Charles Reed
CEO
DOCOMO interTouch

THE Singapore government has always been very supportive of the marketability of the local workforce as well as employee retraining schemes. In the long term, such initiatives will only reap benefits, not just for the employees but the employers as well.

Having said that, however, many PMETs who find themselves without a job in this current economic climate would have similar immediate priorities on their minds. Can I afford to finance the current mortgage? How fast can I find a new job? These are the questions that will keep retrenched workers up at night.

While it is pertinent to have long-term plans that include professional training, the government should also ensure that these retrenched workers have access to short-term facilities and support enterprises to retrain existing staff to perform other tasks. These can also come in the form of organised networking opportunities where PMETs can meet with prospective employers.

Banks should also review their interest rates on housing and car loans, as well as credit card bills to ease repayments without further default charges. At the same time, companies should refrain from retrenching their workers at the first sign of financial problems. Instead, alternative plans such as shorter work weeks and pay cuts would be more welcomed. This will ensure that talents are retained, making recovery from the recession easier and faster.

Dhirendra Shantilal
Senior Vice-President, Asia-Pacific
Kelly Services

LOOKING at the current and proposed activities, PMETs now have a wider choice in terms of training and retraining programmes available at subsidised rates. It is useful for PMETs to take advantage of the courses to master new skills and knowledge -not just to take on new jobs but to embark on entrepreneurial ventures and capitalise on the many opportunities available in a slowdown when business costs are comparatively lower.

While Singapore's focus on skills upgrading, training and life-long learning for PMETs is in the right direction, proper career guidance and employment expectations need to be emphasised in the current challenging economic environment. PMETs have to do their part to remain relevant for the future. In addition to looking out for opportunities in new and growing industries, those with an innovative and positive attitude who take advantage of the various programmes and grants judiciously to benefit their learning and development will emerge better positioned for the upswing that follows.

Noboru Oi
Group CEO
Fujitsu Asia Pte Ltd

GIVEN that the ongoing recession is shaping up to be the most severe since Singapore's independence, the national unemployment rate will definitely rise in the short term. Hence, any programme to help retrenched PMETs reintegrate into the workforce will be much appreciated.

Workforce reintegration invariably entails worker retraining. Viewed from this perspective, the recent announcements by the government will help companies as well as individuals.

From a macro perspective, the recent announcements benefit employers in two ways. Firstly, the subsidies and other financial assistance will help to defray their costs -arguably one of the biggest concerns amid the current downturn. And secondly, the initiatives will help to boost worker productivity and sharpen their competitive edge in time to come.

It makes sense for companies to boost worker productivity during a downturn by investing in human capital, as long as they have the necessary financial means. This is because a recession allows them to stretch their budgets and 'do more with less?. For instance, Fujitsu Asia is actively seeking ways to upgrade employees' skills in times like this. Such productivity-enhancing moves will allow us to readily capitalise on business opportunities that inevitably emerge when the economy eventually recovers, and will boost our future efforts to increase market share.

From a micro perspective, employees or job-seekers receive greater opportunities to upgrade their skills and become more marketable over the long run. This is important because the economy is constantly evolving regardless of whether we are in boom or bust times, and therefore one's know-how will eventually become obsolete. To retain their earning power amid constant change, it is imperative for PMETs to acquire new skills throughout their careers.

In summary, the current programmes are appropriate in the sense that they potentially offer win-win outcomes for both employers and employees. Whether or not they are sufficient will ultimately depend on the actual severity and duration of the downturn, workers' and companies' attitudes towards skills upgrading, as well as other factors.

Tan Kok Leong
Principal
TKL Consulting

THE current government programmes in recession aim at providing more jobs, improving the workforce's capability through training and special cash payment to professionals, managers, executives and technicians while they are fresh on the job, retrenched, under-employed or finding a new job. Emphasis is on healthcare, precision engineering, accounting security and social schemes.

To keep the economy stable and balanced, Singapore retains its attraction as a place for business, the programmes probably should cover wider areas to include property maintenance, environmental such as gardening improvement, research, food court improvement and cultural activities. Diversity and a lower cost base probably could help in hard times.

Richard Hoon
Chief Executive Officer
I Search Worldwide Group of Companies
International Executive Search Consultants

THE current crisis facing PMETs are not sectarian in nature and much wider in scope and scale. Thus the effect of obtaining new skills and qualifications to secure career changing roles will not be as relevant. What may be more helpful to this group is to incentivise perspective employers to hire them and thus giving them a chance to prove themselves in a different industry. Instead of the money spent to retrain them, not knowing if there is demand for the new found skills, it may be better for the government to have a scheme to reimburse companies up to 50 per cent of their salary for six months. After all, these managers and professionals should have transferable skills and thus they just need a chance to showcase it.

Liu Chunlin
CEO
K&C Protective Technologies Pte Ltd

IF I may say, the current programmes seem like extensions and enlargements of existing educational, training and job placement initiatives. Moreover employers and employees may not be entirely familiar and ready to take advantage of them to re-skill PMETs. Employees may be reluctant to be away for training in case their absence is not missed. Of course, those retrenched will find the programmes an alternative when options drastically narrow for them.

Secondly, what is needed is possibly looking longer term. The world economic order is changing and evolving - certain industries will shrink and transform as economic bases move from one country to another. Singapore needs to find its new place in the sun to cover the aspirations of all its workers including the PMETs.

