unfriendly wait staffs.

Answer 172

there will be good or bad new because it can let more Singaporean had a chance to for new job , bad new will be not every Singaporean willing to work odd job and long hour because of this it will affect the couple to think of having baby too.

Answer 173

Peponi- Steven Sharp Nelson It's an African version of paradise and really amazing. Done with cello and piano.

Answer 174

I believe from all the comments previously, the answer is obvious. In the past, Singapore are inviting foreigners as they are considered as foreign talents. Foreign talents are here to guide us and improve our economic systems, doing things that we are not so capable in. In these recent years, what we observe is that foreigners coming in, are no longer talents. They are simply cheap labourers. A simple analogy here, pumping dirty blood into our nation.



There is one comment today that says: "Locals prefer young foreigners to do cleaning job instead of old people.Young foreigners are more hardworking and efficient"



I have to disagree to the above statement. Government are encouraging senior citizen to retire at older age and here we are discriminating our on citizen and complimenting foreigners. Can foreign workers who spend most of their time taking a nap and not working considered efficient and hardworking? 5 foreigners using one whole day to paint a gate, efficient?



Recent survey shows that one-third of our working population are foreigners. That does not include foreign PR. So what is the actual figure of local having a job in a country we call our own?



Previously I got a job in the Semiconductor industry in East side of Singapore. On my first day of job, I was taken aback by the scenario that I see. The ratio of the working personnel there are as follow (including executive staffs):



China workers = 80%

Malaysia workers = 15%

Local workers = 5%



This job gave me an experience that I am working oversea rather then in Singapore. I wasted my years of studies of Engineering conducted in English as I was forced to adapt to their environment. All technical terms are conveyed in Chinese. So should we actually amend our education system to adapt to them? Will we be studying our degree in Chinese Language in future? So Learning English as our main language is a mistake again? In that particular company, I am actually the cheap labourer. I feel like a third-class citizen and being discriminated by foreigners.



Inviting cheap labourers into Singapore is a mistake committed many years back. Saying that Singaporeans are not willing to take up such jobs are just reasons to cover up this mistake for as long as possible. I would simply like to know who are the ones who comment that foreigners are better then Singaporeans in terms of attitude, quality of service and efficiency.



Finally, I hope that I would not hear amateur employers saying this again:"Do you know that there are many foreigners waiting to do your job at a lower pay. Can you please lower your expectation?!!"

Answer 175

I think the focus should first be on demand.



We should find ways to increase demand both externally and internally.

Externally, we must find new export markets. Internally, we must generate more domestic demand.



With demand in hand then we can talk about productivity.



I say we get the demand for our goods and services first.

Later, we can discuss productivity in providing these goods and services to our customers.

Answer 176

First & foremost, i apologize if my words sound offensive. It is just my truthful opinion.



I disagree with the statement.



Insecurity issues specifically of PMETs leads them to feel that because of foreign talent entering the Singapore job market, their (PMETs) jobs might be at stake.



It is understandable that many who support the statement above are from this PMET segment thus the only thing to do is to slam the issue on foreign labor like they are some piece of dirt eating, job stealing parasites.



In other words, what we are hearing from our countrymen is "this is Singapore, this is my country, NO PARASITES allowed!!"



I find it rather childish and we need to look much much deeper as to the reasons why foreign labour IS necessary, in different industries, rather than assuming these foreigners are here just to steal jobs. If so, what specific jobs are they STEALING, may i know??



Many Singaporeans are too comfortable with their iron rice bowl. 9-5 work hours. Long tea breaks. After work, watch a movie, etc. No worries. Just work and wait for pay day. If your work is in order, just wait for pay day. That's the typical mentality of locals here. They want the comfy lifestyle. Less work the better but with good pay. how many of us are Willing to multitask, cover a colleagues duty,etc without pulling a long face? Hey, we are human, its not wrong to have emotions. What i am saying is that we are brought up in comfortable environment...it is very difficult for the NOW Singaporeans to step out of their comfort zone to do the tasks which most foreign labor are engaged for. It is impossible. Think about it. Why rock the boat when you have a comfortable 9-5 job behind a desk all day?



Are these grounds to malign foreign labor? Let's not be shallow.



