The Snitch

As Singapore heads into an economic downturn,  will the government slash CPF wages in a bid to keep people in their jobs?

According to a Reuters report:

Singapore will convene its National Wages Council (NWC) in early January, four months ahead of schedule, in what economists say may be a prelude to a cut in employers’ pension contributions.

‘Given the weakening economic situation, there is a need for the NWC to take stock of the new situation and review its May guidelines to help companies and workers manage the downturn,’ the Manpower Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The ministry did not immediately respond to questions about the detailed agenda for the NWC’s January meeting.

‘At the last crisis, they cut the CPF (Central Provident Fund) and I won’t be surprised if they did it again,’ said Joseph Tan, Singapore-based Asia chief economist for private banking at Credit Suisse.

‘Between cutting wages and letting people go, the government’s preference is to keep jobs.’

The government last cut employers’ contributions to the CPF, the retirement fund for Singaporean workers, by 3 percentage points to 13 percent in October 2003 to help firms cope with the effects of the SARS outbreak.

Do you think CPF wages will be slashed from the current 14.5% to 13% (of the SARS period)? Will this help keep jobs or do we need another alternative?

Money makes the world go round, so they all say. We just can’t do without it – or why else would we be working? And 2008 has been a rollercoaster year. While the year started off as a bullish economy, we’ve  seen soaring oil prices and spiraling inflation rates in the middle of the year and we’re now headed on a collision course for a recession.

Hence, it’s no surprise that according to our website analytics, C&B stories have been dominating our list of most-read newsletter stories for 2008. (We only started collecting website data in mid-April after our server migration though.)

Stories of shrinking pay cheques, pay increases and retaining employees were hot stories in the beginning of the year. But as the year wore on, stories about treating retrenched employees and retenchments came into prominence as well.

What was a surprise was the number of clicks Bizarre HR garnered – enough to make it the second-most read story for this year. Really?

So tell us, what stories did you like? Do you agree with this list? What would you like to read about in 2009?

Top story of 2008: Do employees have unrealistic wage demands?

Singapore – At least 45% of executives say they expect an increase of 20% or more when changing jobs, according to a survey by Robert Walters.

2) Bizarre HR: Staff use horse power to get to work

US – Half the staff at a dentist’s office in Arlington, Washington have ditched their cars for a more traditional form of transportation – the horse.

3) Is this a good time to increase wages? HR consultants say no

Singapore – Business consultants says companies looking to increase wages to help employees cope with rising food and fuel prices should heed Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s warning that this would cause a further spike in inflation.

4) Want a bigger pay increase for 2009? Forget about it!

Singapore – Forget about asking for a higher salary increment this year, as HR practitioners’ salary increments are likely to range from 0 to 10%. Furthermore, if you are a talent management or a resourcing specialist, you may just find yourself out of a job too.

5) Promote me or I’ll leave

Asia – Employees are demanding for career advancement opportunities and appreciation from their bosses – or they would pack up and leave.

6) Pay cheques shrink after inflation

Singapore – Singaporean workers will not be getting large pay increments in the next 12 months, despite the record high 6.6% inflation rate.

7) The right way to fire someone

Singapore – If a line manager has never fired anyone before, things could get nasty during the termination meeting. This may lead to litigation against the company and loss of employee morale.

8. 10 killer strategies to protect your turf

(Okay, this isn’t a HR Bulletin story per se because it was a cover story in our revamp issue, but I’m still including it because HR practitioners should read it!)

It will be a tough year to hang on to talent as everyone’s on the hunt for better people, so how can you keep the poachers from your door? Here’s 10 real world strategies to protect your headcount from the wolves.

9) The Snitch: It’s all about the money

What will be the size of your year-end bonus, and will you get a raise soon? In our first ever video interview, C&B leader of Hewitt Singapore, Samir Bedi, talks about what salary trends are likely to play out in the coming year.

10) Cutting salaries is no go for some

Singapore – While companies are scaling back on employee wages, one Singaporean company is bucking the trend by increasing year-end and variable bonuses for their employees.

11) Financial sector goes into retrenchment overdrive

Singapore – As the credit crunch really begins to bite for banks and financial firms around the world, more layoffs are to be expected, starting with Citigroup’s plans to cut 52,000 jobs worldwide.

12) Asian employees bogged down by bosses

Singapore – Around one third of Asian employees are frustrated in their jobs despite being highly engaged at work and it all boils down to the lack of empowerment and professional development.

13) Time to give up on print recruitment ads?

Singapore – Despite the rise of companies investing more in online recruitment ads to entice the internet-savvy jobseekers, print recruitment ads are here to stay. Or maybe not.

14) Unhappy employees torn between quitting and staying on

Singapore – More and more employees who are highly dissatisfied at work are choosing to either switch jobs or taking a sabbatical to recharge themselves. But is that a wise thing to do?

15) Christmas bonus might not be so rosy

Singapore – This year’s salary increase has been projected to be at 3.8%, a figure 30% lower than the earlier projection of a 5.4% increase.

It’s the time of the year when HR practitioners are planning their budgets for 2009.

Just yesterday, I had a quick chat with Samir Bedi, compensation & benefits leader for Hewitt Singapore to talk about what salary trends will likely come into play in 2009.

How big of a salary increase are employees likely to receive? How big of a Christmas bonus should you expect to get?

Watch on to find out.

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