This family counted their blessings!

Image via Wikipedia

I was fascinated as I read how this family made it through, or simply, pulling it through, the hard times in their life, even as the husband lost his job and had to stay home as what they call 'househusband' - a complete and opposite expectation from the local communities family structure, where the man works and the wife stays at home as the 'housewife.'

No, that isn't even the message that I wanted to point out here.

My point to make is that it doesn't matter anymore what others are saying, what your neighbours (especially if they can't help you) may think and say about the 'changes' that you apply in your family structure is irrelevant, so you can continue with your life - through the hard times.

Besides, there is nothing wrong with the adjustment you make.

Perhaps, it is time to 'open up' the mind, instead of the mouth.

I say, they are still a respectable family, in that the husband and wife will do even the 'unusual' to raise their family - and still keep being respectable.

Read on.....

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Adapting as a househusband

Letter from Zhang Lianguo

I REFER to "Count your blessings" (April 23) and would like to share my story as a househusband.

Similar to Budget Tai Tai's friend, Househusband (myself) was told by his boss that his services were no longer required by the company on an otherwise normal day in 2008.

All he received for his immediate release was two months' pay in lieu of notice.

After going through the "anger-denial-acceptance-frustration-calm-down" psychological process, Househusband decided to move on and start again despite being in his mid-40s.

Times are hard. It is tough for a middle-aged man to get back on the professional track.

Househusband cast his net wide to secure a job. However, he saw all his applications come to nothing.

As with many unsuccessful cases, he was categorised as either over-qualified or not experienced enough.

At a walk-in interview, he was told politely: "Sir, I am afraid this is a mis-match for the job which you are applying for."

Looking around the function hall teeming with young job-seekers with black hair prevailing over those with grey hair, Househusband left without questioning the rationale of the statement.

If not for a "Corporate Wife", Househusband would have probably been a taxi driver now. After weighing all factors, Househusband opted to be a househusband. (Actually there weren't many options left.)

Mine is a typical Singaporean family: Husband and wife were full time employees. The children attended school, while a foreign domestic helper (FDH) attended to the household chores.

With household reduced to a single income, the priority was to tighten daily expenses.

With a full time Househusband installed, the post of FDH seemed to be redundant. When the incumbent FDH left for home after her work permit expired, another was not hired.

My situation was a challenge to the family, as it totally "derailed" the traditions of the society we live in.

Well, as change becomes the norm in today's life, adapting is the way to go.

You might have noticed that even the taxman had rephrased the phrase "Dependent Wife" to "Dependent Spouse".

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Taken from TODAY, Voices - Tuesday, 27-April-2010
Adapting as a househusband
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EMPHASIS ON OLDER, LOW-WAGE WORKERS

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SINGAPORE - As the Government invests in continuing education, it will place "additional emphasis" on older, low-wage workers, said Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday.

This will be done through a new Workfare Training Scheme (WTS), and enhancements to the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme.

Under the three-year WTS, employers will be given 90 to 95 per cent funding for absentee payroll and course fee outlays. Workers who complete skills upgrading training will be given up to $400 a year in cash grants.

Those with very low skills, including the unemployed, can also sign up for a structured training programme.

The scheme seeks to help older workers, even though it is open to all eligible WIS recipients, who are 35 and above, said Mr Shanmugaratnam.

The WIS itself will see two enhancements. First, WIS will be extended to workers earning up to $1,700 per month, up from the current limit of $1,500.

Secondly, the maximum payouts for the WIS will be increased by between $150 to $400, with more going to older workers. Workers who have worked at least three months in any six-month period in the year, now get between $180 and $2,400.

With the higher WIS payout, a 60-year-old will get $400 more, bringing his total annual WIS payment to $2,800. Likewise, a 55-year-old earning $1,000 monthly will receive an additional 18-per-cent top-up to his pay through the WIS.

Mr Shanmugaratnam called this a "significant intervention".

The enhanced WIS will cost an additional $100 million annually, and will benefit about 400,000 low-wage earners.

Mr Tim Hird, managing director of Robert Half Singapore, said both schemes would help employers retain experienced and valuable employees, while Food Drinks and Allied Workers' Union general secretary Tan Hock Soon said the Government support will "put more workers at ease" about going for training.

But the owner of Crusade Cleaning Services, Mr Peter Ko, said while the schemes are encouraging, "older workers have no motivating factor to upgrade themselves".

However, he is more than willing to send keen younger workers for English-language courses, having previously paid for them out of his own pocket.

Mayor for South West District Amy Khor said the "mental barriers" that employees cannot spare the time for upgrading, or fear they are not educated enough can be overcome "with time". She noted that the WTS funding would "encourage employers", and while the $400 cash grant "is not a huge sum, it is significant for many lower-income families".

From TODAY, Tuesday, 23-Feb-2010

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A crisis of compassion

BUDGET TAI-TAI

The husband's been retrenched — and they didn't do it kindly

Tabitha Wang, voices@mediacorp.com.sg

IT HAS finally happened. The day had started well. My landlord had offered to lower our rent, I'd just won a plushie on Facebook ... then my husband came back with the dreaded news: He'd been retrenched.