The fact is if you don't own your own business or have never run your own business, you would not have the slightest clue of how tough it is. And this Levy issue is not just a thorn in the flesh. it is a major issue for all businesses that have been dependent on foreign labor not because they wanted to, but because they had to in order to sustain and survive. Only those that are in comfy cubicles with no obligations nor passion to their bosses business would never understand what we do, why we need to do it, nor understand that the foreign levy will only make our businesses harder to run.

Sure, you can say, employ locals. In that case, i challenge those who beg to differ from my view to truthfully tell me if they are willing to work as a DISHWASHER in my place for $700.00 a month. How about a Junior Cook at $800 a month. Any takers???



Enough said...i am really having a good laugh at the AUTOMATION bit. How feasible is that? Money? Shall i put it this way....how many of you prefer to be served by a robot or a machine? WHere is the human factor? the human touch? not everything can be automated.



seriously how many of you out there, agree with Ms Teo (MP for Bishan) statements to date?



i am really pissed by those statements. it's like someone who does not know anything about businesses, yet want to try to know it like they are so smart, yet say the dumbest things and only the dumb fall for it.



Come on we are smarter than that....



I do not even wish to embark on the topic on productivity... let's just pose an innocent question:" the next HDB flat construction, how many locals will rise to the challenge of building it?" I rest my case..



And another point...once businesses bring in the local talents, expect us to pass on the cost to the customer..we won't swallow the cost, it makes no business sense. Meaning...we will pass it to you...when the time comes...be prepared...



How many business owners are here on this forum? Pls share your opinions....

Answer 177

instead of blaming the influx of foreigners, perhaps we should question why they're favoured over locals. not just in terms of cost of labour, but also the fact that they're BETTER SKILLED and more hard working (though at times the language barrier and service quality is lower, but these problems are more of less easily solved) we should instead work harder to improve ourselves, rather than complain all the time and use our citizenship as a means of forcing employers to hire locals

Answer 178

Easy options are attractive as enuniciated by the theory of least resistance. Why would one look for hard terrain if soft treading is workable; only people with commitment and self progress would try hardways if these benefit. Exercising is difficult, eating bland food is not an enjoyment but only when one thinks of his/her health then s/he would adopt hardways. If external force is acting then one would adhere to rules. Carrot-Stick is life!! Cheers/Srinivas

Answer 179

First thing ask your self why do your country needs foreign workers? my husband is also a foreign worker and I think Singaporian companies are hiring workers from other countries maybe because they believe that in doing this their company will gain more profit in a low cost, and foreign workers are really hard working because they want their bosses to be empress, they love their work as they always do their best to make it very good and high in quality....

Answer 180

The answers are varied among the industries. Singaporean may not want to work for certain jobs.

Answer 181

I don agreed..........I am a SME company, let us don say about the quility of service lets talk about costing before we go to service......If we don have any foreign workers the cost will be high..problem is that can we singaporean afford to pay for it?.......Singaporean will work for high salaries but for foreign they willing to have lower pay...If you are the company boss in SME all your staff is high pay but others big company have more funds to provide cheaper price to customer, do you think you still can be able to win the project with all high pay salaries....I think you wouldnt survive within 6 month....



Recently parliments have been using SAF to compare if SAF using foreign can we still keep our country safe? This comparison is wrong as SAF is big organizastion....Where their money is from? They can enforce all singaporean but can SME enforce to use singaporean with low wages....I doubt so.....



As for service.....Foreign can be train too.....In my company, i cant even employ local cos nobody come forward to interview....Once you advertise for job 99% is from foreign....Wheres locals?



Over all conclusion is that we cant have not to have foreign........Pls consider costing......Singaporean cant afford.............

Answer 182

No, I do not agree to that statement, if foreign labour does not give a good effect to every company, then why they are keep hiring foreign workers? The companies are keeping these foreign workers because its not only cheaper but also they meet their company requirements,in skills, qualifications or in their field, without affecting the growth of the company.

Answer 183

Is he trying to defend himself for not hiring Singaporean and indirectly putting his thumb down on the increase for foreign levy.

Answer 184

I do agree to Mr Ho Kwon Ping's reasons. Further I would like to add a Chinese saying "you pay for a dime and you will get a dime worth of quality."

Answer 185

Yes.

There is no benefit for employers to encourage their employees to tie the productivity with wage adjustment. Employers simply get more low cost labour to cope with their requirements.

Answer 186

if there are so much foreign worker coming to singapore to work,singaporean in the future will never got job to work anymore.

