What do Singaporeans really want from their bosses?

[RandomMonkey]

There has been a lot of chatter on Singapore companies being biased towards FTs and discriminating against Singaporeans. In some MSM interviews, employers have been coming out and saying things like:

- Singaporeans are lazy
- Singaporeans are spoilt and have a sense of entitlement (especially the younger generation)
- Singaporeans expect to be paid well but don't want to take on much responsibilities
- Men have to serve NS / reservist
- Singaporeans are not creative and only focus on meeting KPIs, refusing to take risks for fear of getting scolded or fired
- Foreigners are more hardworking, less risk averse, and more creative

So if the companies feel this way, while the job seekers also feel that companies don't give them what they want, what do YOU look out for in an employer?

Is it

(a) High pay
(b) Comfortable / stable environment (i.e. no risks, strictly 8 to 5, no responsibilities, no KPIs, no need to face clients?)
(c) Being allowed lots of time (6-12 months) to "learn"?
(d) On-the-job learning opportunities (e.g. rotation across diff job scopes, being assigned projects, being allowed to try diff things in first 6-12 mths)
(e) Structured learning opportunities (e.g. mentorship, 'lecture' style training from managers, notes and handouts, being taught technical skills)
(f) Opportunity to rise fast in the company as opposed to being hentak kaki for years?


I spoke to a good friend who left a very stable job in the govt sector. He joined a small SME in the private sector and took a 35% pay cut. His reasoning? He said that he would be given more responsibilities, more opportunity to try new things (instead of doing the same old boring stuff for years) and more importantly he felt that if he perform well he will be rewarded and promoted quickly. In the SME sector it is possible for an entry-level executive with only 1-2 years experience to be promoted to manager within 1 year. He said that he was willing to work hard in return for recognition of his efforts, and his main gripe with the govt sector is that no one recognises your efforts due to the culture of 'doing the bare minimum' and covering your ass.

What do you think?

 

[Char_Azn]

Base on my conversation with 2 of my former bosses(SMEs). They don't have problems with locals and they actively look for locals especially when there is the issue of quota. The only problem is locals like to job hop coz too many opportunities around. That's the main complain that my ex-bosses were complaining to me about. Your friend is not wrong in the sense that it is easy for someone to promote in and SME coz many bosses like to promote within coz they are familiar with the company/industry. A lot of his peers would already have moved on after 2 years so if he stays long enough he would move up pretty fast. Also because it is SME, it is very easy to get close to the boss so just need to do some basic PR work with the Bosses. Show some loyalty and your promotional chances will be there. I worked in several SMEs before and most of the time I became the most senior staff after just 1.5 yrs on the job. The counter argument I heard from my peers who job hop is that the company it's not like showing loyalty to companies will get anything in return and I have to agree with them. Before my present job I have never worked at a place for more then 2 years

Low wages and NS is only a problem in some industry. I have never had any problems getting a job despite the fact that I sometime find myself under qualified and has NS liabilities. Not all foreigners are hardworking and creative, the bosses are not stupid and just hire FTs just for the sake of it, those are generally excuse used by pple to complain about FTs. If U are going to be lazy, it doesn't matter who U are, local or FT. If you are not suitable for the job or you are not hardworking, U will fail.

In any job the most important thing U look for is money and advancement opportunity. If you are young then it has to be an environment where U can learn and pick up skills but when U reach my level, money isn't that important. Once U made enough to maintain a comfortable lifestyle, you start looking for other things in a job, good bosses, good challenge, sense of accomplishment, etc.

 

[RandomMonkey]

Yup for the current younger generation of uni grads, it seems they want a 'stable' job that will allow them 6-12 months to just 'learn' with no responsibilities or pressure, and yet they want to get paid well. They also expect their managers to spend lots of time 'mentoring' and 'training' them, and in fact they would be upset if they are not given enough 'support' from the management.

So from the company's point of view:

- Have to spend time mentoring them (time = cost)
- Have to pay them competitively, now fresh grads pay around $2400-2700 + CPF (cost)
- They don't want any responsibility or pressure (no gain)

Every employee now just want to be a cost centre. Companies recruit staff, not students! They are expected to do more than just learn.

I wonder how the young job applicants these days see it? What is most impt to them?

