Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Dear Singaporean PMETs, Here’s What Budget 2016 is Trying to Tell You

By Peter Lin | MoneySmart – 16 hours ago
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Angel  •  1 hour 5 minutes ago Report Abuse
Sounds like a broken record...
I think it is important to focus on reason why PMET are not hired?
MOM officer do mystery shopping to understand whats behind that jobbank website...
One can go upgrade the skills many times. We had seen at job interviews, candidates came in with handful of WSQ certificates but for 2 years still unable to find a job...he is in his 40s...
he said companies said he is TOO QUALIFIED..so having upskill may literally hurt your job search opportunities cos HR folks are very quick to use words like too qualified...you deserve a higher position, etc...
HR folks never really read resume and prepare questions accordingly. most of the time they are interested in what have you been doing, why you change jobs, etc...they are not keen on POTENTIAL that is your skill sets may help grow the company. they are also not interested that you have upgraded with multitasking skills like sales, ops , training, hr but they just like to scan and look for that one skill...
Then they tell u huh only 3 years...we want at least 5 years...sigh..
who are training the HR folks? did they attend training themselves. many HR have not even attended training for god knows when...smile..some sitting in the throne for donkey years...blocking talent from entering...

Many also unable to look long term..unable to see competency but just job tasks..
The lower level cannot perform the job, the older ones are over qualified so these jobs are vacant.

PMETs suffer the most cos there is only one manager example for so many people...

I think most have been attending training for the past 5 years...
Perhaps, time to review number of job vacancies in this category? The other option increase lower level job pay to meet needs of the job seeker at least half way...one can also combine job role...now be creative ....sigh

Instead of waiter or captain, termed them service executives etc...
If an air stewardess in SQ can just serve customer like any waiter can but has a global image...why not other jobs...
The reason is they spend many dollars getting that image....
Now think..should your waitress dressed up..hold a tray elegantly hah...woah lau!
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  • ricky l
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    Ricky L • a second agoRemove
    This seems to be an accurate analysis faced by many matured PMETs.
    It is not under-qualified.
    It is over-qualified that pose a problem to matured PMETs.


    ricky l
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    Ricky L • a second agoRemove
    It is just not enough high productivity, high paying jobs that go around in the market and the Economy - to absorb all the unemployed mature PMETs

    J

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    Jeremy • 36 minutes ago Report Abuse

    Who is driving the HR people ? Or is the HR driving the company ? There seemed that Singapore HR something had gone different direction. First govt talks about there should be employment for those in the middle age and older workers (with skills). But generally, the HR people are just going against the grain. How many HR staff are Singaporeans and foreigners ? What are the age of the HR people ? Why the constantly deny those PMETs of some age ? How was HR taught in the Poly, U, or private instituitions ?

    And there are those old HR bosses who prefers to employ young ones only. And there are some I know whom they are retiring but was not asked to extend or asked to leave, and now they resent their bosses !!

    And now the talk about PMETs to retool themselves, it has been going on for some time already. Endless courses, the one and only people who gain are the trainers !! and those who venture in training businesses. The govt should already have seen it coming long ago. And why are Singapore behind the curve of the industry ??

    My point is not able grumbling but about fire fight. Just the our medical services, delay in building hospitals and found out too late and started to build like mad but lack the training enough medical people.
    ricky l
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    Ricky L • a second agoRemove
    Actually Organisation can re-structure jobs in such a manner that can tap the experience and skillsets of the mature PMETs.

    Eg. enlarging the scope of a few middle role (average paying) jobs into one job that is suitable for mature PMETs - and reward the mature PMETs according to the deliverable produce. Eg. enlarge a presales ICT job of say network, system, storage, virtualisation, software-defined network into one job.

    Or amalgamate a few jobs that cut across various roles into one jobs - eg. pre-sales, project manager, consultant, post-sales into one job (and pay the mature PMETs) higher.