Answer 187

Maybe its just that many bosses want to improve productivity but don't know how to do it? So the next best..cheap labour..come on you know how many SMEs are owned by secondary school educated hokkien soldiers?

Answer 188

Foreign worker is the Key for Singapore growth, economy, progress,..... I don't think we need much discussion about this subject.

Answer 189

It depends on which countries they came from.

Generally workers from Bangladesh and Malaysia Sabah/Sarawak are lazy and DO NOT do their work diligently. Of course this does not apply to every single one, but I think is like 80% of them are low productivity.

Answer 190

how you attract singaporean when they are just not interested.

it is not the money issue.. singaporean is just do not want to do 3d jobs....

recently i know a person who is an engineer.... he change his job to marketing due to money issue.... and told me...

"the way to go is bussiness not engineering...."

so tell me how you attact and train singaporean to fill the job when the people inside the industry encourage people to leave the job to find another field that is more profitable...

so tell me how to replace this people if reliance to foreign worker is not an option?

it is not a secret most of the foreign workers are in the construction industry... and it is an industry whereby it is most compatative and 3d's job

Answer 191

But in Singapore, Employees always downgrade the foreigners' positions in every where. So they got what they are worth.

Answer 192

I agree. Good work ethics are set by good examples. If you continually see bad examples, this will eventually have an effect on all of society and a deteriorating culture.

Answer 193

yes.. im agreed. As sole-propeiter myself.. whereas every cost to run a small company is so high even with GOV kind subsidely.i would go for the cheapest cost to maintain my business and substain my business.NOT ABLE SURVIVAL HOW TO TALK ABOUT SERVICES AND PRODUCTIVITY. Im a OMO (One man Operation) driver. Cost so high, exp.. insurance.. how to complete with big company.

Answer 194

same old question isn't it, not enuf babies, high cost of living, flats too expensive, what's the roots of all these problem ? our policy makers simply does not hv a clue of what's going on, nor the knowledge and experience to solve them, yet they're taking fat cheques home every month



1st of all today Singaporean not longer hv an edge over foreign labour in almost every industry, some will disagree but they dun seems to see the whole picture in the long run, these foreigners are simply taking over every single jobs in Singapore, employers only employ local b'cos of quotas issue, if given a choice most employers especially the big ones in labour intensive industry would rather employ 90% foreigners to local, why ? its not just a matter of low wage, but simply foreigners comes work here for few years, no family to take care of except just need send money home, but as locals we've our family here, we not only need money to take care of family but we also need time to take care of family, not we unwilling work longer hours nor we demanding but we hv bn force by circumstances beyond our control



What's the meaning of productivity? why suddenly our policy makers bring up this issue?simply cos they hv no solution to solve the job crisis, so just making excuses for themselves



As highlighted earlier, most foreigners does not hv their family here, they can afford to work longer hours, but are they more efficient ?



The question is job security over productivity, how to measure if locals are less productivity?as many hv highlighted, employ foreigners, in some industry when their skills are outdated, just employer younger more knowledgeable foreigners just like buying tv, cars etc



What's most concern for local employees are employers favouring employing foreigner over local, then i guess the only solution is for our policy makers to ensure that the levy paid plus wages paid to foreigners are of equivalent to locals pay, in this way employers will be a little more willing to employ locals



Most company simply prefer employ foreigners for not just cost issue, but foreigners without their family here, does not take frequent leaves resulting in disruptions of work, foreigners need not serve NS, therefore its basically cheap n good



I totally agree most management staff lack management skills to motivate their staff to work more efficiently



Lastly is our policy makers more interested in helping foreigners or the locals employees? can we manage without them? all our policy makers do is one rule applies to all, different industry got different needs, be flexible with ur policies, can we find 1000 local constructions workers? but sure we can find 1000 office administrators/clerks!

Answer 195

Without the cheap labour we will loose our credibility as a ship repair HUB.

Not many locals wish to work in this industry.

Many singaporeans are in business because of the ship repair.

Answer 196

First of all, I have vancancy for the following manual work

a) Local workers to carried out mechanic jobs in d service industries. How many locals are willing to take up d job.

b) I also require construction workers work to do my construction works.

c) I hv jobs to repair sewage pipe

Let's see how many is willing to take up these job. Reply me with your contact and expected salary. Thks. Work can commence immediately

Answer 197

Quote: (TONY)

"I don agreed..........I am a SME company, let us don say about the quility of service lets talk about costing before we go to service......



