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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>March 30, 2009
SOAPBOX
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Pay cut? At least I still have a job
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Jessica Lim
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Tighter belts: A small price for saving jobs -- . ST FILE PHOTO
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THURSDAY, for me, brings relief: It is the day I start looking forward to the weekend and to splurging my pay on pampering myself.
Yet, the prospect of days off and spending money took on a different meaning recently, when I and roughly 3,000 of my Singapore Press Holdings colleagues gathered for a briefing by senior management.
The announcement was pay cuts - 2 to 10 per cent across the board, to be exact. The reason given was that common to many other companies: Grim economic times.
However as I left the room, I felt poorer, yet anything but mournful.
Rather, I felt very lucky - throughout this recession, I have never once felt the spectre of unemployment spooking me.
I found myself thanking my employers, who during their grave announcement assured us that staff retrenchments would be the last resort. Wage cuts would spread the burden and save jobs.
The news came amid a constant stream of job losses - from the quiet shedding of staff at smaller organisations to the large-scale layoffs at major banks.
So the mantra I keep repeating to myself: Better to get paid less than have no job at all.
Still, the cut has put me among the ranks of the newly cost-conscious - that consumer who is still spending, but making every cent count. The one who is now a happy patron of foodcourts, budget outlets and MRT trains.
Coping is a challenge, but one that, at this point in my life, I am more than happy to face head-on. I am taking a cue from the guys at the top - cutting waste and, uh, operational costs.
With about 25 per cent of my pay taken up by monthly rent, I now manage other expenses such as transport, utilities, food and groceries creatively.
=> FTrash? Or supporting ang moh bf?
I have halved my self-imposed allowance of two cab rides a week to one. And while my long-observed practice of buying a new dress during the last weekend of each month has not been scrapped, I have downsized it to a need-to-have basis.
Recently, I've also become an avid collector of Shop N Save stamps.
I tell myself that, in terms of my young career, this is an easier cross to bear than if I were older and struggling to stretch my dollars across heftier commitments. At that point, the impact of a wage cut or job loss is greater.
Singapore Polytechnic School of Business lecturer Sarah Lim said during a recent interview that the average person fired in a recession, typically someone over 40, finds it tough to get a new job.
Some who have lost jobs in the financial sector 'will suffer a lifetime reduction in earnings, because they are unable to get back an equivalent job'.
For them, a pay cut eats into the budget set aside for a toddler's school fees or an ageing parent's medical bills.
If younger employees like me can help save jobs across the board with a few tugs to tighten our belts, so be it.
I am happy to do my part.
=> To be a running bitch?
In comparison, my lot is very, very manageable. [email protected]
SOAPBOX
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Pay cut? At least I still have a job
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Jessica Lim
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Tighter belts: A small price for saving jobs -- . ST FILE PHOTO
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THURSDAY, for me, brings relief: It is the day I start looking forward to the weekend and to splurging my pay on pampering myself.
Yet, the prospect of days off and spending money took on a different meaning recently, when I and roughly 3,000 of my Singapore Press Holdings colleagues gathered for a briefing by senior management.
The announcement was pay cuts - 2 to 10 per cent across the board, to be exact. The reason given was that common to many other companies: Grim economic times.
However as I left the room, I felt poorer, yet anything but mournful.
Rather, I felt very lucky - throughout this recession, I have never once felt the spectre of unemployment spooking me.
I found myself thanking my employers, who during their grave announcement assured us that staff retrenchments would be the last resort. Wage cuts would spread the burden and save jobs.
The news came amid a constant stream of job losses - from the quiet shedding of staff at smaller organisations to the large-scale layoffs at major banks.
So the mantra I keep repeating to myself: Better to get paid less than have no job at all.
Still, the cut has put me among the ranks of the newly cost-conscious - that consumer who is still spending, but making every cent count. The one who is now a happy patron of foodcourts, budget outlets and MRT trains.
Coping is a challenge, but one that, at this point in my life, I am more than happy to face head-on. I am taking a cue from the guys at the top - cutting waste and, uh, operational costs.
With about 25 per cent of my pay taken up by monthly rent, I now manage other expenses such as transport, utilities, food and groceries creatively.
=> FTrash? Or supporting ang moh bf?
I have halved my self-imposed allowance of two cab rides a week to one. And while my long-observed practice of buying a new dress during the last weekend of each month has not been scrapped, I have downsized it to a need-to-have basis.
Recently, I've also become an avid collector of Shop N Save stamps.
I tell myself that, in terms of my young career, this is an easier cross to bear than if I were older and struggling to stretch my dollars across heftier commitments. At that point, the impact of a wage cut or job loss is greater.
Singapore Polytechnic School of Business lecturer Sarah Lim said during a recent interview that the average person fired in a recession, typically someone over 40, finds it tough to get a new job.
Some who have lost jobs in the financial sector 'will suffer a lifetime reduction in earnings, because they are unable to get back an equivalent job'.
For them, a pay cut eats into the budget set aside for a toddler's school fees or an ageing parent's medical bills.
If younger employees like me can help save jobs across the board with a few tugs to tighten our belts, so be it.
I am happy to do my part.
=> To be a running bitch?
In comparison, my lot is very, very manageable. [email protected]
