Straits Times – 31 Jan 2004
One year to move on variable pay
Setting do-able targets for big and small firms, DPM Lee says employers now have all the help they need to effect change
By Sue-Ann Chia
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/top...32677,00.html?
ENOUGH of talk. After almost 20 years, it's now time to push the pace and get on with the business of implementing wage reform in earnest.
And Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday set targets he expects to see met by this time next year.
He hopes that over 50 per cent of the total workforce in large companies and 40 per cent in small and medium enterprises will have some kind of flexible wage system in place.
This was achievable, he said at a national conference on wage reform, noting that leading companies in four key sectors - hotels, electronics, chemicals and land transport - had started to do so and were confident of implementation by then………………………..
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With the rapid changes in technology, emergence of new players such as China and India, and the impact of globalisation, companies can survive and save jobs only if their wage structures are flexible enough to withstand sudden shocks and downturns.
But he pointed out that the Government would not 'pass a law or publish a formula which applies to every company' as each company was unique.
Instead, bosses should be persuaded to drive the wage reform process and set up a transparent appraisal system and performance indicators - something that was not exactly 'rocket science', he told them.
And workers must accept the new reality that 'iron rice bowls are gone forever' and that pay packets will fluctuate according to performance and company profits……………….
…………………… suggested moving away from a rigid and seniority-based wage system to a more flexible structure by linking a greater portion of pay packets to performance and profits.
And lastly, the labour movement is also spearheading the wage reform process - something that is almost unheard of in other countries where unions would be among the first to resist wage changes.
Comment
Readers eagerly await details of matching public sector wage restructuring in Singapore and in particular the exciting and innovative ideas that are no doubt in the wings and which will shortly redefine the present stuffy old rigid and seniority-based wage structure of member of parliament (MP) and ministerial pay and introduce a flexible wage system that will reflect the performance and profit of the country in good times and bad.
As we know - “With the rapid changes in technology, emergence of new players such as China and India, and the impact of globalisation, companies can survive and save jobs only if their wage structures are flexible enough to withstand sudden shocks and downturns.”
This dictum applies equally to the survival of
countries as well as the
companies which operate within their borders. So perhaps by next year we may see MP and ministerial pay tied to annual percentage GDP growth, ST index performance and relative strength of the currency using a “transparent appraisal system and performance indicators” which includes open details of annual ministerial earnings? This would seem to be a logical progression for reform and should be easy to set up as there is no 'rocket science' involved.
Finally – “the labour movement is also spearheading the wage reform process - something that is almost unheard of in other countries where unions would be among the first to resist wage changes.” Well precisely so! I don’t think even a re-read of “Alice in Wonderland” would find anything more bizarre