Whistle-blowing hotline launched

Report a misconduct and risk losing your job, feign ignorance and allow your conscience to be pricked - these are common dilemmas employees face when they come to know of unethical behaviour among their colleagues.

Without a confidential feedback channel, workers may turn to the media and the company may incur huge financial and reputation losses from the bad publicity generated.

To solve this problem, a whistle-blowing hotline was launched on Tuesday by Singapore firm Q2 Consulting Partner and United States' Global Compliance for employees to file allegations against their own company.

They can either choose to disclose the content anonymously or non-anonymously and investigations will then be made to verify the case.

According to a Global Compliance spokesperson, 40 Singapore firms have already signed up for this service.

Businesses providing whistle-blowing services have become more popular since 2006, after the slew of corporate and charity scandals in Singapore.

Local auditing firms such as Deloitte Singapore said more companies are taking up whistle-blowing services whereby staff can feedback through hotlines, emails and SMSes.

Similarly, employees can choose to remain anonymous.

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Agencies predict increased demand for contract work in 2010

Employment agencies are expecting hiring plans to improve in 2010. But industry experts say contract work will continue its upward trend.

This is on top of various permanent positions being made available as companies attempt to boost their workforce.

Kelly Services has been receiving more calls from employers who want to engage contract workers. The recruitment agency says it has seen a 15 to 20 percent increase in demand in recent months.

It expects the figure to stay healthy in the first quarter of next year.

Dhirendra Shantilal, senior vice-president at Kelly Services, says: "This whole global crisis has also helped companies to realise that they need to have a balance between their permanent workforce and a contract workforce. As a result of that, we're seeing a lot more companies coming to us for more contract work."

Demand for contract employment exists in all industries, especially in the financial, retail and hospitality sectors.

HR consultants say companies are still cautious and are relying on contract work due to the uncertainties in the economic recovery.

For job seekers, that means having to be flexible about accepting work on contract terms.


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Linking growth with entrepreneurship

A shrinking economy may spur more people to start a business out of necessity, but expectations of a better economic climate for Singapore do not necessarily point to less entrepreneurship, according to experts on the subject.

This is because the dynamics contributing to a country's entrepreneurship level are complex, and so the school of thought that entrepreneurial activity increases when the economy is not doing well may not hold.

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42,000 unemployed find jobs through Spur

THE report card for the Singapore Workforce Development Agency's (WDA) Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur) is out.

The programme has trained more people than it aimed to, found jobs for many trainees who were unemployed, and saved countless others from being retrenched.

Started in November last year, the programme has enrolled 264,000 workers in its various training courses, exceeding the target of 220,000.

The programme also helped about 42,000 of them - unemployed citizens and permanent residents - find jobs, mainly in the food-and-beverage, cleaning, wholesale and retail-trade, manufacturing, and security sectors.

About seven in 10 were rank-and-file workers with up to secondary education. Six in 10 were aged 40 and above.

In addition, more than 2,770 others were given traineeships in more than 390 firms, under a government-funded Professional Skills Programme Traineeship scheme launched in May this year.

The jobless workers had been among 88,000 workers who had approached the WDA of their own accord. Others were employed but looking to acquire new skills for a career switch.

The rest - 169,000 workers who made up two thirds of the whole pool - were sent by 4,000 companies, which tapped Spur to cut costs, save jobs, and help displaced workers gain new skills and jobs.

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China firms try to lure talent home

THE battle for talent has come to Singapore, with 18 China companies teaming up to hold a first-ever job fair here to lure China-born professionals to return home to work.

Among them were heavy-hitters such as the Bank of Shanghai and the Shanghai Stock Exchange, offering 117 high-level positions that pay up to $250,000 a year plus perks, including housing allowance.

The jobs offered by the companies from Shanghai were in fields such as risk assessment and wealth management. Many required at least a master's degree.

About 1,000 people were at Suntec City recently for the fair, which was the third stop by the companies in their global search for talent.

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2.6% pay increase likely

EVIDENCE is growing that Singapore workers can look forward to modestly fatter salaries next year and that the job situation here is improving.

A survey out last Friday from global human resources firm Hewitt Associates showed that employers in Singapore are poised to raise pay by 2.6 per cent next year.

In addition, most companies polled do not expect to freeze salaries next year - down from a high of 60.3 per cent this year, to just 12.8 per cent expected next year.

Mr Samir Bedi, Hewitt's South-east Asia performance practice leader, said: 'The compensation sentiment is more positive with organisations ready to take on 2010 with a fresh, energised outlook to manage talent.'

Hewitt's Singapore Salary Increase Survey polled 153 firms in July and August this year. Its findings came a day after human resource firm ECA International released a survey which showed employees here can expect a 3 per cent pay rise next year.

ECA also found 11 per cent of 99 firms polled here are proposing salary freezes next year, down from this year's 39 per cent.

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Developing countries in Asia see highest salary increases

Employees in Singapore can expect salary increases of 3% in 2010, up from this year’s 2% average, according to ECA International’s latest Salary Trends Survey. In Asia, salary increase forecasts remain highest in the growth areas of China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Salary increases within the region are predicted to average at 5% in 2010, almost twice as high as this year’s actual 2.8% average, and significantly higher than the average 2010 forecasts for Western Europe (2.6%) and North America (2.8%).

Results from the survey indicate that like their Singapore counterparts, employees in Hong Kong and Taiwan can also expect salary increases of 3% in 2010, compared with this year’s actual 1% and 0.5% increases respectively. Chinese employees are likely to see their salary increases rise from 3% to 6% at the next pay review.

The largest salary increases within the region are forecast for Vietnam (10%), India (9.3%) and Indonesia (8.5%), continuing a trend that persisted even during the economic turbulence of the last 12 months.

Employees in Japan are predicted to receive 2% salary increases – the lowest in the region. Whilst employees in Australia and New Zealand can expect to see an increase on the 2% awarded this year with companies there forecasting 3.5% and 3% rises respectively for 2010.

According to Lee Quane, ECA International’s regional director for Asia, while these numbers have not reached the levels of the boom years, the figures indicate that companies operating within the region are much more confident about economic conditions than a year ago.

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