PM Asks "What kind of people do we want to be?"

[mamago]

Lilac66:

Kudos to mamago too for integrating into our society so much so that I did not know she was from HK if she had not disclosed it (or had not used Cantonese in her engagement with other forummers here);

Your Singlish really eh sai . http://i47.tinypic.com/2vj1j0l.gif\">


And Zarahsmom, thank you for that earnest heartfelt piece, hearing from the horse's mouth makes us understand FT's difficulties and struggles better. :grphug:

Thanks, Lilac... haha, I SAHM mah, everyday jiak-par-bo-dai-ji-chou... always poke around, si mi lai eh, an cua lah, wu yah boh....

[zarahsmom]

thank you all my dear khakis, I was literally worrying about your reactions on this thread since last night… now am relieved… that you get my point and my sincerity…


I would probably agree that yes, there are fellow foreigners (irrespective of race), that comes to your shore without the intent of leaving a mark or at least going to a place to help make that place better rather than just adding to the crowd…

I am with you in terms of complaining about the crowd in the MRT… and mind you I work at Raffles and live in Upper Bukit Timah (the part of Bukit Timah where average folks like me live… not the upperclass part )…so you can imagine my travel time by bus and MRT… but hey… in times of adversity and in times like this… its beautiful to always see the rose amongst the thistles and thorns…

thanks again for understanding…

[mamago]

zarahsmom:

thank you all my dear khakis, I was literally worrying about your reactions on this thread since last night.. now am relieved.. that you get my point and my sincerity..


I would probably agree that yes, there are fellow foreigners (irrespective of race), that comes to your shore without the intent of leaving a mark or at least going to a place to help make that place better rather than just adding to the crowd..

I am with you in terms of complaining about the crowd in the MRT.. and mind you I work at Raffles and live in Upper Bukit Timah (the part of Bukit Timah where average folks like me live.. not the upperclass part )...so you can imagine my travel time by bus and MRT... but hey... in times of adversity and in times like this.. its beautiful to always see the rose amongst the thistles and thorns..

thanks again for understanding...

:goodpost: :celebrate: :hugs:

[limlim]

pirate:

On the contrary, the xenophobic voices come primarily from those in areas like IT, banking and admin - white collar workers in aircon offices. I have always been of the view that most of these office jobs can be outsourced overseas with a good corporate broadband link, and now with cloud computing...

If these jobs can be outsourced overseas (with your so-call cloud computing etc..).. why are these white collar workers NOT working from home?

Why do they need to travel to go to work?

[zarahsmom]

limlim:

pirate:

On the contrary, the xenophobic voices come primarily from those in areas like IT, banking and admin - white collar workers in aircon offices. I have always been of the view that most of these office jobs can be outsourced overseas with a good corporate broadband link, and now with cloud computing...

If these jobs can be outsourced overseas (with your so-call cloud computing etc..).. why are these white collar workers NOT working from home?

Why do they need to travel to go to work?

I probably have to respond to this as I am one of those who could work from home technically but prefer to be in the office for a few reasons

1. social aspect
2. visibility
3. time management

Social aspect.. yeah people are social beings.. we want to be close to people we work with..(at least most of us)

Visibility, you want your peers and boss to see you are working from 9 to 5. If I WFH (work from home), even if I work for 12 hours, no one would know.. unless I bombard them with emails.. which could potentially annoy them

Time management.. oh yea.. when I WFH the bed always seem to entice me to sleep.. so probably this is just more of a personal choice..

also I dont want to pay for extra bills for my internet connection and electricity.. and also reduce the risk of my daughter asking me to play with her while I am on a conference call.

[limlim]

zarahsmom:

limlim:

[quote=\"pirate\"]

On the contrary, the xenophobic voices come primarily from those in areas like IT, banking and admin - white collar workers in aircon offices. I have always been of the view that most of these office jobs can be outsourced overseas with a good corporate broadband link, and now with cloud computing...

If these jobs can be outsourced overseas (with your so-call cloud computing etc..).. why are these white collar workers NOT working from home?

Why do they need to travel to go to work?

I probably have to respond to this as I am one of those who could work from home technically but prefer to be in the office for a few reasons[/quote]The point is, not everyone have a choice.

[zarahsmom]

could’nt agree more, but with choice comes also greater responsibility. If you were given the choice to WFH like I do, you will also have to be given the responsibility to manage your time well (which obviously I can’t do if my daughter is always visible to me-- I would always drop anything for her-- if i can get away with it).


it also goes without saying that some tasks really requires you to be in the office instead of WFH. i guess the question then is what kind of task can you effectively do at home and what not? what kind of worker do you want to be? then what are the steps you are going to do to get there (regardless of circumstances).

(yeah… its the inherent HR person in me…I tend to interview people wherever I go…)

[limlim]

I would say, for my job, I could do 50% of the work at home… and maybe just need to go to office, say 1~2 days per week, or when required.


However, my company don’t have such practice or option. Or they do not trust employees well enough.

[zarahsmom]

limlim:

I would say, for my job, I could do 50% of the work at home.. and maybe just need to go to office, say 1~2 days per week, or when required.


However, my company don't have such practice or option. Or they do not trust employees well enough.

you could probably try to influence changes in policy to allow WFH, if you genuinely think that 50% of your tasks can be done effectively from home and that you dont mind the extra internet/electricity bills in exchange for savings on travel cost/time. just some effort to prove $$ dollars savings though.. and some proding to do.. and you might also have to expect that your efforts would probably come into frution once you are ready to move on to another company.. who knows someone else made an effort in the new company you would be working for to change the policy (sounds simplistic right)..

my point here is that.. if WFH policy is acceptable to my employer now..that policy did not spring into a document without someone's effort to make the need so obvious to senior leaders, that senior leaders see the change to the policies.. then once it is in paper, comes the need for change in mindset.. policies being in paper, does not mean line managers will be agreeable to it at the first instance...

somebody much much into the game before my generation in this company, planted the seeds, and then our generation is enjoying the fruits..

however, not all of us want the same fruit eh?

in my case, I will only WFH if the meetings are scheduled either wee hours in the morning or at night.. if not, then I would rather work in the office.. and get free coffee, biscuits and milo from the office pantry and also catch up on latest coffee chats...

[limlim]

zarahsmom:

however, not all of us want the same fruit eh?

I hate the peak hour crowd.. I hate waiting for the bus/trains..

No traveling = more rest.