The shifting timeline

We are still hearing complains that above 40 years need not apply for jobs and these relatively young and healthy people are getting angry and desperate. I call them young and healthy because the timeline has changed and many are not realising this. Today's 40 is yesterday's 30. And many of them are having kids in primary schools. So far the only organisation that is taking this into consideration is the civil service. More and more civil servants are working past 60, with some noticeably past 70 and 80. Why is it that the private sector is refusing to acknowledge or recognise this shift? In the 60s and 70s, people get married at 21. Today the marrying age is 30 or 35. Then people retired at 55 and died at 60. Today people die at 80 or 90 but retire at 55 with a few exceptions. Then people started to work at 16 or 18, after O or A level. Today they start work at 23/25 or later, after university and NS for the guys. They used to make babies at 18 or below 20. Now many only do this after 30. The anomaly is now a reality. The prime of a person's life is 60 and he/she can go on to 80 or 90, another 20 years to go at least. 30 is still a child wet behind the years. With improving living condition, food and health, and medical careful, people are definitely healthier today than yesterday. When will the human resource practitioners and employers understand this shift in timeline and adjust their expectations? Perhaps we are in a state of transition. The first batch of healthy 60s will come from the baby boomers, or maybe the later baby boomers. Or shall we bring out all the million dollar 'Yodas' in the public and private sector to prove this point? They are many of these hiding in their top floor or penthouse offices and calling the shots, still alive and kicking in their 70s, 80s and perhaps 90s.

The business of keeping people alive

Mediacorp had a few news clips of the happy senior citizens in the homes or community hospitals over the weekend. They appeared healthy and enjoying every moment of their time alive. What they did not know is the heavy cost to keep them alive. From the look of it, the cost was paid by their children. Obviously they did not know that they were bankrupting their children or straining their financial resources just to keep them there. It is not cheap definitely. Ignorance is bliss but not for those who have to struggle to pay the bills. One is deemed financially able to foot the bills if the household income is above $1,500. Unbelieveable! Khaw Boon Wan has been in charge of the MOH for several years and have been working very hard to keep medical cost down. How successful has he been? Has medical cost come down or still spiralling up? The recent increase of fees in community hospitals is a testament that the cost is just going up. For those who are still healthy, pray not the day you have to be admitted to any hospitals or nursing homes. Many will not be able to afford it even with their Medisave and medical insurance. Some of their savings may not last even one month when the bill can go to tens or hundreds of thousands. With the high cost of hospitalisation and medical fees, everyone who is sick or ageing is a walking liability to himself and the family. And we celebrate for being able to keep people alive to 80, 90 or 100 years.

How to juggle accounts for a bigger bang?

This incident is still vivid in my mind. Quite many years ago I came to know of this group of companies and how well they paid out bonuses according to each subsidiary's performance. Some averaged 3 months some averaged 6 months and the exceptional ones got 12 months. All looked clean and fair, according to the books. Indeed the payout of bonuses was according to the book, actually according to the cooked book. One of the subsidiary companies actually cooked the book, brought in all future sales, WIP, etc and recorded as realised revenue and profits. That year the company was like boomtown Charlie. Every employee got 12 months bonuses. Not sure how many months the CEO and the top management staff got for cooking the book. What happened the next few years, never mind. The boat will straighten as it reaches the bridge. If the next few years lose money, take lesser bonuses. But one good year every now and then is good enough. For good years, the reward is amazing. For bad years, no sweat, the pay is still there. And if the company goes bust, just too bad. Find another company. This is the beauty of being in the corporate world and managing public companies, and being an employee. You never stand to lose your capital nor your pay, except if the company closes down. But when the company chalks up big profits, take as much as you can. Claim all the credits despite the fact that a large part of the profits were money makes money. Does anyone ask how much profit should be generated from the capital invested before talking about the excess profits? As an example, if the company has an asset of $1b, assuming that this money should give a decent return of 10%, given the risk in business, otherwise park in the bank for guaranteed risk free interest, a $100m profit is just about acceptable. Nothing to crow about. Only when profit is in excess of 10% would it be considered a contribution from the management and employees. (Not counting cooking books) It is not uncommon for management of a $1b company to crow about great profits and demand big bonuses even if the profit is less than 10% of the asset and capital invested. Another common practice by hedge funds or fund managers is to measure their performance with market indices. If they perform better than such indicators, they have done well, and need to be rewarded. Thus if everyone is losing 70% of their investment and if one is losing 60%, that one has done well. Clever accounting and clever logic.

Singapore United the way to go

This is the new war cry of Hsien Loong. He is calling on Singaporeans to work together to find solutions to the crisis. How real and relevant is such a call? The work together may be a bit real as everyone has to work to keep the machine running, the economy running. If everyone just plays his part be it a cleaner or a minister, things will continue to move. The part about finding solutions to the crisis is best left to the super talents. How could the less able be in a position to find solutions when the greatest minds in the US are still fumbling along? Even if they have any small ideas, they will quickly be brushed aside by the supertalents. They will be a laughing stock to have the audacity to suggest a solution to such an immense problem when supertalents could not resolve. And if assuming that they could get the idea across, make known to the supertalents. Oh yes, they can write to ST Forum or to Reach with their great ideas. I rather be real. Every one just do their parts well. Let the cleaners do the cleaning and the govt do the governing, the thinkers do the thinking. Hey, this is very Confusion, oops, Confucian I mean.

If looks can heal

I saw this beautiful structure in the Sunday Times this morning. A lot of glass, reminding me of the futuristic glass complex proposal for the Sentosa Casino. Very impressive looking building. This one is actually an artist's impression of the New National Heart Centre. It boasts of great facilities when ready in 2013. What keeps capturing my attention is the fine architecture and the feeling of being in a futuristic and well designed building. It is a great feeling. I think the patients would feel good too, and their hearts will feel better even before any medical treatment. I hope the building design was selected not just on good look but with cost consideration in mind. Otherwise, the cost of building such a great facility will ultimately be carried by the patients' bills. Nice building, and I already have this good sense of well being.