To all readers of TRS,
today I'll be discussing about employees who are being manipulated by their organisations.
If any reader happens to be one of them who encounter such unfair treatment in the workplace, please find a better job and leave before the organisation gets rid of you, after "sucking you dry".
When I was pursuing my studies (degree), Human Resource was one of the subjects which I enjoyed the most.
I find it interesting that although the Employment Act, WorkRight,WorkFare and TAFEP are supposedly set up to target certain areas such as workplace discrimination,not being paid wages and so on,
However not much is being done to reinforce these rules and regulations and
Not much is being done in reality against employee being manipulated by the company.
Try calling the MOM hotline and get referred to a bunch of other numbers (u know what i mean).
I remember this striking example which I was told of by my HR lecturer.
He compared singaporeans to horses and cows ; hardworking, self sacrificing, work long hours without complaining even to the extent of being manipulated by the employer.
However these values are not being recognised in nowadays society.
You can be hardworking , always working overtime on an daily(or alternate day) basis, being underpaid (one person carrying the burden of 2-3 persons' jobs), even forsaking your days off to work and help out in the company, and yet still you can be easily replaced (depending on how unscrupulous your employers are).
This is especially prevalent in small private companies whose main shareholder is foreigner and its main supply of workforce comprises of foreigners(who are of same nationality of the main shareholder).
When the powers of deciding to retain/hire an employee(local) or re-hire a new employee(foreigner from same nationality) lies in the hands of foreigners; I would say that most foreigners give people of their own nationality preferential trearment.
This is based on experiences which I have gathered from the common everyday sg folk(the locals).
A sales assistant working at a local, small mini mart told me that her husband experienced racial discrimination while applying for a job at Cold storage as the HR personnel were foreigners.
They laughed and mocked him in their "self assumed perfect, heavily accented english" and sent him on his way home.
Another incident told to me by a highly educated person (Bachelor of Sciences , Master degree holder from local public university) was that in her workplace, although her job position is high, the foreigner boss always demeaned her and rejected her views on improving the workflow when she gave feedback that the foreign workers under her, were not doing their jobs properly by adhering to the SOPs and SAPs but were actually taking risky shortcuts which could prove detrimental to the company in the long term.
What I can say is, singaporeans who are working in a foreign "talent" dominated workplace, need to be more alert for signs that the company is going to retrench, dismiss or make you voluntarily resign. It could happen any moment.
No matter how good a team player you are, how hard you work, how much you sacrifice- it doesn't matter. All it takes is just for that one foreign colleague who dislikes you to sway the remainder of the other foreign colleagues(of same nationality) and the foreign boss against you and its "kaboom- you're out".
It just happened to a friend of mine.
She was always working overtime (even on weekends and public holidays), doing the jobs of multiple persons for the pay and benefits of one.
I was amazed at the type of maltreatment she underwent, even to the extent of working on the days that she was given medical leave (to rest and recuperate at home), just because the company needed her help.
It just so happened that the foreign supervisor disliked her and planned to get rid of her after making full use of her to relieve the supervisor's two months annual leave.
Maybe my friend was a threat to her? I'm unsure; but anyone who's that serious and responsible about her work should not be unfairly treated, in fact i would consider that person to be a gem and an asset to the company.
When the foreign supervisor returned from leave, she immediately started planning to hire new employees.
When my friend saw the resumes that the supervisor was going through and enquired about it; she was given the impression that the company was expanding hence they were going to need more manpower.
However it was not so.
The supervisor found an excuse to get rid of my friend after her return from her annual leave.
It started from pushing more workload(the supervisor's job and responsibilities) to my friend.
My friend fell sick and was on medical leave.
She was not informed that the supervisor planned to take leave again(despite being on annual leave for two months) on the days that my friend was ill.
As such, she unwittingly "offended" the said person and when she returned from sick leave, was called up by the foreign management and was given two options :
1) termination despite being punctual, being responsible, always working overtime , and being a kind and helpful person. The HR said that it was due to her job performance not being up to " the supervisor's required standards"
2) or resign voluntarily
All these just because the foreign supervisor had taking a disliking to her.
one question i asked my friend whether she did ask the management , if the supervisor felt that she was not up to "her standard", then why and how did the supervisor manage to go away for two months without any concerns that my friend's "poor working standards" would not affect the company's operations and earnings negatively?
And also, why did my friend receive good customer feedback and zero complaints from clients before and while the foreign supervisor was away?
I wished I could be there to speak up for my friend when she was facing such unfair treatment.
My sharing of all these experiences is to advise singaporeans that its time to "wake up".
Its no longer like before when having values of responsibility, punctuality, good team spirit, willingness to go the extra mile- were rewarded and the organisation would do all in its power to retain personnel with such important values.
Now, its employment and retainment based on nationality , which I am sad to say, singaporean locals are not being considered nor treated fairly.
There's no one to blame except ourselves for opening our gates and letting the enemy in.
Yours truly
A local born and bred singaporean
TRS Contributor