Home coming for the Barisan Socialis

Uh, not exactly. But in a way, we are seeing the return of the Barisan Socialis, or at least the next generation of the descendants of the Barisan Socialis politicians making a come back to Singapore politics. We have seen the Puthucheery, the Ong Ye Kung and now the Murali. And I think there were another few that came in earlier if my memory is clear.

This is a very unique phenomenon in Singapore where the first generation of politicians, the fathers, were fighting for life and death in the poltical arena. We know who won and who were sent to jail. Today we are seeing the children of the jailbirds being courted by the PAP and invited to join the PAP, and to contest in GEs, to be MPs and even minister, akan datang.

What is the story? Hsien Loong making amends, for the bad blood of the early generation of politicians? When papa was a politician, Barisan Socialis or PAP, the children would be good politicians too, a new political breed, to extend the political life of the PAP?

When they started, they slept in the same bed. Then they broke up and threw punches at each other. Today they are making up. How would the story end? The scions of the Barisan Socialis are joining the ranks of the PAP. So they said, no permanent enemies. Political necessity would decide who should sleep with who.

The enemies are in bed and safe. The latest development following the one year anniversary of LKY commemoration is showing up the cracks among friends, or those supposedly to be on the same side. Wei Ling is having a bout with Janadas with gloves off. It is Round One and everyone is waiting for Round Two and Three. Yes no permanent enemies and no permanent friends as well. The schism within the ruling party and the establishment are starting to show.

With the big tree fallen, would the monkeys start to scatter?

Don't Layoff in Singapore, Choose De-Employment.

by MIKOspace/Michael Heng

A New Talent Solution as the Recession Looms

Few companies will miss the obvious signs of impending business doom. Declining orders, falling sales, narrowing profit margins, increasing relative costs, inventory build-up, fewer competitors, fewer customers and increasing difficulties in accounts receivables.

    

Layoffs in Singapore reached a 5-year high with weakening job vacancies since the 2009 global recession triggered then by the banking and currency crisis.  Nearly 16,000 lost their jobs in 2015; mostly middle-aged executives with degrees and higher-skilled workers.  Most of them also did not find a job within 6 months from their layoff.

A careful analysis revealed that about 71% of the layoffs were skilled and experienced professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), ages from 40-49 years old, up from 66% in 2014, even though PMETs made up only 54% in the workforce.  Also, an increasing number (44%) of the higher educated – degree-holders – lost their jobs when compared to just 41% in 2014.

Embracing De-Employment as the New Normal

Given the demo-psychographics of the talents most susceptible and vulnerable to layoffs, de-employment becomes an innovative, empowering and integrative human resource management (HRM) solution best suited to manage talents long before their layoffs are deemed necessary. 

The steady 2015 unemployment rate in Singapore last year at 2.9% for Singaporeans, and 2.8% (2.4% in 2014) when included Permanent Residents (PR) belie the looming onslaught of layoffs expected in 2016 given the weakening global economic conditions and persistent low oil prices. 

A company facing high risks of layoffs to happen sometime in the next 6-9 months can manage the risks by adopting a strategy of de-employment. Embarking on the de-employment journey, the company prepares its employees as it enters into a joint-employment relationship with a “Surrogate Employer”. 

A Surrogate Employer (SE) reinforces the corporate culture concurrently as the company engages the competitive forces that are affecting the business.  On the one hand, the SE empowers the company’s recovery strategy by focusing on its core competencies to restore and grow their bottom line whilst pursuing vigorous costs reduction. On the other, the SE augments the company’s talent management team by assuming responsibilities for the strategic re-configuration of its talent pool leading to whatever necessary re-calibration and re-sizing in order to service the increasingly difficult marketplace more successfully.      

The goal of de-employment is business recovery with a particular emphasis on key talent retention, redevelopment and excess talent deployment. Strategy and talent management are the twin challenge of the de-employment strategy.  Strategy focuses largely on the external competitive space, and talent management in de-employment involves radical and fundamental internal organizational re-structuring. 

Organisational re-structuring aims at reducing layers and widening job scope through job re-design, job merging, job sharing and jobs elimination. This deploys a lean thinking approach to eliminate wasteful cost drivers and, more importantly, the retooling of talent through re-skilling, redevelopment and redeployment for and in anticipation of business recovery.

Important HR tools like shorter work week, wage/benefit cuts, working online/off-office, mandated vacation and outsourcing workers to other companies can be attempted, but recognize that these are merely short-term measures that merely postpone the inevitable.        

What is crucial in a de-employment strategy is to assure continual smooth business operations without the often disruptive effects and morale-depressing sentiments from layoff exercises.  This means the transfer of the entire (or most of the) workforce – including a large number of prospective redundant and excess workers – to the SE, who is now tasked with the mission to assure continuous income flows, not necessarily at their previous levels, to those workers who are not needed by the company either on a full-time or part-time basis.  This way, the company can reduce its labour-related costs immediately paying only for talents that it actually needs. The other redundant and excess talents are engaged by the SE to work in other companies.        

