Category: Singapore

Quote of the Week

“But believe you me, it only takes a few years to spend what your fathers and your forefathers have earned.”

~ Dr Lee Siew Choh (1917 – 2002)

Dr. Lee Siew Choh (simplified Chinese: 李绍祖; pinyin: Lǐ Shàozǔ; 1917 – 18 July 2002) was a politician and medical doctor from Singapore. Initially a member of the People’s Action Party (PAP), he became a leader of the breakaway Barisan Sosialis in 1961. After the Barisan Sosialis merged with the Workers’ Party in 1988, Lee stood as a Workers’ Party candidate in the 1988 general election and became Singapore’s first Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP), serving in this role until 1991.

List of Singapore Private Companies Offering Storage Space

1. Extra Space
www.extraspace.com.sg
Hotline: 6304 3200
Extra Space IMM Jurong Building
2 Jurong East St 21
#02-71 IMM Building
Singapore 609601
Tel: 6304 3208
Fax: 6491 1244
Email: imm@extraspace.com.sg
Extra Space Clementi Ave 6 West Coast
No. 1 Clementi Loop
#02-03
Singapore 129808
Tel: 6304 3211
Fax: 6491 1245
Email: westcoast@extraspace.com.sg

2. Store-It! Self Storage
www.store-it.com.sg

Pasir Panjang Road Facility
Harbourside 1
1 Boon Leat Terrace
Singapore 119843
Tel: 6271 2762
Fax: 6271 2393
Email: info@store-it.com.sg

3. Lock and Store
www.lockandstore.com.sg
37 Keppel Road (opp. Singapore Railway Station)
#01-03 Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Singapore 089064
Tel: 6325 7351
Fax: 6224 9041
E: info@LockAndStore.com.sg

4. Big Orange Self Storage and Warehouse Solutions Singapore
http://www.bigorange.com.sg

Big Orange Corporate Office
74B Tras Street, Singapore 079013
Tel: 1800 ORANGE = 1800 244 6726
Email: sales@bigorange.com.sg

Branches:
Big Orange at Woodlands
14 Woodlands Loop, Singapore 738363
Tel: +65 6590 3761
Email: woodlands@bigorange.com.sg

Big Orange at Bukit Batok
5 Bukit Batok Street 22, Singapore 659583
Tel: +65 6590 3762
Email: bukitbatok@bigorange.com.sg

Big Orange at Hougang
111 Defu Lane 10, Singapore 539226
Tel: +65 6590 3763
Email: hougang@bigorange.com.sg

Big Orange at Tampines
37 Tampines St 92, Singapore 528885
Tel: +65 6590 3764
Email: tampines@bigorange.com.sg

ST: Singapore workers 'world's unhappiest'

May 30, 2011
Singapore workers ‘world’s unhappiest’
Survey of 14 countries finds local employees are also the least loyal
By Melissa Ho

HATE your work? Dread going in on Monday? Considering quitting your job?

Well, you are not alone. Most of the Singapore workforce is with you, according to one survey.

A poll of employee attitudes in 14 countries has ranked Singapore last in workplace happiness. Unsurprisingly, this correlates to loyalty to employers, where Singapore is again ranked at the rear.

Talent management company Lumesse polled about 4,000 employees from a wide variety of industries.

People were asked about how happy they were at work, whether they felt their skills were properly utilised, the career paths open to them, and the training and career development opportunities they had.

The results put Singapore last in three major areas – we least enjoy going to work, are the least loyal and have the least supportive workplaces.

Only 17 per cent of Singapore’s workforce see themselves staying with their current employer forever. The global average is 35 per cent.

‘Clearly, very few employees feel bonded to their companies. This is going to be a problem as companies are not getting the full potential of workers,’ said Mr Rolf Bezemer, Lumesse’s managing director for Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

At the same time, only 19 per cent of those polled in Singapore look forward to their work each day, compared to the global average of 30 per cent.

When it comes to positive and supportive workplaces, only a paltry 12 per cent vouch that they exist in Singapore. Globally, 20 per cent believe so.

Mr Bezemer attributes Singapore’s poor showing to the lack of transparency and consistency in workplaces here and an absence of stimulating jobs.

Ms Wong Su-Yen, senior partner and Asean managing director for human resources consultancy firm Mercer, said: ‘Strong economic growth in Singapore has led to increased job opportunities, so organisations must work harder than ever to attract and retain people.’