    Now the jobs in organisation are very silo, very small role -- that is why the pay is low and does not harness the experience and skillsets and organising capabiliites of PMETs.
    ricky l
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    Ricky L • a second agoRemove
    The problem is hiring managers will always be afraid that the mature PMETs will take away their jobs because of their experience and abilities to handle larger jobs.

    This is the real problem faced by mature PMETs - not under-skill.

    Thus unless the Economy produce sufficient such high productivity, enlarge jobs ---- the Economy will not be able to find jobs for mature PMETs.
     ricky l
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    Ricky L • a second agoRemove
    Thus hiring managers prefer to hire younger workers or foreigners --- because there is no threat to their jobs (whereas mature PMETs pose such danger).

    Talent hiring is a buzzword - when high paying jobs are abundant and when the Economy is booming.

    Now, 和尚多，粥少。Everyone is trying to protect their own rice bowl. Talent hiring is out of the windows --- that is why so many mature PMETs are out of jobs.

    0users liked this commentThumbs UpThumbs Down0users disliked this comment

    Ricky L • a second agoRemove

    Unless the Economy is able to generate many high productivity, high value and enlarge jobs ---- else it will not be so easy to employ retrenched mature PMETs.



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    Ricky L • a second agoRemove

    And according to SMU’s Prof Koh, this is because the long-term pay-off will hinge on the success of Budget 2016’s economic transformation plan.

    “So if we do the transformation right ... we have a larger pool of better-off middle-class workers. And the tax revenue collected can fund the expenditures without burdening the young as everyone is able to work longer, build better careers, and earn higher salaries, as we are worth the higher salaries for having built, created and sustained value,” said Prof Koh.

    “I’ll only be concerned about the (fiscal) sustainability if we fail to achieve that transformation as a community.”



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    Ricky L • a second agoRemove

    Seems like the business and organisation - need to do the business transformation right and the Economy as a whole need to do the Economic transformation right.

    And the PMETs also need to do the job transformation right.
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FBI iPhone solution may not necessarily crack other cases

The FBI's discovery of a way to hack into the phone of 1 of the San Bernardino killers may not be the master key that allows prosecutors across the country to unlock iPhones in hundreds of more ordinary criminal cases

By Sudhin Thanawala and Bree Fowler, Associated Press | Associated Press – 9 hours ago

ricky l
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Ricky L • a second agoRemove
The deadlock come down to 2 crunches :-

(1) Apple want to protect its business interest - to be able sell its iPhone that is secured - so that customers will buy its iPhone.

(2) FBI and Law Enforcement Agencies want to be able to access the phone of criminals and terrorists - so as to crack criminal cases and bring justice to victims.

Both a legitimate interests :-
(1) Apple - business interest
(2) FBI - national interest, security interest

But can't that be a compromise?

For national and security interest - can't Apple compromise to help?
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ricky l
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Ricky L • a second agoRemove
Or it is just a charade to both :-
(1) safeguard business interest
(2) to protect national and security interest.
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Apple remains in dark on how FBI hacked iPhone without help

TAMI ABDOLLAH
Associated Press
March 30, 2016
ricky l



ricky l6 seconds ago
At first Apple "how lian" - when FBI ask Apple to help to bypass the access to investigate terrorist data - Apple refused to help and go to courts.
Now Apple need to beg FBI to release information what is the security loopholes.
So this is call "karma" - what goes around comes around.
If both mutually come to a compromise to help one another - this karma won't happen.
Irony?
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Annuar Musa: Dr M rankled by Mukhriz’s failure to climb Umno ladder

BY RAM ANAND
The Malay Mail Online
March 30, 2016
ricky l


ricky l6 seconds ago
This is posted in :-
5 March 2016
ricky l
ricky l40 seconds ago
Dr M is willing to do anything - including ruining the country, ruining his party, ruining his friends and foes to achieve his objective - and put his son to be the PM of Malaysia.
Dr M will not nurture anyone else to be the PM of Malaysia - and Dr M will use all sorts of tactics, strategies, including making friends with his previous foes to achieve his objectives.
All, including the future of Malaysia, the future of his party, and everyone else can be his pawn, and can be sacrifice along the way.
Dr M has no intention to nurture any successors except his son.
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Monday, March 28, 2016