The de-employment strategy promotes income assurance in the participating workers, instead of job security.  Layoffs would be a thing of the past.  They will be continually engaged rather than occasionally employed.  Their works are assignments as they perform them not always at physical workplaces but at designated service-hubs or centres, which may be virtual or through social media cyberspace or on the internet. They are not controlled through adherence to some fixed reporting times but managed through agreed performance milestones or indicators.  They also commit to at least 100 hours of continuous learning and development per year, so as to be empowered and eventually become truly independent to pursue their desired career experiences.

Companies participating in de-employment no longer worry about layoffs as bad times loomed. They retain their relevant key talent on a full-time or part-time basis as mutually agreed with the SE.  Talents with flexible skills are able to work at more than 2 service-hubs or centres to multiply their income streams.  And they can work at their own pace and place without infringing the legal restrictions on working hours or working during holidays and rest days.   

The SE is essentially a community of talents who are well educated, skillful and experienced (like PMETs, for example).  Their SE provides such portable benefits as CPF, medical, dental, vacation leave and various other welfare benefits usually enjoyed by regular employed workers. They can seize available opportunities for multiple enhanced income streams from assignments to various SE clients.  Their skill-sets are continuously revised, upgraded and re-calibrated to ready them for future jobs which are yet unknown.   

The crucial difference between de-employment and HR out-sourcing is that the SE is contractually part of the company, instead of its outsourced labour contractor. The SE and the company have joint coaching and mentoring responsibilities for their talents. Their relationship entails regular feedback and communications with each other and with their talents. In this manner, de-employment assures the sustainable relevance of talents to the companies. They are also co-decision makers with regard to talent engagement, deployment and redistribution. Talents can be converted from de-employment status to direct employment status in accordance with agreed conditions. 

De-employment is the best alternative to layoffs by maximizing returns on human capital and talent.  Workers should not simply be discarded in layoffs as some useless garbage in a business downturn. For sure, surviving soldiers are not killed when battles are lost. Instead, they are systematically collected, re-organised, retrained, re-equipped and re-motivated to await mobilization for the next battle that would hopefully bring forth eventual victories and success.  

Corporate sustainability and business success depend on the strategic leverage of the human talent. Leaders know that the human talent is the highest and most decisive form of technology that makes the key difference in successful strategy. 

Lesson from a wise professor

Professor Low Teck Seng was offered the post of Chairman of Singpost.  As a human bean, he must be flattered for the confidence trusted onto him. He accepted the good offer. Then he had second thought. He is already the CEO of National Research Foundation (NRF), a big job reporting directly to Hsien Loong. Would he be able to take on two important jobs at the same time? Wisdom and good common sense took the better of him and he turned down the Singpost offer and apologizing for his acceptance as an error of judgment.

Any ordinary human bean would greatly accept the offer that comes with a substantial income yearly. Who in his right mind would reject such gracias? As a thinking professor and a responsible man, he knew his limitation and the constraint of time that he could not do justice to Singpost if he could not contribute fully for the trust and money being offered to him.

It is a sensible thing to do. When the plate is full, it is only reasonable and commonsensical to turn it down or risks suffering from indigestion, food poisoning or gluttony.

How many human beans would do what the professor did? How many immortals would do the same? How much time and effort does a person have to take on more than two or three or ten jobs?

This is a good lesson to learn from a professor. Do not be greedy and over commit one’s little ability and grab the money, the honour and the trust that came with the position. What about delivery and responsibility? Be sensible.

Thank you for the lesson and for showing the light to the unenlightened.

Singapore’s successful formula for Asean Economic Community(AEC)

With the impending implementation of the Asean Economic Community, ChannelNewsAsia held a forum on 6 Apr to discuss the implications and concerns of free movement of human capital in the Asean states. The three main concerns raised were, the different educational system, the different quality of degrees and professional qualifications and the political will of the respective govts to get this free movement of human capital across borders flowing.

The President of SMU commented that it was unsustainable and politically difficult for any govt to allow the free movement of workers across national border. The domestic political forces would not allow it to happen. But all these concerns have proven to be nothing to Singapore and Singapore has embraced free movement of human capital, we called in foreign talents, like fish in water. With the right political leadership and political will, nothing is an obstacle. The different education system, degrees and professional qualifications too were non issues. These have never been a problem to Singapore and it has more than 2 million foreigners in the island to prove that all is well.

Singapore’s successful formula is best seen in the broad and sweeping CECA agreement with India. This is the most important formula to prove that freedom of movement of talents can be done. Singapore simply accepts all the qualifications of all the Indian universities, all the differences in educational system and standards with no question asked.  This is not about stupidity or administrative convenience, but about building trust and trusting the quality of India’s universities and human talents. When these differences are set aside, there is no more problems to talk about.

