Debate on the Budget Statement 2010 by NMP Mr Terry Lee
Mr. Speaker Sir
I thank the Minister for addressing our pressing need for training, in the budget. I am confident that unions will close ranks with Government, and urge workers to press towards our goal – to improve productivity. Productivity is vital to sustain higher wages, and better lives. Like building a house, Productivity is the foundation Singaporeans should build on. Continuous trainings are the bricks we use. But how well we build this house, depends on the quality of our training, and its implementation, our cement. Lastly, the builder’s skill is important. Not just the tripartite partners, but all Singaporeans have a role to play. We are all building towards a common brighter future.
The link between being more productive and training must first be clearly established. Being better skilled, does not mean I am doing my best. Doing my best with better skills does not mean I get a better pay too. But if everyone is doing their best, with better skills, then I think it makes a big difference to the Nation, as well as our pockets. This is because of the collective effort. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves how we can inspire people to learn, and make the best of what they have learnt. How can we facilitate learning, so that people want to do it, and not feel forced to do it? How can training and being more productive be meaningful to workers, especially low-wage earners?
The call to improve productivity is not new; we have heard it since the 1980s. But what has changed is our situation, especially after the recent global crisis. Companies have paced up their reorganizing, and the world is evolving rapidly. As more companies reengineer, some functions are offshored, and jobs are displaced. During the downturn, we lost slightly over nineteen thousand jobs. And we saw some heart-wrenching cases within the labour movement. Many are low-wage earners, and with only one skill in all their working lives. They become victims of structural changes; and with them, their families; children, and parents who are often of age. I know if they could provide a better life for their families, they will do it. And we know, from our early years, that better skills and knowledge is the key that unlocks the door to a world of opportunities. But some workers are trapped in a vicious cycle. Trying to make ends meet alone is a daily question. What long-term aspirations could they have?
Low-wage workers face a multitude of challenges in reality. They need to juggle between earning a living, and the time to care for their families; especially those living with aged parents, with medical needs, or those living with young children. To some, one job is just not enough, they need another income. So the time and money needed to train, naturally becomes secondary. But “enlightened” employers who value training can help them overcome these challenges. It will be helpful where employers send them during working hours, and help them with the cost. But we know employers, especially SMEs, also face difficulties with a lean workforce. But still, there is that need to train workers where possible, and employers are responsible for it. So we can do more to help companies, especially SMEs. But through the years, we extended many helping hands to financially support employers to train their workers. But, the impact I observed, seems minimal to low-wage workers.
The 2009 workforce report suggests, that as at June last year, 22 percent of around 401 thousand resident workers earned less than one-thousand two hundred monthly. And it shows that this percentage hovered around 22 to 26 percent for the past ten years. But we did see great improvements prior to that. From 1996 to 2001, we saw a drop from 35 to 25 percent – a 10 percent drop of low-wage workers. I hope that we can relive the past success, or even surpass it. And I am confident, as I urge the new National Productivity and Continuing Education Council to give low-wage workers more attention.
Yes, I strongly believe training gives us the ability, capacity and confidence to be better at what we do. But can you really train someone to be more productive? Or is it a question of attitude and corporate culture? Companies that are successful will testify that a better equipped workforce reaps handsome profits, and create happier customers. They will also tell you, skills alone is not enough; you need a good corporate culture to support it too. A culture where people want to excel and improve, and are not afraid to make mistakes and take chances. They must not feel the threat of being thumbed down, or sidelined.
The fear of failure and shame often hinders people to learn new things, and try new ways of doing things. But people must also understand there are consequences to making mistakes. But if consequences are devastating, no one will “rock the boat”, nothing will improve.
So there are a multitude of factors for success such as how learning costs are absorbed, and how you recognise efforts. Such factors drive home the point that management is serious about training, but they are also serious about putting what you’ve learnt to good use. And at the end of it, good performers are promoted, while those who really tried but missed the mark, are given a second chance. These are important to spur a learning culture, and innovation. But a culture only becomes successful when it leads to tangible benefits. For people to feel that upgrading and being their best is important; it must lead to better wages, and better lives.
Changing cultures take time. They are long processes that must be managed carefully. If rushed through, the results may be worse from what we first imagined. And it will take double the effort to undo it. But positive starts lead to positive results. And to start things right, we must put people first. We must look into their concerns, problems and feelings. The emotional state often gets missed when we race against time to see results. But it is a key area of concern; it decides how well or how badly people take to changes. In other words, the “buy-in” from everyone to give it their best shot, makes or breaks. It also decides if the changes are sustainable on the long-run.
For a start, we can promote learning. Let us make learning easy, practical and bring it to the doorsteps. Learning need not happen in classes only. It can be in our neighbourhoods, our walkways and byways. We can free up our neighbourhood schools when there are no classes. Various social groups, educational groups, even businesses can use them to speak and introduce their area of expertise. We can use void-decks to hold exhibitions too. There is a social purpose behind this; it promotes the corporate social responsibilities of organisations. But it also makes commercial sense, as it offers a cheaper way to promote goods and services. But it must benefit Singaporeans. I know our PA and the community centres are doing a lot to introduce courses, but more can be done to reach out to people, especially the low-wage groups.
Sir, the idea is to allow learning to happen everywhere.
But this should not compromise our efforts in stepping up on OJTs – or on the-job-trainings. Since workers face multiple challenges to go for training, let us bring training to them. Intensify OJTs in breadth and depth. This means programs can be customised to build competencies as well as generic skills. Besides learning to be better in what they are already doing, they can be trained to take on higher-valued work, or to be more productive in what they do. There must be strategies for implementation, follow-ups and improvements. So we may also need to help management and HR practitioners do this. Our unions are already engaging employers on how to raise productivity and help workers see better days. But this is largely within the unionised sector for now.
We need to bring experiential learning to a new level, and the idea is to integrate a learning culture with work. For example, in the past, work is done manually. But as technology improves, work gradually moves online and on softcopies. But while learning certain software like Microsoft Words, or Excel; there will be spill-over in learning. People pick up other knowledge as well, like emailing or Internet skills.
Sir, to effectively integrate a learning culture with work, especially for low-wage workers, we need to be focused, and practical in our approaches. We need to show workers, how all this talk about being more productive and training makes sense to them; not only at the National level, but at a very personal level too.
We need to make learning and learning communities a widespread reality. We need to integrate a learning culture with work. We can develop these ideas further. But it is crucial to recognise that the productivity we knew in the 80s must evolve today. And it calls for us to find more creative ways to reach our goal. We are no longer dealing with only labour intensive industries and work, but we are gradually moving into a new age of imagination and innovation. We need to remind ourselves that whatever we do; there is always a more efficient, faster, and better way of getting things done. As we call it in the labour movement, our CBF way.
I believe we can do it, and help workers, especially low-wage workers. I am confident in the resolve of our tripartite spirit, but I am even more confident in the spirit of our fellow Singaporeans. We have proven we have a strong will to survive since independence, and we have done well all these years. We have come far as a Nation in a short time. This is not credit only to competent and clean leadership, but it is also the effort of every Singaporean.
I believe Singaporeans understand that there are no magical solutions, and there is need for hard decisions sometimes. It is not always easy. Those affected are unhappy and that is natural. But I believe our track record in serving Singapore and Singaporeans stand unchallenged. Our children today have better lives, better future than many of us had in the past.
But I hope all Singaporeans see both, the opportunities and threats before us. We do not decide what they are; we alone cannot change the world. But we can decide how we react to them. And that decides how bright our future will be. We need everyone to do their part. Because a brighter future does not belong to a few, it belongs to all Singaporeans.
Sir, I support the budget.
