NTUC Secretary-General, Brother Lim Swee Say
NTUC Deputy Secretary-General, Brother Heng Chee How
Mdm Kay Kuok, President Singapore Hotel Association
Sister Margaret Heng, Executive Director, Singapore Hotel Association
President FDAWU, Brother Abdul Subhan
General Secretary FDAWU, Brother Tan Hock Soon
Cluster Lead HCBC, Brother Yeo Guat Kwang
Ladies and gentlemen
Welcome to the annual FDAWU/NTUC/SHA Productivity Seminar. This is your 30th year of productivity drive.
Higher Productivity by Making Work Lighter
Lately, I witnessed two different kinds of hotel restaurant servers. For the first kind, the server come to you, patiently copies your order, brings the order to the kitchen. When the food is ready, a kitchen runner brings the dishes out from the enclosed kitchen to the table, and the server transfers the dishes from the runner to your table. When you decide to pay, you signal to him. He comes to you, you tell him you want to settle the bill, he makes a trip to the cashier to fetch the bill, you give him your credit card, he goes back to the cashier, brings you a chit to sign, you sign and leave, and he goes back to the cashier to deposit your chit. For the second kind, he uses a device to take your orders, which are then electronically transmitted to the kitchen. When the dishes are ready, the server, not the runner, brings them directly to you, because it is an open kitchen. When you want to pay, he comes to you, shows your bill using his device. You hand him the credit card, he swipes it through his device, and the chit is printed on the spot, you sign, he confirms, and the information is transferred electronically to the cashier.
That’s the difference between the two types of servers? The first is low productivity, while second is high productivity. Unfortunately, the first is in Singapore, the second overseas. Which involves harder work? Actually it is the first, low productivity one. This is a case of higher productivity is achieved by making lighter work.
True productivity, like the second example, often makes work lighter for workers. It is only when routine work becomes easier, that the worker is able to serve customers better, and able to go the extra mile to impress customers. In the hotel sector, there can be many examples where higher productivity makes work easier. There are IT systems can make front desk registration paperless. In Europe, there are even drive-through check-ins facilities for motels, without the guest having to go to the reception. For Singapore, such systems may have certain security implications, but it is something we should study with relevant partners, including Government authorities, to resolve. There are also systems implemented in certain hotels here, the help the front desk assign rooms faster. Better machines can also make dish washing or laundry cleaning easier.
Higher Productivity by Appealing to Accommodating Guests
Another concept to raise productivity is to appeal to more accommodating guests. In many hotels, both local and foreign, I see there is often an option for guests to choose not to have towels and bed sheets changed and cleaned every day. I always voluntarily for go for that option because I do not change my towels and bed sheets every day at home. And I am helping to save environment and help make work easier for the workers. But it requires customers who are accommodating and understanding.
Still in this category is another example I experienced in a Tokyo three star hotel near Shinjuku, although I am sure it is also widely practice in Singapore hotels with variations. At the entrance of the restaurant where breakfast is served, guests collect their own utensils and napkins, find their own table, and help themselves to the breakfast buffet. And when done, a couple of workers will clean up the table. The use of manpower is minimal. From the perspective of serving a large number of guests with very few workers, this is very productive, but it is not five star service.
Higher Productivity by Having Multiple Skills
A third concept is even less straight forward, because it involves training hotel workers in more skills, which makes work not harder, but more complex. One local example is the HOST programme at Grand Park, City Hall. Hotel workers there are trained in three skills – front office, F&B and housekeeping, and get deployed to two out of three of these jobs during a normal working day, depending on which department needs more help during the day. Because of their versatility, their pay went by up 50%. The programme is now being expanded within the hotels, and also to other hotels.
Towards Progressive Wages
If we do enough of these measures, we can then seriously tackle the current challenges faced in the industry. First, reduce the dependence on physical manpower and foreign workers, yet able to serve the same number of customers. Second, raise the wages of workers in the industry, and make it more attractive to Singaporeans.
Whether productivity precedes wage increase or vice versa, is not the crux of the issue. I think it is a chicken and egg question, and will depend on the circumstances of each industry and company. Ultimately, what is important is that productivity must be worthwhile for both employers and workers. When a productivity project succeeds, everyone including company and workers, must benefit from it. And if you do enough of it, your operations will become so smooth, so effective yet so effortless. That is when you become competitive and a leader in your industry.
A few months ago, I was in Australia with Ms Margaret Heng, FDAWU representatives and a few hotel representatives. We wanted to look at how hotels in Australia drive productivity. We observed that their staff to room ratio is generally slightly lower than equivalent hotels in Singapore. Midrange hotels are coping with around 0.5-0.6 room to staff ratio. We saw many good productivity initiatives, such as paperless check in, roster optimization techniques, effective use of outsourcing for room cleaning, and clever layout of facilities.
At the same time, we also saw how unions and hotels get together to agree on wage levels for workers. The union negotiates on behalf of the whole industry, including for non-unionised workers. They do not negotiate on one legislated minimum wage, but bilaterally agree on a comprehensive set of wage levels for different roles, and at different levels. We visited one high end hotel which felt that they needed more capable staff, and decided to pay above the negotiated levels.
The Australia economy and tourism sector has been doing well, lifted by a strong demand for commodities produced in Australia. Labour market is tight for the hospitality sector. So the unions and industries are working together to raise productivity, reduce reliance on manpower and raising the wages of workers at the same time. This is a good example of how productivity and wages progress hand in hand. Australia is of course a different country, with different circumstances. But we can still learn from these best practices abroad.
It is in this spirit, that the Labour Movement is actively promoting the Inclusive Growth Programme (IGP) to support companies to raise their productivity, and at the same time driving the Progressive Wage model, to ensure workers across industries and at different levels, can look forward up skills upgrading, wage increases and career progression.
Conclusion
Today, we are also leveraging on the seminar to launch the Labour Movement’s Hospitality Cluster. The cluster will be partnering the industry to work towards higher productivity, and implement the Progressive Wages model. I wish you a fruitful and constructive partnership that can help transform the sector, and make Singapore hotel operations one of the best in the world.