Mr Phillip Overmyer, chief executive at Singapore International Chamber of Commerce, agreed: ‘There are so many opportunities to be employed (in Singapore) that people don’t mind job hopping as they know they can always find something equally good, if not better, elsewhere.’

That might suggest that monetary incentives are the way forward but money does not always make the world go round.

The Lumesse survey found that Singapore performed well on pay, with 14 per cent commenting that their salaries have gone up by at least 20 per cent over five years. The global average is 9 per cent.

Yet people are still leaving.

Ms Majella Slevin, manager for secretarial and support division at human resources firm Robert Walters, added: ‘People stay in jobs also for a good work-life balance and clear career paths.’

They must also feel that they are valued employees, she added

Sales assistant Janice Lin, who turns 26 this year, ‘hopped’ five times before landing her current job.

‘It’s very common for young adults to try out different things for novelty’s sake. A lot of my friends do it,’ she said.

She estimates that an average working person like her will job-hop three times, staying in each place for about a year, before settling down.

In today’s talent-scarce society, perhaps this should be taken as only natural. Rather than fight it, embrace it.

Do not focus on seeking long-term employment from all employees, advises Mr Josh Goh, assistant director, corporate services, for HR firm The GMP Group.

Instead, he said: ‘Focus efforts on building a strong employer brand by harnessing the best from employees during their employment.’

On Thrift : MM Lee Kuan Yew

‘I see no reason why I should impress people by having a big car or changing my suits every now and again to keep up with the latest styles.’

MM Lee is known in Singapore for his simple, down-to-earth lifestyle. He lives in a house which has not been renovated for decades in Oxley Road, prime real estate in the city area. He wears the same worsted wool suits when travelling on planes to go overseas. He was, in a sense, an ecologically conscious consumer long before such a concept became fashionable. Never in favour of the disposable society, he believes in the value of thrift, not over-consuming resources. The day this interview took place, he was wearing a jacket so old, he confessed that the man who tailored it for him had died. His lifestyle is so spartan, he considers it an extravagance for the Prime Minister to wear a new shirt each year for the National Day Rally.

Do you try to recycle?

We haven’t got the system of different dustbins for different items. Our people have yet to understand and would not be able to do it: Bottles, tins, food go into different chutes and bags. We’ll get there sometime.

Another part of being environmentally conscious is not to consume so much, and you’re not particularly a great consumer?

No, I’m not. I eat less, I travel less. I wonder whether I’m right in buying my car. Even if I travelled by the best Mercedes-Benz taxi limousine, it’ll cost me less than what my Lexus is costing me every day. Except that I don’t know what time I’m going to wake up, and take the one kilometre to office, one kilometre back. My car is five years old and it’s only done 20,000km.

In photographs we can see that your wardrobe, your shirts, seem to have been kept for years, decades. You don’t throw away your stuff.

Why should I throw something away which I’m comfortable with? I’m not interested in impressing anybody.

I had a supervisor who taught me criminal law. He used to be a lecturer but, you know, he became old, so he only did supervisions and he had a fireplace that did not give out any smoke because he was gassed in the First World War, and he had a lung problem. He also had a large family. He had leather patches on his coat elbows, knees of his trousers. One student was bold enough to ask him, ‘Sir, are you lacking in clothing?’ He took it gracefully. He laughed and said, ‘That college porter at the gate has to be dressed well. He wears a top hat, always to look smart. I don’t have to dress to impress anybody.’

As I listened to that, I said, ‘It’s inverted snobbery.’ But it makes sense. I see no reason why I should impress people by having a big car or changing my suits every now and again to keep up with the latest styles.

The trouble is my wardrobe is now full up. I’ve got many new suits that are absolutely in good condition because I seldom wear them. I don’t go to office every day wearing a suit, except for formal functions or when I am abroad. They are of finest worsted wool. In fact, the older I get, the less willing I am to spend time putting on a suit and tie. I just have a blouson or a buttoned-up Chinese jacket, and it saves a lot of trouble. I have had them for many years and they are very comfortable.

Isn’t it a virtue though?

No, it is not. You may say it’s a virtue, others think, why is this chap that thrifty? Watch other prime ministers. They always have new ties, new shirts and suits to look good on TV.

I mean, you look at our Prime Minister. He wears a new shirt every year for the National Day Rally. Look, I have no reason to want to impress anybody.

May I ask, how many years have you had your jacket?

This one? It’s a very comfortable jacket. The man who tailored it for me is dead.

How many years have you had it?

I can’t remember now. Nearly two decades or 15 years. And it’s very comfortable.