Budget 2016’s targeted approach is good, but there’s a catch

Singapore Business Review – 13 hours ago

ricky l
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Ricky L • a second agoRemove
The following is posted on:-

Tuesday, 1 May, 2012 2:57 PM
Ricky Lim
REACH RWEB Submission feedback RWEB2012050100010 via the REACH website: To raise productivity,

To raise productivity, everyone has a part to play :-
1. Business invest in capital tools and send workers for training
2. Workers upgrade skills to operate capital tools
3. Govt provide grants, provide good education, married govt R&D bodies with business etc
4. Government work with various industry to devise objective and tangible KPI to allow business, workers, union, gov, schools etc to shoot for the KPI.
5. Govt, business, bright individuals should scout overseas countries and industries that have make their industries productive and bring it back to Singapore and transform our business to be more productive.
6. Union encourage, provide relevant course for workers to upgrade
7. School train students in right course, right skills and married industry with courses.
8. Home, family members, social bodies have to support working members to provide a conducive environment for working members to be productive.
9. Look at whatever else things that can make the nation productive, to be productive.
10. Peg the wage increase vis-à-vis our regions, our competitors, our international competition to ensure that our wage increase are competitive and will not drive away business – causing massive job losses.

Sent: Tuesday, 1 May, 2012 3:24 PM
To: reachadmin
Subject: REACH RWEB Submission: Govt agenices working with industries to devise prodictivity figures

To elaborate further :-
(1) Ministry of Comm and iDA – should work with IT industries, foreign IT MNCs, local IT vendors etc to devise objective, tangible KPI productive figures in each technology areas and skillsets vis-à-vis global competition and regional competition – so that IT business and IT workers can target to meet the KPI productivity figures – and peg wage growth in % term and/or absolute term to the productivity figures and business profitability. Communicate this to the IT industries, business, IT workers, Union and schools. Make sure we are competitive with our global competitors and regional competitors.
(2) SLA should do the same with construction sector.
(3) Ministry of Finanace and MAS should work with the banking and financial sector. etc
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  • ricky l
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    Ricky L • a second agoRemove
    That is, the concept above is how to transform Singapore Economy in 2016 - sector-by-sector (conceptualising the KPI for each sector) ---- and using targeted approach to transform each sector, each industry one by one.

    Only then productivity in each sector, in each industry can be successfully transformed - supported by empirical, scientific measures.

    Good that after 4 years --- the idea is taken up.
  • ricky l
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    Ricky L • a second agoRemove
    Industry Transformation Maps to be developed for more than 20 sectors
    The maps will have initiatives aimed at increasing collaboration between firms and encouraging firms to invest in manpower.

