22:25 by FoxTwo I was reading this article over at Channelnewsasia.com - Work-Life Balance, and I had a thought.
"Isn't it obvious?"
Ok I am not claiming to b a model employee, far from it. However I do have a personal policy - don't stay and do "overtime" when you don't need to. And when I do leave the office, I do not even think about work. Work can wait. Once I am out of the office, work is out of my mind.
As a result, people say they seldom see me "stressed out".
The trouble with many companies in Singapore is the "Chinese mentality". You cannot arrive late for work. If you're late too many times, management will take notice and perhaps issue you warning letters, or even send you for counseling. It's fine if you stay behind in the office past office hours - in fact they encourage it, to show that you are "hardworking" and "contributing" to the company. When someone goes home on time at 5.30pm (or 6pm, or whatever time), the manager notices. When it becomes a regular thing that this person goes home on time, the manager "counsels" the employee.
I was in a few companies that have these kind of practices.
In a typical workday, you cannot be 100% occupied with work the full 8 hours of the day. It's impossible. The only way for you to be busy all 8 hours of the day, is to be overloaded with work. In one of my previous companies, the moment you have your web browser up, you're "skiving". They don't even bother to look at what's actually on the browser screen. For us IT folks, it's normally a forum somewhere with a solution to a problem we're facing.
In fact, this particular company went overboard in blocking websites. Blocking Youtube and Facebook I understand - those sites takes up network bandwidth for streaming media, and wastes time (Facebook). However, blocking blogs, forums, lifestyle, etc is too much. In fact I even wrote a post about this here - they even blocked blogs! Humour blogs to boot!
The managers are typical "cheena" types. You cannot be seen "reading newspapers". You cannot be seen "surfing the web". You must always be "busy". Otherwise, they'll start to question why the need for so many headcounts in the department if the headcounts are seen "not doing work".
Even when people go on MC (call in sick), the bosses still bug them by calling them about work, telling them they need to attend meetings etc when they come back etc. In fact, one of them was even called back to the office, and told "he cannot be sick because he has too many things to do" by the boss. Speaking of being sick, the company will penalise you if you use up more than 5 days of your 14 days entitlement of MCs, but no incentives if you don't use up any at all.
I have a friend who, due to unfortunate circumstances, fell sick and used up all 14 days of her MC. At year end, during appraisals, she was given a bad rating and hence, zero bonus. You can bet she was furious, and quit.
I had a job interview earlier this year. The interviewer told me that the organisation "frowns upon" people leaving the office at 6pm, hence it is "the norm" that people stay till 8pm or 9pm. If we are called back to work on weekends, tough luck. It's up to the individual manager's kind-heartedness to give you time-off. Even if time-off is given, we are not supposed to claim it immediately. In other words, if I was called back on Sunday to work, I cannot claim my time-off the following day. I must still turn up for work at the appointed time.
You can bet that I didn't take up the position offered in that company.
I am fortunate that the company I am in now is very pro work-life balance. In the current company, I do not dread going to work (although, like any lazy-assed human, I don't look forward to going to work too). However I know that if I'm at the office, nobody's eying me to catch me the moment I "slip up". In fact, just today, a colleague called me up to get some information, and she said she'd been "banned" from the office because she's sick. Her boss told her to stay out of the office till she got better, even if she doesn't have an MC. I'm sure her kids are happy because "mommy's home all day".
Now, the example above is good, but not because it shows the boss is nice. On a deeper level, the managers understand that a sick person is definitely not going to be performing well. Secondly the sick person will probably infect other people, and thus rendering more people sick and shutting down the department. Most of us are actually mobile - we're on laptops and blackberries. If there's work to be done, any Internet connection will work fine for us. We can easily enter the corporate network via VPN and do what is needed. For us IT folks, chances are we'd all have some form of Internet connection at home anyway.
The point is - once the management shows such understanding towards employees, employees will in turn reciprocrate. The employee is more likely to perform better as a result. In fact I have never heard any colleague complaining about coming to work. The only things we complain about are the stupid users, as usual :)
So yeah, companies in Singapore need to catch up. If the company treat the employees like slaves, expect a high turnover. If the company treat the employees well and with respect, hardly any of them will leave the organisation. In my previous company, I hear someone grumbling and saying they wish they could quit almost on a daily basis. Here, nothing like that happens. Nobody ever talks about quitting.
