More efficient cleaners?
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QUOTE (CNA 20.5.2006)
SINGAPORE: To improve productivity in Singapore in the years ahead, Deputy Secretary-General of the NTUC, Lim Swee Say has said there are two ways to do so.
One is for Singapore to be cheaper and better than its competitors and the other is to make a quantum leap in the productivity of low waged workers.
But this does not mean a small percentage in productivity but a 50 to even 100 percent increase.
Mr Lim said this may translate to higher incomes for these workers too.
One key area that will help in this effort is job recreation and redesigning jobs for example of hawker centre cleaners.
Instead of supporting a small number of stalls, by doubling their support, they also double their productivity.
Mr Lim made the observations when he was speaking to members of the Singapore Productivity Association Dinner Friday night. - CNA /dt UNQUOTE
Our ministers who are in charge of economic and manpower planning should know more than increasing productivity of cleaners.
How about enlarging the capabilities of workers in administrative, production, enforcement, revenue, accounting, services, and all other areas.
It is like lip service to say that there is improvement in productivity when there is not but merely look-good presentation.
Enlarge the work processes to make such work processes embrace larger role for workers who can do so in the working place so that they could earn more while reducing overall wage costs for companies.
For example, if administrative assistants can cover the duties of administrative executives, why shouldn't administrative assistants be given the upgrade and be paid more?
Fore more information: study proposals at: www.managefranchise.blogspot.com. -
Har nor, NTU very good at this also.
Cut cost by 50%, same productivity output = more efficient professors
School fee increase some more.
Soon to be world-class uni liao!
Of course, professor can also become cleaner lah!
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Ageing NTU professor gets full-time lesson in 'half-pay'
Friday • May 19, 2006
Tor Ching Li
[email protected]
IT'S not just the old and unskilled workers who are having difficulty finding or keeping their jobs at a reasonable pay. Even some university professors are now finding their value slashed by half once they hit the age of 55.
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) associate professor Dr Tham (not his real name), who turns 55 next month, told Today that he has been offered a two-year, "half-time, half-pay" scheme — also called the Associate Professorial Fellowship — by NTU.
Said Dr Tham: "It was a shock to be offered such terms after working for the organisation for over 25 years. But either I accepted the terms or I had to leave."
Technically, the package cuts his workload, along with his pay, by half. In addition, he was also told to move from an office of his own to share one with another older academic staff on the scheme — or a "half-office", as Dr Tham calls it. But the real rude shock for Dr Tham, who has a PhD from Britain, came when he later checked his teaching roster for next month under the scheme: It was exactly the same as his current workload.
"I thought I will be given a lighter teaching workload, but I will be working as much as I am now, which is not the 'half-time' commitment that the contract stated," said Dr Tham.
Asked about this, NTU's human resources vice-president, Mrs Angela Lim, said: "The focus for the half-time scheme is to carry out teaching duties. This is different from full-time faculty whose workload is to be apportioned in the areas of teaching, research and service. As such, the workload of faculty on the half-time scheme is generally halved, even with a full-teaching roster."
Saying that the scheme has been in place since the 1990s, Mrs Lim added: "There is sufficient time to prepare lessons, mark assignments and attend to examination matters with the working load halved."
Disagreeing with this assessment, the professor said that he now works five days a week, from 8.30am to 5.45pm, and can't see how his workload has been halved. "The fact is I have been allocated the same number of teaching hours. Do they think that, after 55, it will take me half the time to prepare classes, set assessments and mark examinations?"
While the National Wages Council has been encouraging employers to retain workers beyond the age of 62, some older NTU teaching staff are upset that their retirement age is just 55.
The other local universities — the National University of Singapore and the Singapore Management University — both offer tenures till the age of 65.
NTU's stand is that it engages its retired staff on a part-time basis where there is a need and that its regular faculty members are expected to meet performance standards in the areas of teaching, research and service — an internationally-accepted practice.
But one NTU academic countered: "I suppose the university thinks that younger minds are better suited for research, but that does not mean they are better teachers. You can't replace 20-odd years of experience with textbook knowledge."
Offered such "half-time" terms, some professors have left NTU to join other universities, locally or overseas, who accept staff beyond 55 years old on a full-time tenure. Universities in Australia offer tenures for life, till the professor decides to retire. SMU says it offers faculty above 65 employment on a contract basis with no great reduction in pay.