There had been no warning. One moment he was working his heart out, grateful for a job, and the next he was called into the office and told to go. No, not fired — because then they'd have to pay him compensation.

He didn't fit in with the culture, they said — which is a bucketful of horse manure because if that had been the case, they'd have told him that during his annual review. They were simply looking for a chance to trim their budget.

Just like that, he will be out of a job soon. Which leaves us stuck after having cut ties and moved here. Worst, as we didn't see it coming, I didn't go for a full-time position in my office when it came up last year so now there is no job security for me either.

It's all the more worrying, given the figures. That same week, it was announced that Hong Kong's jobless rate is now at its highest in three years and expected to rise to 8 per cent, higher even than during the Asian financial crisis in 1998.

So, I am not optimistic about him finding a job soon.

Just as it had been five years ago, the crisis has shown me who my true friends are. One dropped everything to spend a night with me while my husband was away to make sure I didn't do anything stupid, another invited us to her home for a brainstorming session while numerous others generously shared contacts and job opportunities with us.

The ones who drive me up the wall are those who say: "You think that's bad? Wait till you hear about my life" then go on to complain about something banal like some guy not liking her or kid not doing well at school.

Watch your words

If you meet someone who has lost his job, please don't say:

"How are you today?"
(Just as miserable as yesterday, thank you.)

"Found a job yet?" (What? In two days?)

"Why don't you go to church/temple/synagogue?" (To everything there is a season and this is not it.)

My mum said the right thing: "Come home." But it's not that easy. Singapore also has problems of its own, with its unemployment rate at a four-year high.

As Hong Kong's economy is still faring slightly better than Singapore's, we probably stand a better chance staying put.

Besides, the stories I hear coming from Singapore are equally depressing. One guy, a vice-president in a big firm, was summoned into his boss' room and scolded for bad performance.

That, after 20 years of brilliant appraisals.

The boss kept at him until he agreed to resign. That was the boss' aim all along so that, as in my husband's case, they wouldn't have to pay compensation. The company was still making money and the truth was, the boss wanted to put his own man in that post — the credit crunch was just an excuse.

Never mind that the poor guy had two young kids and that his wife's contract was already not going to be renewed.

In the face of the 2Cs, credit crisis, it seems that employers are missing the third C: Compassion. The worst are opportunists who see the crisis as an excuse to fire even through the firm is still profitable.

So newsflash, employers: When making someone redundant, don't come up with pathetic "it's not me, it's you" excuses like bad performance or not fitting in with company culture. Just tell the real reason: You want him out because well, maybe your mum wasn't married to your dad.

The excuses may help you sleep at night but think about the poor employee who will have to piece back his self-respect before he can look for another job again.

Well, I firmly believe that what comes around, goes around. So, employers, how you treat your staff in these trying times will find a way to get back to you.

The day you lose your job, your hair falls out, your kids turn juvenile delinquents and you have to take up residence with my old friend Mr Loony in the lift lobby, know that your former employees will be queuing up for front-row tickets to your downfall.

Tabitha Wang wants to know if anyone has any openings for an editorial director, financial analyst or business/finance academic.

From TODAYOnline.com; see the source article here.

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Call for a review of foreign worker policy

What do I say about this?

That in the past… (1) Locals can be so choosy in their jobs, (2) Anytime they don't like anything in their current job, they can quit, (3) They are so spoiled in that they can easily find a new job right after quitting from the previous one, (4) They can demand for their salary, (5) They don't like getting barked at or 'coerced', or 'pushed' in their jobs, (6) Anytime they feel they are the underdog, they quit! And finally, (7) Locals are so arrogant that they are afraid to 'lose face' – they don't take jobs that are low-down, dirt-level, and menial – especially the service sectors.

With the influx of foreign workers, and mostly workers who will work their bones out no matter what, and remain in their jobs no matter what, this posed a 'great distress' to the locals' arrogance and self-conceit: many talented and persevering foreigners can do the job at a lower pay, with none or less complaints, more compliance than murmuring, security to the employer with less turnover, better output due to better skills, less cost with less trainings needed for new employees every now and then… name it – they don't have it!

This is my view. My opinion. And again, it is based on my experience and observation. They are threatened, but wake them up by what they fear most: doing the low-down, dirt-level, menial and 'serving-others' job, and they'll keep mum and whimper like a beaten dog that will go away with its tail between its legs.

It is more of a culture than a personal trait… born to be arrogant… proud… NOT ALL, but most… and cannot even deliver!

Anyway, if this should come, let it be. They will rule their country in a way that they deem best – for their countrymen.

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Should Singapore tighten its "liberal" foreign worker policies? Some Members of Parliament think so and have called for a Government review.

Jurong MP Halimah Yacob urged for a review of foreign worker quotas to reflect today's situation of higher unemployment and weaker job creation. She warned of a "hollowing out of skills" among locals, should large numbers of foreigners occupy jobs in a particular sector.