Labels: Singapore, workplace ethics
16:00 by FoxTwo
Sexual Harassment At The Office
The other day while at the pub, we were just talking to a female customer whom we've never seen before. That doesn't mean anything ok? Just saying she's not a regular patron there. Anyway, she looked agitated at the time.
Eventually, when alcohol loosened her up (alcohol does that, you know? It's just one of alcohols' many magical properties) she finally told us an incredible story.
Debbie (name changed to protect identity) had been working in Company Z for about a year or so. Since she was new, she worked hard. She'd do overtime willingly, never complaining. Debbie is also not a bad looker (trust me). Even with her numerous late nights at the office, she still has many pending "appointments" with male suitors.
So anyway, there's this particular manager at her office (not her upline manager) who seemed to have taken a liking to her. Well, her and every other female colleague from what Debbie said. Whenever this manager came around to hand stuff over to any of the girls, he'd stand very close to them. When he approaches Debbie for any sort of "work-related" issues, he'd stroke her arm, or smell her hair, or rub her neck.
To Debbie, that's harassment. Initially when it happened, she just started to shrink away from this manager. Everytime he came around, she'd squeeze herself as much as possible into a tiny ball. When he came to her table, she'd lean away from him. Yet, he persisted and continued to stroke/smell her. Debbie could only confide in her female colleagues, who confirmed similar things have happened to them too. The only thing Debbie could do back then, was to talk to her own boss.
Eventually. there came an office meeting with the Human Resource department. That was when Debbie brought up his behaviour. Of course, the manager denied all the allegations, saying he was just being friendly and wanted to put the girls at ease.
The best part is, he didn't stop. He'd continue the stroking and sniffing, standing very very very close, touching them, holding their hands etc. Debbie couldn't take it anymore, and called the cops. Yeah she really did!
Company Z actually supported Debbie's actions, instead of trying to sweep everything under the carpet like what many other companies would do. Although this might be "an internal problem", it's affecting many people.
So anyway, the HR department gave an ultimatum to the accused manager. "Resign on your own, or we terminate you."
He quit the next day.
That was the day we saw Debbie at the pub, and that was the day Debbie said she'll finally be able to sleep peacefully. She said she'd had nightmares eversince she got harassed at work, and had not been able to sleep properly for the past 3 or 4 months.
Moral of the story (in Singlish) - All you chee hongs at the office, wanna tackle girls hor, tackle with mouth only ok? don't tackle with hands. Sure kena mata one, especially if your target is Debbie!
In all seriousness, sexual harassment can happen to men too, not just women. Just like rape, it happens to men too. The thing is, when it DOES happen to men, they're too embarassed to talk about it, let alone report it. Men are supposed to be macho, suave, and not meek little sheep.
Labels: random, workplace ethics
13:56 by FoxTwo
10 Illegal Job Interview Questions - Is Singapore Ready?
I thought I'd comment on the 10 points brought up in the local context:
#1: Where were you born?
Say what? You're kidding right? It's such a common question here, and it's asked in the APPLICATION FORM you fill in before the interview - right under "Place Of Birth".
#2: What is your native language?
Hmm so they can't even ask our ethnic background eh? Cool.
#3: Are you married?
#4: Do you have children?
#5: Do you plan to get pregnant?
All the above are meant not to discriminate against the applicant if they are married or have a family. In Singapore, I believe many employers would consider these are "critical" questions. I hate to say it, but my own boss refuses to hire women just because "they're too much trouble to worth it".
#6: How old are you?
Again, this one's right there on the application form, right under "Age" column.
#7: Do you observe Yom Kippur?
In local context, it'd be asking the applicant if he/she observes Christmas, or Ramadan, etc. Very few employers I know ask this, but I never knew it should be illegal...
#8: Do you have a disability or chronic illness?
Ok this one got me too.... I believe this is also listed on some company's application form too, ie you must declare yourself fit and healthy BEFORE the interview....
#9: Are you in the National Guard?
In Singapore's context, it's asking the guy "Are you still doing Reservist?". I don't see many employers in Singapore asking this, but mainly cos it's a pointless question - 90% of the time the answer will be "YES" heheheh!
#10: Do you smoke or use alcohol?
I agree - this question should be illegal. As long as I get work done you shouldn't care how I live my life.
All in all, if these 10 questions were to be outlawed in Singapore, I bet employers would run out of questions to ask, and I guess it *would* level the playing field for candidates. In an ideal world, these questions would never even need to be asked. In Singapore.... *chuckle* I don't see it happening in my lifetime...
Labels: business, company, employer, Singapore, workplace ethics