In Singapore’s experience, all the foreigners hired are genuine foreign talents. No one has complained about hiring duds or fakes.  Even if they were fakes, as long as they can do the job, the piece of paper is irrelevant. There were one or two cases of mistakes but too little and too few to worry about. Only stupid employers will be hiring duds and fakes. Singapore’s employers are not stupid and therefore have no stupid problems.

Singapore should sell this wonderful CECA formula to the Asean countries, that this is the way to go forward. Forget about the differences, ignore the differences, don’t look at them, don’t bring them up, pretend that everything is fine and all will be fine. And Singapore can use its 2% economic growth as proof. By bringing in 2m foreigners, Singapore achieved a 2% growth. And to prove that Singapore truly believe in this formula, Singapore will raise its population to 10m, ie, bringing in another 5m foreigners which will translate to another 5% growth.

Singapore has done it, see how successful Singapore is? Have no fear about free movement of human capital. With the right political leadership and political will, all problems will become non problems.

CECA is the miracle formula that Singapore has signed with India that benefits both countries greatly, economically. And Singapore now has so many spare and  talented Singaporean PMETs to export to Asean countries, armed with certificates with courtesies from the NTUC, trained for export, to work around the world.  Singapore would not have the luxury of sharing these spare talents with Asean countries if we did not bring in the better foreign talents to replace these no skill set local talents, or obsolete talents.

Singapore can be the leading light in the free movement of human capital in Asean. We have been experimenting and enjoying a surge of productivity with so many foreign talents to choose from. There are so many waiting at the door for Singapore to pick and choose, attracted by the good working environment and very excellent pay package and a very strong Singapore dollar.  Singaporeans are so appreciative of these foreign talents that many are giving credits to the foreigners for building Singapore to what it is today. With the AEC, Singapore will have no problem boosting its population to 10m and all the property prices will go up 100 fold.

Singaporeans will all stand to gain, to rent out their expensive HDB flats and move out to live in Bintan, Batam and Johore. No need to work any more, except for the young doing two years of guard duties. The free movement of human capital with the implementation of AEC is the greatest thing that can happen for Singapore and Singaporeans.

Singaporeans are not just naïve but dumb and stupid

I can’t help but to repost this article from the TRE here. The more daft sinkies read this, the better, and hopefully they will get less daft. They said, stupidity has no cure.

 

Recently, a friend came to Singapore and I had to show her around. Being very rich, we took taxis every day. So I decided to talk to them about Singapore politics and coming by election.

I am very shocked to tell you of the 6 taxi drivers, 4 drivers were recent and retrenched to make way for foreigners. Then come the question about voting opposition into parliament, 3 retrenched were skeptical, 1 was neutral. They said the same thing, “Opposition will destroy the economy”. Wow, this national brainwashing does work very well with most people and most people actually buy this theory. Of 6 taxi drivers, they are from private sectors, from senior manager to senior engineers, all earning more than $4k, some higher than $6k.

So I decided to ask who they voted for. No one would tell me directly but their response was “Voting is secret”. So I countered by saying for those people who voted PAP because they are very happy with their policies especially importing foreigners to replace Singaporeans. One guy even said importing foreigners is to improve the economy!!! Wow….Then I used the word “You must be very happy to be replaced!”. 3 showed black face, 1 was like “LL”.

Then I added the PAP has been so successfully in brainwashing locals to accept their fate and policies without complaints. Despite being replaced by foreigners, ended jobless and had no choice but to turn to driving taxis, they still support the PAP.

At the end of the journey, I told them, you think for this country, you sacrifice yourself to be replaced and end up jobless, you should receive National Day Awards for your sacrifice instead of those parasite grassroots with ulterior motives. I hope your sons and daughters will continue your good work and sacrifice for this country too! Remember if you support the government, don’t complain, be happy being the sacrificial lambs! Also for the fact that you worry so much about the country collapsing due to opposition, my take is the economy or country has not even sank, you will be sinking in deep sea. LOL

My friends, these were professionals in their respective industries, making decent living and only in their early or mid 30s, replaced by foreigners and end up jobless. They had no choice but turn to driving taxis and yet being betrayed by the government, they do not seem to be angry at all. How amazing… *Laughs*

No wonder our ministers said Singaporeans are not competitive, naive and daft, we cannot compete with foreigners. I do agree that Singaporeans are not just naive, daft but completely moronic! The government is right, they import these third world foreign talents because Singaporeans are just morons, they cant really think. Despite being bullied left and right, they seem to be happy, very successful brainwashing by government.

Sounds similar to North Koreans who think North Korea is the best and most happy country in the world. *Croaks*

Do you agree?



SANJNBD

How stupid can a people become? This is a uniquely Singaporean trait. And like they said, after 50 years of brainwashing, the brain is now sparkling clean, no more brain cell left. Singaporeans have forgotten that they used to have a brain and the brain is used for thinking. But since the govt has been doing all the thinking and telling the daft Singaporeans how to think, Singaporeans have no necessity to think or want to think. So they just parrot the official line of thinking and reasoning. You can read a lot of such regurgitation in the commentaries in this blog as well.