"There are now so many foreign workers even in the services sector that Singaporeans are beginning to feel squeezed out," she said. For their part, Singaporeans must be prepared to work in new sectors or work further away from home.

Ang Mo Kio MP Inderjit Singh believes Singapore needs more pro-active measures such as a minimum-wage system to make some jobs more attractive to locals — a call the Opposition has made in the past — as well as reserving certain jobs for Singaporeans.

Middle- and lower-income groups here will be worse off over time with the current liberal policies due to "artificially depressed" wages — a result of "competition for low value-added jobs from foreigners", he said. NEO CHAI CHIN

From TODAYOnline.com, Top News – Tuesday, 26-May-2009; see the source article here.

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3 applicants for every job

Recruitment of Teachers
Dr Ng gives update on efforts and schemes to retain, attract teachers

Teo Xuanwei
xuanwei@mediacorp.com.sg

THE Ministry of Education (MOE) has received close to 10,000 applications in the first four months of this year alone for the 3,000 teaching positions available.

So far, some 1,500 have already been recruited, said Education Minister Ng Eng Hen at his ministry’s promotion ceremony yesterday, which saw over 7,000 MOE officers rise up the ranks.

The MOE has also hired some 380 allied educators and is on track to hit its target of 680 this year, Dr Ng noted. Allied educators support teachers in areas like counselling and teaching.

Since it announced in December plans to add 7,500 employees to it payroll this year, the MOE has been stepping up its recruitment efforts, including participating in job fairs and holding its own recruitment drives.

It is among a host of government agencies that aims to increase hiring this year in a bid to give the slowing economy a fillip.

Giving an update on the various measures to attract and retain teachers, Dr Ng said about 1,000 teachers are using new schemes like the Professional Development Packages, Masters and Doctoral Study Leave, and Teachers’ Work Attachment to pursue higher education.

To partially ease the load on the regular teaching force, MOE has re-employed more than 1,500 retired teachers as adjunct teachers to tap on their “vast experience and knowledge”.

Schools have also introduced flexible working arrangements and enhanced maternity and childcare leave schemes to help teachers achieve work-life balance, said Dr Ng.

For instance, the number of part-time teachers rose from 300 in 2007 to 440 last year, he added.

Even as more than three-quarters of the 29,300 teachers here are graduates, Dr Ng urged teachers to be “self-directed learners and take ownership of their professional growth” to develop a culture of professional excellence in the teaching force.


From TODAY, News – Friday, 10-April-2009

Hello, here’s my namecard

PINK-SLIP PARTY

Cheow Xin Yi

cheowxinyi@mediacorp.com.sg

 

IT WAS touted as a “pink-slip party” — for those who had been handed the dreaded retrenchment letter — to meet potential recruiters.

But as it turned out, some 150 of the 200 attending yesterday’s social networking event organised by local recruitment magazine Headhunt, were still drawing regular pay cheques.

So what were they doing at Harry’s bar at the Esplanade? The fear of losing their current jobs drove them to the gathering, according to statistics gathered by RJ Media, Headhunt’s publisher.

Most of the participants, who averaged 41 years of age and are in senior managerial positions across all sectors, cited uncertainities in their present jobs and the desire to seek new opportunities for attending the event, which levied a $15 fee.

“It’s always good to be proactive (in seeking new jobs) during such times. More bad news is on its way and you never know when you may be the next to go,” said the head of a real estate investment department from a bank.

Another participant, an IT project manager in a multi-national corporation, relished the idea of giving out namecards to headhunters present and having them “key in your particulars into their database”. He added: “It’s a good place to meet recruiters, you never know what opportunities you may get.”

For those really in need of work, like ex-banker Daniel Lim, the occasion was an “excellent” setting to source out prospective employers rather than going to regular job fairs. “Especially in my industry, they don’t advertise through job fairs, it’s always through word-of-mouth and networking,” he said.

“It’s imperative that people get out and meet others in a casual setting. It’s interesting that you can meet them all in one spot. The job may not come tomorrow, but at least you have left an impression and your name out there.”

Of the 29 firms present, 27 were recruitment and headhunting agencies, like Robert Walters and Chris-Allen Search. The other two were direct employers — a bank and a commodities trading firm, which declined to be named.

Recruiters at the event were full of praise, with most predicting that it would be a trend as the recession bites deeper, throwing more people out of work.

Besides Headhunt, another recruitment firm — online job portal Vawch.com — had previously held two such parties, with less than 90 and 45 people attending each session.

Given yesterday’s response — about a 1,000 had applied to attend but most had to be turned away — recruiters foresee such parties as the way ahead for Singapore.

“It will be popular as long as the recession is around,” said Mr Christopher Leong, a partner at Chris-Allen Search.

In fact, Headhunt is planning to hold another in the next few months. It will be more industry-specific, such as those catering to sectors like banking or IT, said Mr Jamie Yap, managing director of RJ Media.

 

From TODAY, News – Thursday, 09-April-2009