> Typical businessman Greed. Want maximum profits for minimum costs even if at the expense of fellow countrymen.



If we don have any foreign workers the cost will be high..problem is that can we singaporean afford to pay for it?.......



> Why not. My boss pays me very well, and we are not even a large company.



Singaporean will work for high salaries but for foreign they willing to have lower pay...If you are the company boss in SME all your staff is high pay but others big company have more funds to provide cheaper price to customer, do you think you still can be able to win the project with all high pay salaries....I think you wouldnt survive within 6 month....



> Don't try to avoid giving reasonable remuneration by shifting the blame to appropriately paid staff. If it really goes bust in 6 months, the company's management should examine themselves. Asking for a reasonable pay relevant to the living standards of modern day Singapore society is not expecting to "work for high salaries".



Recently parliments have been using SAF to compare if SAF using foreign can we still keep our country safe? This comparison is wrong as SAF is big organizastion....Where their money is from? They can enforce all singaporean but can SME enforce to use singaporean with low wages....I doubt so.....



> The govt is right. It does affect employee loyalty, attitude, and productivity. All your reasoning still boils down to the base desire to reduce employee's pay packets so the employer (i.e. you) can keep more profits for himself.



As for service.....Foreign can be train too.....In my company, i cant even employ local cos nobody come forward to interview....Once you advertise for job 99% is from foreign....Wheres locals?



> Nobody said foreigners cannot be trained, they are saying that locals no longer have as much opportunities to be trained becoz of FW influx. No locals responded? Who would want to work for companies that wants to suppress local staff salaries? I for one would not if the boss expects locals to take the payscale of a foreign slave.



Over all conclusion is that we cant have not to have foreign........Pls consider costing......Singaporean cant afford.............



> If your views hold true, more than half of the world's SME sized companies would have collapsed already. Hardly any other country uses as much foreign job snatchers as us, yet have their companies closed down in 6 months one after another? The government is moving in the right direction for considering a revamp. It is the selfish, profiteering and greedy employers that constitute the greatest obstacles to the implementation.



That said, foreign intruders does have a role in our economy, but it is to fill the unwanted jobs at the bottom most rungs of our society, not to compete with our citizens for proper jobs. When it comes to them, we need labourers and servants, not colleagues.



Do not that my views only apply to the labour class who come for cheap pays that nonetheless allow them to be emperors in their home countries will dirt cheap living costs. I do not see a problem with genuine foreign talent who come in with a useful set of skills and compete on equal grounds for jobs instead of playing the sweatshop chaep labour card. We need foreign talents, not foreign workers.

Answer 198

100% agree, for example shipyard line, you can see the productivity was very slow & not effective and actually shipyard can reduce 1/3 of cheaper workers who totally work nothing in the yard.

Answer 199

This small community of foreign workers works well actually, you know that before they left their respective Country they’re been the best selection before they worked abroad….now they re here with us helping our country with a very cheap salary and some of them are victimized by some agencies they’re paying agency fee…now are we going to take-over their work?...to the PR at the moment what if they apply for Citizen then they will also compete us?

Answer 200

If we can encourage more Singaporean to work like the aussie style, by giving a better and attractive incentive, could we bring up the standard?

Answer 201

Yes, most of the local employer choose not to spend money on training the foreign worker.

Answer 202

You cant learn something valuable from cheap labour. It only saves your money. Like your children being dependent to maid until they grow-up. In the end they haven't learn to stand on their on feet. But if your kid be trained by professional in everything they have to do. They gain quality value, from there it not only saves your money but gain a cash-flows. Like U.S. they hire highly talented people, trained them and help them to pursue their dreams. And Local American can learn, share and benefits from it. "Ensnare my opportunity and I ensnare yours" said by a Slave to his Master.

Answer 203

Well, all the polite sales staff I have seen who demonstrate empathy and thoughtfulness are definitely NOT Singaporeans.

Answer 204

It's all about govt and cheapskate employer profiting from these cheap foreign labour.Singaporeans get all the **** such as congested mrt,buses.......etc

Answer 205

We may have been like this for sometime. However, necessity brings about change. Time to change. Let's look forward to change for the better.

Answer 206

yes i agree. i saw many foreign worker lazing during their working time rather than putting in their effort in their current job.