    By Nicole Tan
    Posted 28 Mar 2016 12:53 Updated 28 Mar 2016 21:54
    PHOTOS
    Workers at a manufacturing facility in Singapore. (File photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)
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    SINGAPORE: More than 20 sectors in Singapore will get an Industry Transformation Map, tailored to the needs of each industry, to help drive productivity and innovation, invest in skills and promote internationalisation.
    The initiative is part of the Industry Transformation Programme outlined in Budget 2016, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat told media on the sidelines of his visit to local firm Feinmetall Singapore on Monday (Mar 28).
    Each map will have initiatives aimed at increasing collaboration between companies and encouraging firms to invest in manpower to deepen skills.
    The maps will also suggest areas of innovation to enable firms to offer new products and services through better use of technology, as well as make a stronger push to help companies internationalise.
    Teams will be set up for each economic sector, with input from various Government agencies including the Economic Development Board (EDB), SPRING Singapore, International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA). They will lead the development of roadmaps for each sector by integrating productivity, training, technology and internationalisation plans.
    The sectors under the Industry Transformation Maps cover more than 80 per cent of Singapore's GDP.
    During his maiden Budget speech last week, Mr Heng unveiled the S$4.5 billion Industry Transformation Programme, targeted at providing support to firms and industries while driving innovation.
    MORE INDUSTRY-WIDE COLLABORATION EXPECTED
    Precision engineering firm Feinmetall has opened its doors to other firms in the industry to share its experience on improving productivity and adopting technology. By June, it plans to roll out training programmes, together with the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i), that other companies in the sector can also tap on.
    "The objective is to teach more people about basic maintenance processes in our company. What we want to do is impart our knowledge as well as share our equipment in our facility to enable more PMETs (professionals, managers, executives and technicians) and engineers to learn about the process of basic maintenance of our probe cards," said Feinmetall Singapore's general manager, Sam Chee Wah.
    Feinmetall said trade associations and chambers have helped to facilitate these efforts.
    Looking ahead, more of such industry-wide collaboration can be expected.
    Precision engineering is just one of more than 20 sectors, covering more than 80 per cent of GDP, set to see new plans drawn up for future growth.
    Speaking at his visit to Feinmetall, Mr Heng said the initiatives are aimed at helping firms pool their knowledge to ensure industries innovate and stay competitive.
    "The challenges we're going to face will be much more complex, much more diverse, and it's going to be a much more fast moving world. Therefore our ability to respond to changes requires us to pool our knowledge in a much more targeted fashion, and in a way that allows us to create solutions and have those solutions proliferate," said Mr Heng.
    "For example, if you look at many industries, many companies face many common problems, and common problems can be solved with a common solution. So if you have a common solution, we should try and replicate it across all the companies, especially SMEs (small and medium enterprises). And in that way, everybody benefits,” he added.

    Budget 2016’s targeted approach is good, but there’s a catch

    Singapore Business Review – 13 hours ago

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    It still lacks specifics, analysts say.

    Experts lauded Budget 2016’s more targeted approach at helping companies ride out the economic downturn, but cautioned that it remains to be seen how the new policies will be implemented in practice.

    “The budget has a lot of specific, targeted schemes. It’s a lot of difficulty getting money out of the government for specific applications so I think jury’s still out on how this will work in practice,” said Shanker Iyer, FCCA, Chairman, Iyer Practice Advisers, speaking at the Singapore Business Review’s Budget Breakfast Briefing 2016.

    Anuj Kagalwala, Asset & Wealth Management Tax Leader at PwC Singapore, added that while the Budget was less broad-based compared to previous years, it is still not as specific as it can be.

    “I think it was not as targeted as we want it to be. The budget was very good on headlines, but lacks specifics,” he said.

    Despite these concerns, the Budget’s targeted approach will still go a long way in helping enterprises combat the downturn.

    “The key message that struck me was the theme of partnership; partnership between the government, the people, and businesses. It is no longer a top-down, or bottom-up approach, and neither is it private or public [centred]. It is now more in terms of a collaboration and partnership efforts,” said Lee Tiong Heng, Tax Partner, Deloitte Singapore.

  • Budget debate: Develop metrics to track efficacy of Govt spending, MPs say

    In Day 1 of the debate over Singapore's 2016 Budget announced by Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat, Members of Parliament focused on the finer details of implementation to ensure that the investments realise their intended outcomes.