However, the problem for most academic staff nearing NTU's retirement age is the lack of choice. Said a mechanical engineering professor, who will turn 55 next year: "After spending most of our time in academia, it is not so easy to find work in the industry unless you have been constantly engaging in consultation work. So, most of us have no choice but to accept whatever terms are given and stay on."
Nevertheless, there is one new innovation that Dr Tham may well exploit — an online resignation Web portal. He said: "Nowhere else can you resign with one click. I may be using it soon." -
In the period 1970s- 1980s, the economy grew causing inflations and wage rises. Government introduced public sector iwage restructuring in order to retain talents and attract new ones.Originally posted by ObviousMan:Har nor, NTU very good at this also.
Cut cost by 50%, same productivity output = more efficient professors
School fee increase some more.
Soon to be world-class uni liao!
Of course, professor can also become cleaner lah!
_________________________________________________________
Ageing NTU professor gets full-time lesson in 'half-pay'
Friday • May 19, 2006
Tor Ching Li
[email protected]
IT'S not just the old and unskilled workers who are having difficulty finding or keeping their jobs at a reasonable pay. Even some university professors are now finding their value slashed by half once they hit the age of 55.
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) associate professor Dr Tham (not his real name), who turns 55 next month, told Today that he has been offered a two-year, "half-time, half-pay" scheme — also called the Associate Professorial Fellowship — by NTU.
Said Dr Tham: "It was a shock to be offered such terms after working for the organisation for over 25 years. But either I accepted the terms or I had to leave."
Technically, the package cuts his workload, along with his pay, by half. In addition, he was also told to move from an office of his own to share one with another older academic staff on the scheme — or a "half-office", as Dr Tham calls it. But the real rude shock for Dr Tham, who has a PhD from Britain, came when he later checked his teaching roster for next month under the scheme: It was exactly the same as his current workload.
"I thought I will be given a lighter teaching workload, but I will be working as much as I am now, which is not the 'half-time' commitment that the contract stated," said Dr Tham.
Asked about this, NTU's human resources vice-president, Mrs Angela Lim, said: "The focus for the half-time scheme is to carry out teaching duties. This is different from full-time faculty whose workload is to be apportioned in the areas of teaching, research and service. As such, the workload of faculty on the half-time scheme is generally halved, even with a full-teaching roster."
Saying that the scheme has been in place since the 1990s, Mrs Lim added: "There is sufficient time to prepare lessons, mark assignments and attend to examination matters with the working load halved."
Disagreeing with this assessment, the professor said that he now works five days a week, from 8.30am to 5.45pm, and can't see how his workload has been halved. "The fact is I have been allocated the same number of teaching hours. Do they think that, after 55, it will take me half the time to prepare classes, set assessments and mark examinations?"
While the National Wages Council has been encouraging employers to retain workers beyond the age of 62, some older NTU teaching staff are upset that their retirement age is just 55.
The other local universities — the National University of Singapore and the Singapore Management University — both offer tenures till the age of 65.
NTU's stand is that it engages its retired staff on a part-time basis where there is a need and that its regular faculty members are expected to meet performance standards in the areas of teaching, research and service — an internationally-accepted practice.
But one NTU academic countered: "I suppose the university thinks that younger minds are better suited for research, but that does not mean they are better teachers. You can't replace 20-odd years of experience with textbook knowledge."
Offered such "half-time" terms, some professors have left NTU to join other universities, locally or overseas, who accept staff beyond 55 years old on a full-time tenure. Universities in Australia offer tenures for life, till the professor decides to retire. SMU says it offers faculty above 65 employment on a contract basis with no great reduction in pay.
However, the problem for most academic staff nearing NTU's retirement age is the lack of choice. Said a mechanical engineering professor, who will turn 55 next year: "After spending most of our time in academia, it is not so easy to find work in the industry unless you have been constantly engaging in consultation work. So, most of us have no choice but to accept whatever terms are given and stay on."
Nevertheless, there is one new innovation that Dr Tham may well exploit — an online resignation Web portal. He said: "Nowhere else can you resign with one click. I may be using it soon."