 

[batman1]

KNNCCB to the MIW!!!
KNNCCB to the Singapore Employers !!!
KNNCCB to the Foreigner Workers !!!

 

[myfoot123]

Depends on what kind of boss you worked for. During the interview you can judge for yourselves how local boss carried out the interview:


THESE ARE THE COMPANIES THAT I WILL NEVER CONSIDER TO WORK EVEN IF THEY PAY REAONABLY WELL:
THERE IS LACK OF CULTURE, PROMISES AND WORK ETHIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Smoking or left the smoke in the room during interview.
2. You stated clearly in your resume how much minimum salary you expected, the boss discounted it 50% and claimed not knowing your expectation.
3. The boss appointed his secretary to conduct first round of interview
4. The boss has the tendency to be sarcastic like Vivian Balakrishan 3-meals argument
5. Tend to impose his personal opinion on the candidate and brushed off any new ideas
6. You are lesser mortal to his own siblings who worked together with you.
7. Suka suka asked for meeting when there is no necessity to waste time.
8. Too philosophical about company mission and didn't do what he preached.
9. Count every cents that he paid to his staff and yes, must work 5.5 days with normal working hours stretched beyond market trend.
10. Love his staff to saka him.
11. Not willing to invest. When your 4-year old PC kept breaking down, you need to bear with it or get a cheap serviceman to make it right.
12. Insecured, always suspect his staff is lazy and want to maximise his staff to the limit until no time to visit loo.
13. Boss with huge studio-looking office but staff worked on a small messy table with no place to even put a cup of water.
14. Boss that sulked at every payroll date, but willing to spend for his family members with co. profits - like buy cars, eat at restaurants, excessive directors remunerations/fees...etc

15. Boss that kept preaching no one is indispensible (so don't blame for staff for job hoppings)
16. Boss whose wife think she is the empress dowager that need to be served when she walked into the office though she has no executive role in the company.
17. Boss, who siblings hold all the important roles in the company that there is no room for external staff to prosper, aspire or become top management.
15. Boss who insist their staff to cook 10 dishes within 10 seconds and still carry a smile like the pinoy.
16. Boss who screamed on every monday morning before going off for his golf and than returned in the late afternoon to demand urgent work and deprive the staff from going home "early".
17. Boss who are too lazy to carry his briefcase or even grab a pen, his staff should do it for him.
18. Boss who believed his advice or idea is the best, and no one should disagree.
19. Boss who make noise why the cost of stationery is a dollar more than last month purchases, but he will not hesitate to ask you to draw him a cash chque of few thousand bucks for reason he hasn't decided.
20. Boss who can throw temper on staff over personal matters but does not allow staff to behave like him.
21. Boss who need to think very long to sign a cheque or dliberately made a mountain out of a mole hill such that getting his signature is like climbing mount everest.
22. Boss who think you owe him for giving you the job and thus you should not deserve any credit even if you proved your worth or contribution to his co.
23. Boss who employed a "tiger" supervisor that create low morale in the company and yet pretended not to know because the tiger is good for him and know how to saka him.
24. Boss who paid himself 99% dividend out of profit and expect the staff to share the remaining 1% profit with his co operating expenses.
25. Boss has the LKY attitude and lined his bookselves with PAP stories.
26. Boss whose favourite quote "I don't give a damn".
27. Boss ask for the impossible - he wanted his staff to help him waive certain fines without logic or face his music.
28. Boss ask ro the impossible - he wanted his obsolete stocks all sell within a day.
29 Boss who kept changing stance and micro-managing your work.
30 Boss who loves lies that pleases him
31. Boss who think you are responsible to the company more than he is.
32. Boss who create politics by saying different things to different staff.
33. Boss who rush for his golf think your urgent matters can hold
34. Boss who make noise because a lizard shit on his wall.

Anyone love to work in the above situation or anymore to add? A bulk of Singapore SME are make up of the above mentality and attitude. I hope PAP take note. If there is tendency of employer torturing their maid, I see Singapore local boss mentality is not too far behind either.

 

[jw5]

The answer is "their jobs".

 

[RandomMonkey]

That's a good list of what employees don't want.

But what do employees want?

High pay? No supervision? No pressure/no responsibility?

Guaranteed promotion after X years?