    • By Linette Lim
    • Posted 04 Apr 2016 17:00
      •  
    • Updated 04 Apr 2016 19:18
    Singapore Parliament in session. File photo: TODAY
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    SINGAPORE: Efficacy and accountability in government spending emerged as a key area of concern on Monday (Apr 4), the first day of the two week-long Budget and Committee of Supply debates in Parliament.
    In his Budget speech on Mar 24, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced significant spending in the area of support innovation and enterprise, including a S$4.5 billion Industry Transformation Programme.
    Members of Parliament focused on the finer details of implementation, bringing up the need for government spending to be well accounted for, to ensure that the investments realise their intended outcomes.
    METRICS TO TRACK SPENDING
    MP Foo Mee Har (West Coast GRC), for example, wanted to know what measures are in place to track Key Performance Indicators and outcomes on big-ticket investments such as the Industry Transformation Programme and SkillsFuture.
    “This is to ensure that these multi-year schemes achieve policy intent and deliver the expected outcome, namely the boost that’s needed to our capabilities and competitiveness," she said. "What lessons have we learnt from our experience of years past, where well-intentioned productivity schemes, costing billions of dollars, ultimately failed to lift productivity levels?”
    Also addressing the issue of lacklustre productivity growth, Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Leon Perera suggested a productivity benchmarking system for companies.
    “This will be similar to how our household utilities bill show a chart of our electricity and water consumption, compared to similar sized households, and the national average. Economic promotion agencies of the government can agree on a company-level standard for, for example, poor, average, good, and excellent productivity for specific industries,” he said.
    Government agencies could then automate the extraction of data from financial statements filed with ACRA, and use this to derive a figure or rank for each company, said Mr Perera, adding that an improvement on a company’s productivity rank can be used as a criterion to grant access to government incentive schemes.
    MEASURING ROI
    NCMP Associate Professor Daniel Goh noted that Mr Heng had announced significant investments, including a top-up to the National Research Fund.
    Citing the example of the United Kingdom, where public investments are estimated to have yielded social returns of around 20 per cent, he wanted to know if there is a framework in place to measure and evaluate the return on investment (ROI) in innovation and enterprise.
    “The public needs to know exactly how much of the value is being captured for the benefit of the Singapore economy and for the benefit of Singapore society,” he said.
    “If the government has an internal framework to measure and evaluate the ROI in innovation and enterprise, then it should share this with the public, and let Singaporeans know how we are faring vis-à-vis international competitors. If the Government does not have an existing framework, then now is the time to develop a framework to measure ROI in innovation and publicise it,” he said.
    SINGAPORE MUST BENEFIT
    Nominated Member of Parliament Chia Yong Yong also made a call for innovation spending to create intellectual property (IP) that is relevant to Singaporeans and Singapore industries.
    As Singapore is investing “billions of dollars” in innovation, and is “in it for the long haul”, Ms Chia, an IP lawyer, said that investment spending must be prudently disbursed and must realise its intended outcomes.
    “We need to own the IP, or at least, own rights, on a sustained long-term basis,” she said, adding that this issue should be considered more carefully when parties to a government-funded research collaboration involve non-Singaporean entities, which “happens pretty often”.
    She urged the Government to set clear guidelines for the retention of IP which are of strategic value to Singapore: “We want to be able to monetise such intellectual property rights, so that we can receive revenue, whether it be a one-time payment for transfer, or recurring revenue by way of royalties or license fees.”
    - CNA/ll

  • Going for 'long-term vitality, and not short-term fixes' in Budget 2016: Heng Swee Keat

    Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat sums up the essence of the Budget statement, which was approved in Parliament on Wednesday (Apr 6) after two days of debate.