This policy appeared to be valid during growth phase of the economy. Professors, doctors, professionals all got their wage rises with promotional scales pushing up public sector wage costs three times.
This wage restructuring of the public sector was sustainable during the growth period. However since 1980s, Singapore economy has been on the down trend due to periodic recessions. Private sector Wages did not go up like the public sector and in fact came down.
As a result, HDB, SIA, PSA, MediaCorp and now university professors' wages are subjected to competitive pressures from the market forces. HDB had to close down whole departments and sections retrenching thousands of employees. MediaCorp suffered heavy losses mainly due to their following public sector wage costs which were too high.
PSA and SIA went through the same market corrections. Now lately university professors too have to take wage cuts if they want to stay competitive. If they don't they will suffer deficits or losses as reported by Lee Han Shih at one time in the case of HDB. When MM Lee intervened in SIA's wage disputes with the pilots, he must have known about why SIA wage costs were uncompetitive as their wages were pushed up by the wage restructuring for the whole period with many officers of SIA on secondments from the public sector.
The next on the list for correction appears to be hospitals when more regional hospitals are competing with ours fiercely.
Only one sector i.e. public sector wages was insulated because its wages were borne by taxpayers who did not have the power to intervene.
Those departments which outsourced their less critical services like M&E services of hospitals and Car parking divisions of URA could verify these facts that public sector wages were too high and when outsourced they enjoy better results.
Now we have to ask whether public sector's ministers and MPs are overpaid. Let the market place decide. Outsource some ministerial functions to the private sector where their works are not too sensitive or critical e.g. the mundane security services of police force.
Take a look too at NKF. If its CEO at $600,000 pa was too expensive to pay, will it not cause problems with patients' fees and their subsidies.
What goes up has to come down and if they don't ministers will have no right to increase taxes or fees.
Ask the SIA, PSA to show ministers their comparison wage costs before and after restructuring. Let the fact speak for themselves. Do not shield the ministers or the SBS by approving their fee increases. Such fee increases might be most unjustifiable until actions are taken first to trim their fats. -
so much for the extension of retirement age.
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Originally posted by ObviousMan:
We must respect old people..Hokien saying "Lau Lang Shi Heng Lang Chung Keng A" So don't shamed me further, I already given the respect leh. -
Originally posted by king108: We must respect old people..Hokien saying "Lau Lang Shi Heng Lang Chung Keng A" So don't shamed me further, I already given the respect leh.
Anyway, they better work until their last day, so that all their money will be left behind.. -
Regretfully, there are no specific guidelines or interaction of demand and supply of market forces to determine what should the pay of ministers be, not unless the world is one gigantic country. However, there is an argument for it. Let me first define two economic concept.Originally posted by robertteh:Now we have to ask whether public sector's ministers and MPs are overpaid. Let the market place decide. Outsource some ministerial functions to the private sector where their works are not too sensitive or critical e.g. the mundane security services of police force.
Take a look too at NKF. If its CEO at $600,000 pa was too expensive to pay, will it not cause problems with patients' fees and their subsidies.
What goes up has to come down and if they don't ministers will have no right to increase taxes or fees.
Ask the SIA, PSA to show ministers their comparison wage costs before and after restructuring. Let the fact speak for themselves. Do not shield the ministers or the SBS by approving their fee increases. Such fee increases might be most unjustifiable until actions are taken first to trim their fats.
1. Transfer earning is defined as payment to any factor of production in preventing the factor from being transferred to its next best alternative.
2. Economic rent is defined as that price paid to any factor of production that is in completely inelastic supply.
You will have to agree with me that a person who possesses the exemplary leadership quality, honesty, talented, hardworking attitude, capable and lastly but not the least patriotic is indeed a rare find and the blessing of a nation. As such, the economic rent serves as a guide by rationing the available supply(person) to the most efficient use. I.e. to hold office.
Meanwhile in a competitive market place where booming private enterprises and MNCs are vying for this rare breed of leaders, are offering attractive wages. To counteract, the wage offered known as transfer earning has definitly got to be tag higher than the equilibrium of private sector wages rate.
Henceforth, the likelihood explanation of ministers holding high wages in my opinion can be due the form of transfer earning + economic rent because of the scarce natural talents they possessed.