Answer 207

Hey lennonak! It is people like who are dangerous. Maybe you should emigrate to Melbourne! Good riddance!

Answer 208

yes sir,

I mutually agree part and parcel...of partially retired/handicaped low-wage drawing Singaporean affected and cheap is good? cheap and good ? cheap land scape? what do you think and analyse sir? Good things/service can be cheap?



Await yours & Happy new year.

Answer 209

As the saying goes; u pay peanuts, u get monkey. no insult intended. just a figure of speech.

Answer 210

Yes, mostly. explain.. do i need to? just visit any shopping mail or resturant and you know, they can not even communicate with customer properly let alone serve.

Answer 211

low cost worker mean low cost spending or no spending here . it won't help our economy

Answer 212

Agree! Well said!

Answer 213

If you ask me I will DEFINITELY SAY NO...... service sucks nowadays and productivity...dang lots of rework!!

Answer 214

I surely agreed

Answer 215

Idea is ideally good but practically not viable.

Answer 216

There is no answer to this question because nobody is perfect in this world.

Before you judge others, just judge yourself first.

Answer 217

BUY ABB ROBOT TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY..... HUMAN DESERVE TO DO A BETTER JOB WITH THEIR BEAUTIFUL BRAIN...

Answer 218

Agree, half cooked and cooked.

Answer 219

Yes I strongly agrees....

Answer 220

Agreed because it is true.

Answer 221

i m jobless



how to be productivivityty?

Answer 222

[Cost reduction using cheap foreign labour is at most an expediency in the present crisis, i.e. saving jobs and lessening the burden of the businesses. It is not and cannot be a long-term solution. Instead of relying on cost competitiveness and constantly comparing it with other developing nations, Singapore, already seeing herself as a First World nation, should think and act like a developed country.



A number Western European countries show it is possible to have high wages and a hefty welfare and medical systems alongside with sustainable growth and competitiveness.



The importance in the role of the government in focusing on a few strategic sectors, together by leveraging on the opportunities accruing from the globalising economy, and by identifying Singapore's role in the value chain in an increasing China-centric world, our competitiveness on the international stage can be greatly improved.



Singapore is among the most internationalised economies in the world. The globalising world has been a double-edge sword for Singapore. One the one hand, accessed to the global market has fuelled growth in Singapore through attracting FDI the likes of MNCs and foreign investment into the local equity market. On the other hand, blue-collar as well as white-collar jobs are taking flight to low-costs countries such China and India.



Stephane Garelli, Director of the World Competitiveness Project : Competitiveness of nations refers the measures of competitiveness as "...the facts and policies that shape the ability of a nation to create and maintain an environment that sustains more value creation for its enterprises and more prosperity for its people."



In short, competitiveness means productivity. According to the neo-classical theory, one way for any economy to grow is to increase its level of factor inputs like labours and capital accumulation. However, as pointed out by economists like Paul Krugman, INPUT-DRIVEN GROWTH WILL INVARIABLY SUFFER FROM DIMINISHING RETURNS AND IS THEREBY NOT SUSTAINABLE.



There are social and political constraints for how much more capital and foreign labour that can be brought in. Hence, improving productivity is therefore crucial for an economy to sustain long-term economic growth.



In general, there are two ways of measuring productivity, i.e. The Labour Productivity and The Total Factor Productivity :

i) Labour productivity measures attribute output entirely to one factor of production, which is labour in this case.

ii) Total Factor Productivity, however, measures the joint influence on economic growth of factors such as technological change, efficiency improvements, returns to scale and reallocation of resources.



Improvement in productivity will almost surely mean an increase in competitiveness; but this relation does always hold vice-versa. Trying to reduce nominal wages in every country will lead to higher unemployment without improving growth and competitiveness.



Moreover, exports based on low wages or a cheap currency do not support an attractive standard of living. Only productivity allows a nation to support and enjoy high wages, a strong currency, and attractive return to capital. Productivity should be the goal for growth and prosperity.



According to Harvard Business School Prof Michael Porter, "Only if a nation expands exports of products and services it can produce productivity will national productivity rise". Productivity is the goal, not exports per se.



As Singapore looks to a future increasingly marked by globalisation, the strategies which have served the us well in the past may not do the same from now onwards. The last couple of years have been extremely challenging for Singapore. The rapidly changing world of globalisation can erode Singapore's competitive advantage within a short span of time.