    • By Linette Lim
    • Posted 06 Apr 2016 17:18
      •  
    • Updated 06 Apr 2016 19:52
    Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat speaking at Mediacorp's Budget forum, Ask the Finance Minister. (Photo: Kim Wong)
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      •  
    SINGAPORE: Going for “long-term vitality, and not short-term fixes” – this was how Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat summed up the essence of the 2016 Budget statement, which was approved in Parliament on Wednesday (Apr 6) after two days of debate.
    Taking note that many Members of Parliament have drawn attention to the short-term, cyclical challenges that Singapore faces, as well as longer-term, structural ones, Mr Heng said that this is why the Budget was “carefully calibrated” to address cyclical concerns without impeding restructuring.
    He emphasised that this restructuring – which includes the S$4.5 billion Industry Transformation Programme (ITP) – while seemingly targeted at firms and industries, is ultimately about helping Singaporeans.
    “I hope that all firms will invest in their people, young and old, and start a virtuous cycle of higher skills, higher productivity, higher wages, which can then be reinvested to develop the firms further,” said Mr Heng, adding that firms must play their part by also redesigning jobs and developing staff.
    The Government will do its part, according to Mr Heng, by creating the right jobs, nurturing the right skills in Singaporeans, and enabling the right match between employers and employees, and between skills and jobs.
    WILL WE SUCCEED? “NO TEXTBOOK ANSWER TO POLICY”
    Mr Heng also hit back at those who had cast doubt on the achievements of the restructuring effort, which is now into its sixth year. He defended the Productivity and Innovation Credit Scheme (PIC), which had been singled out by MPs like Ang Wei Neng and Alex Yam as a scheme that was abused.
    He said that the PIC has “largely achieved its objectives”, which comprise raising awareness among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) about productivity and getting SMEs to undertake basic productivity efforts.
    “As at January 2016, 102,000 companies have benefitted from PIC. This is about 70 per cent of all active companies in IRAS’ records for Year of Assessment 2014,” said Mr Heng. “With this broad-based take-up of productivity initiatives, we can now move on to the next phase of restructuring, through the Industry Transformation Programme.”
    As to whether the ITP will succeed, Mr Heng said “there is no textbook answer” when it comes to policy and that the Government will, like businesses, need to embrace a spirit of enterprise.
    “We have some clear ideas of what we need to do, but we must be humble, and we have to figure it out dynamically, learning and improving as we go along, and working in partnership with businesses which know well what are needed,” he said.
    GOVERNMENT WILL STUDY MPs’ PROPOSALS “CAREFULLY”
    Mr Heng noted that many MPs raised proposals to support workers in the tough economic climate. These will be studied carefully, he said.
    Consideration behind any measure which involves Government intervention in the labour market – such as retrenchment benefits and redundancy insurance – must “cohere to be effective over the long term”, and must not undermine the spirit of self-reliance among Singaporeans.
    Mr Heng also called for Budget 2016’s measures to be evaluated “in totality and over the long term”, to avoid a narrow focus on “individual winners and losers”.
    “Our larger goal is to make every Singaporean a winner in the long run,” he said. “When we support our SMEs, we are supporting good jobs for our workers. When we support our seniors, we are helping the families who are taking care of them… and when we keep our tax burden low, especially for the middle income, everyone benefits.”
    He elaborated: “So we have to see (things) in totality, and over the long term. And not just one measure over another, one group over another, and one year versus another year.”
    CLARIFYING CONCERNS, REBUTTING CRITICISM
    Throughout his speech, Mr Heng reiterated that Government support measures must be always calibrated such that they do not undermine the entrepreneurial spirit of firms, and do not weaken the bonds of family and community.
    With that, he addressed MPs’ concerns over specific policy measures, such as the eligibility criteria for the Silver Support scheme, and the proposed cap of S$80,000 on personal income tax reliefs.
    In response to calls for Silver Support – which aims to provide quarterly payouts to the bottom 20 per cent of senior citizens – to include seniors living in 5-room HDB flats or larger, Mr Heng said that there is scope for deserving seniors who “do not qualify automatically” to get help, on a case-by-case basis.
    “We acknowledge that there may be some seniors… who may need help, but do not qualify automatically. Seniors in these exceptional circumstances can request CPF Board to review their eligibility for Silver Support and we’ll consider the merits of each case,” he said.
    On criticism that the cap on personal income tax reliefs penalises working mothers, and runs contrary to the Government’s effort to encourage procreation, Mr Heng said the intent of the move is to make the tax system more progressive, and it would not affected nine in ten of those claiming Working Mothers’ Child Relief.
    “The Government remains committed to supporting Singaporeans in fulfilling their marriage and parenthood aspirations,” he added, noting the raft of measures available, including the baby bonus gifts, Medisave grant, the Child Development Account First Step Grant, and “significant” education subsides.
    In closing, Mr Heng appealed to Singaporeans to work with him.
    “There are many innovations ahead of us that we cannot yet imagine. Many personal and shared triumphs. Many moments of humanity, unity and beauty that will keep defining our Singapore," he said.
    "Through all the good and bad unknowns of the years to come, I hope our spirit of enterprise and caring will run strong. I am honoured and excited to partner fellow Singaporeans on this journey. Let’s get to work together.” 
    - CNA/ll

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