Guaranteed pay rise of 4.2% per annum (like govt sector)?

In private sector, the pay rise is 3-6% (according to ST). In our company the pay rise is 8-9% and yet people complain too much pressure etc. So what they want? High pay and no pressure? Of course high pay and fast promotion (which we practice) must come with responsibilities right?

I am asking these questions cos my boss asked me to do some research into the mindset of young fresh grads. He is very intrigued by this and making an effort to learn, he asked me to compile a no-holds barred report even if it is critical of the company

 

[RandomMonkey]

The answer is "their jobs".

If they want iron rice bowl and guarnateed jobs, why even bother with private sector?

Why not just sign on and work for govt? After all, govt pay is not much lower than us these days right?

In our company, we have some fresh uni grads who got promoted to manager position within 6 months and another sales exec (with only O level) earning $9k in total compensation after just 7 months on the job.

But the other staff are complaining that there is too much pressure and not happy with the way things are.. so they resigned. They claimed 'not enough mentoring and supervision' from managers. Then again, according your long list above, too much micromanaging also pple don't like. So how?

What is their mindset? I can't seem to explain. What do pple want these days?

 

[chowka]

11. Not willing to invest. When your 4-year old PC kept breaking down, you need to bear with it or get a cheap serviceman to make it right.

I call this stupidity. Repair costs in the long run will cost more than a brand new PC when one can get a budgeted good deal.

 

[laksaboy]

Everyone should do the Myers Briggs test to find out suitable careers for his/her personality.

http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html

For example, if you are an introvert, you probably shouldn't do sales. So what if the commission-based earnings can potentially shoot to the stratosphere? You will be miserable.

If you don't like numbers, there's no point doing accountancy, finance/banking related jobs or (certain types of) engineering.

If you don't like to be burdened with the troubles of another person, you shouldn't do social work, counselling or teaching/training.

Everyone is wired differently. Just because your friends do well at a certain kind of job, doesn't mean you will also thrive in it. Know yourself. That's more important.

 

[RandomMonkey]

Would you agree that it is an employee's market now?

Bosses don't choose employees, rather, employees choose their bosses?

 

[scroobal]

The issue is not the employer or the employee. No country or society can accommplish everything all by themselves. There is some level of dependency on others. The trick is to control the inflow of foreigners. All countries have some sort of process to screen talent that bring value and skills that are not readily available There are industry and vocational screening with close eye on in country vacancies. In the UK, employers must show proof that they have advertised in country and did not get appropriate skills. In OZ, nurses, welders and chefs were at one time at the top of skills with gate open as there was indeed a shortage.

Because in these countries you simply cannot bring in any tom, dick and harry. As a result there is alot of automation and productivity increases to justify the high wages and ensure that work is done. A single worker in OZ can transport a prime mover full of bricks with a forklift attached at the back. In Singapore, till today I have see 5 chaps required to cut down a tree.

All employers all over the world behave the same. They want the cheapest labour. In Singapore, there are no barriers. If you are grad, you are eligible to apply for 6 mth visa to remain and look for a job. No skills attestation, no record of previous, no previous employment. Only a degree. Once they are in they will accept low pay just to cover costs while they look for something and they will naturally work harder.

 

[myfoot123]

.

So from the company's point of view:

- Have to spend time mentoring them (time = cost)
- Have to pay them competitively, now fresh grads pay around $2400-2700 + CPF (cost)
- They don't want any responsibility or pressure (no gain)

Every employee now just want to be a cost centre. Companies recruit staff, not students! They are expected to do more than just learn.

I wonder how the young job applicants these days see it? What is most impt to them?

Whether you like it or not, even if you recruit foreigners you still have to mentor them and mind you, their absorption rate is lower than Singaporeans. Unless it is easy task require non-brainer, employing Singaporeans is still the best bet to bring company to the next level.

However the different between local and foreigner is that local like to question his mentor during mentoring, foreigners tend to be obedient and we all know employers love obedient staff. That spell disaster to Singapore progression and Singapore will stagnate in a third world productivity level..FOREVER. Signs have shown that many SMEs over-reliance on foreign force will NEVER grow beyond the comfort zone. They are likely to doom or jump up and down whenever PAP tweak foreign policies. These SMEs are viewed highly unstable and deter local from applying job in their company.