Another worrying sign is that Singapore was ranked a 8th in terms of innovation (WEF 2009-2010). She belongs to the non-core technology economies. Though these non-core economies can achieve high growth, but they have their inherent limitations. As the gap with the technology economies narrows, these non-core technology economies will find difficulties in closing the gap unless they become technology innovators themselves.



Exacerbating the situation are the unemployed born and bred Singapore; as well as the low real GDP growth. Together with Singapore's tiny domestic market, a less than dynamic regional hinterland, an aging population, and an increasing reliance on foreign labour, the years ahead seem challenging and uncertain. There are only a few strategic sectors, when competitiveness and innovation are needed to drive productivity and therefore sustaining growth in the overall economy.



The role of the government may prove important in industry-targeting as well as selecting the types of innovation to be developed here. Singapore is constrained by her small domestic market and workforce, though Singapore has and continues to import significant number of foreign workers in order to grow, the government CANNOT continue this policy perpetually.



Nor can we rely on "footloose" MNCs investing here. There is a limit as to how much Singapore can grow through merely increasing capital and foreign labour.



In fact, Singapore faces the same barriers as other developing countries in playing "catch-up" with the industrialised nations. F. M. Scherer (Professor of Business and Government, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA) has identified three kinds of barrier :

1) The political, social and economic environment lack the institutional and legal framework to encourage and foster independent risk-taking and dynamic competition. 2) The scarcity of business entrepreneurs willing and able to undertake the risk and opportunity offered by new technology.

3) Developing nations have low real per capita income; therefore, they face constraints in allocating funds for long term projects like R&D which often require long gestation period.



The first two points are particularly fitting to the problems in Singapore. Moreover, the presence of GLCs deters some entrepreneurs from venturing into certain areas. Even if the government is willing to divest all of her GLCs, this does not mean the businessmen can compete successfully in domestic or the international markets.



Nurturing entrepreneurship among Singaporeans takes more than just a couple of policies. It requires a completed change of mindset and that is not expected to happen within a few years.



In the meantime, Singapore can adopt a two-pronged approach, i.e. nurturing entrepreneurs and making the environment conducive for conducting businesses, while practising industry-targeting and promoting certain kind of innovations developed by industrialised countries.



Entrepreneurs, if left to their own devices, may do little and too late in boosting the whole Singapore's economy. What's more, they may neglect the high growth sectors. Government should act as a facilitator for high growth areas and develop new growth engines wherever and whenever private enterprises are unable or unwilling to participate because the risk is too high or the gestation period too long, yet the growth potential can be enormous.



The government should not also ignore the domestic industry altogether. Instead, the government must ensure that domestic businesses raise their efficiency and productivity. These domestic industries provides the crucial non-tradable goods and services to GLCs and MNCs.



Substandard domestic services raise the cost of doing businesses and reduce competitiveness as pointed out by Harvard Business School Prof Michael Porter. Singapore may ignore the productivity of the local industry at her own peril.



Singapore should not make the same mistake of investing heavily in new technology (or IT) for the sake of new technology. Singapore is always at the forefront of adopting the latest technology, especially in influencing the business community in adopting these capabilities with projects like SingaporeOne, TradeNet, MediNet and LawNet.



Technology is merely a means to an end, not an end per se. Ultimately, productivity comes from the "old-fashioned competition and managerial innovations" in more efficient and effective ways of developing and delivering goods and services. Unless the technology can add value to the supply chain, the government should not be over zealous in investing them. The so-called first mover advantage, touted during the dotcom's craze, can be a serious disadvantage when the precious resources could be better allocated to other much needed areas.



Of course, the government should lead the way in setting an example to the business community within its public sectors. Beyond that, the government should adopt a down-top and demand-driven approach in adopting technology. Another cost effective way is to closely monitor what other developed countries have been doing. If these nations are reaping returns from their investment in certain technology, Singapore can follow suit, with uncertainty greatly reduced.



In the areas of deregulation to spur competition, the Singapore government has made the right move by liberalising its telecommunication and finance sector which needs more and quicker of such liberalisations as competition ultimately spurs innovations and, therefore, productivity.



One of the greatest economists of the last century John Maynard Keynes underlined the importance of breaking away from the past when he said: "The real difficulty lies not in developing new ideas but in escaping from the old ones." Singapore must deal with both.]



Adapted from KC Leo

Answer 223

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