I see possibly areas of opportunities in education, R&D, the creative industries and specialised engineering. And I see closer partnerships with countries like India, China, Russia and South America. Hence the PMETs must be ready to work with companies from these countries and even be posted to these countries for work.

Gary Harvey
CEO
ipac wealth management Asia

DOWNSIZING can be nerve-wrecking for the departing employee and demoralising for 'surviving'staff. Incorporating a corporate financial advice service can assist all staff, including those retrenched, assimilate well into the workforce. Money issues for families are one of the major sources of stress, particularly during an economic downturn. Whilst outplacement services are important, critical financial counselling, from the outset, will allow affected employees to focus on their job search and minimalise the monetary worries by promptly identifying and dealing with issues.

It allows an exiting employee to address crucial financial issues, such as making the most of their severance packages, managing cash flow with living expenses, restructuring debts and tax liabilities. They will also need to close the gap caused by the loss of company benefits like health and life insurance. Addressing the individual's long term goals will assist them with gaining the confidence and the drive to work towards that next leg in their life journey.

Quality financial advice at this critical juncture can help mature age workers consider alternative options such as an early retirement, starting a business or further education.

Lim Soon Hock
Managing Director
PLAN-B ICAG Pte Ltd

THE current programmes designed to help retrenched PMETs reintegrate into the workforce are sufficient and appropriate. That said, PMETs should not just go for retraining for the sake of gaining employability, given that this is likely to be a short-term problem. PMETs already possess marketable skill sets, so they should be guided by their aspirations, as not doing so would deprive others of the limited opportunities. This especially applies to those who are intending to change their profession or the industry.

I sympathise with the PMETs who have lost their jobs or are about to be retrenched, as this is the worst time to be in such a predicament. The current problem is that there are more PMETs than what the employment market can absorb. As such, my advice to this group of individuals is to capitalise on the current problem and turn it into an opportunity for themselves.

For example, those who are young may want to take this chance to test their entrepreneurship skills or consider setting up consultancies to market and offer their skills and expertise to SMEs or MNCs. It is also an opportune time for some to pursue a higher educational qualification or venture overseas, such as China, Vietnam or the Middle East.

On the latter, I would like to propose that our government help by match-making job opportunities for our PMETs through our overseas offices, as in doing so, it will help build a talent pipeline of Singaporeans, who will have deep knowledge of overseas markets and can help Singapore in the country's economic and trade expansion plans in the long run.

In pursuing other options to test their capabilities and to upgrade themselves, it is all about accepting a short term disadvantage for a larger long term advantage. PMETs will do well when they adopt this mindset.

Gery Messer
President
Red Hat Asia-Pacific and Japan

WHILE the Singapore government has introduced timely and very relevant measures to help companies save jobs and help retrenched workers find new jobs, employers on their part can do more to support the government initiatives.

In these severe economic times, companies are looking at ways to reduce costs and keep the business viable to retain jobs.

Many companies are focused on raising their operational efficiency. As IT is a key infrastructure component of any business today, business leaders should look at increasing the efficiency of their IT systems and software. In recent months, Red Hat has seen a surge in the number of companies looking at adopting open source software to help them save costs.

Companies should also look into retraining and skills upgrading of their employees. These investments will be paid back many times over with increased staff loyalty and higher contribution to the bottom line from more skilled workers.

Red Hat supports the government initiatives in skills upgrading for the Singapore workforce. We believe strongly in community collaboration and we have been working with educational institutions in Singapore to deliver open source skills training to students and Singapore workers. These skills will help them stay relevant and enhance their employment opportunities.

John Devins
Director, Asia-Pacific
GuestLogix

THE government's initiatives to help retrenched PMETs in the areas of retraining and education are much welcomed. This long-term plan of helping them acquire new skills to meet changing job demands and the evolving economic environment is critical in ensuring the sustainability of the local workforce. However, assistance that provides immediate results, especially that which impacts cash flow, will also be beneficial in the short-term. The recent move by some retailers to absorb GST is a good example of how Singaporeans can receive instant relief.

Whilst subsidies will help those who are still financially viable, more full scholarships should be made available to assist those who are talented but are unable to afford further education. Internship programmes will also help open up opportunities for those seeking career changes.

Ultimately, as the saying goes, prevention is better than cure -companies that work hard at retaining and building their talent pool instead of choosing the retrenchment route will be able to recover faster and more effectively from the effects of these turbulent economic times.

Teng Yeow Heng Michael
Managing Director
Corporate Turnaround Centre Pte Ltd

MANY PMETs typically belong to the most highly paid staffing category in many organisations and will face the brunt of the current downsizing. Many educated Singaporeans belong to this category unlike the rank and file which comprises mostly the foreign workers.

Our whole education system trains and encourages our children to seek career prospects in this category which is also the most vulnerable during this recession. Because companies in bad times will fire the highly paid PMETs first in order to maintain a skeleton work force to survive. Unfortunately, there is very little done to assist the PMETs and the current well-meaning programmes to assist them are inadequate.

Many of these PMETs in their 40s and 50s will find it difficult to find re-employment once they lose their jobs. It is not practical to get them to change industries as it poses a major challenge both mentally and professionally. The retrenched manager who is already mentally depressed has to take further mental stress and perceived 'humiliation'to attend courses with his younger colleagues in order to switch into another industry.

Also, chances are that the prospective employers would prefer to hire the younger people as they do not think that these 40s or 50s would professionally fit in well in the new environment. If we recall during the previous recessions, we tried to switch some of the retrenched PMETs to information technology careers and it did not work out.

Furthermore, it is not making good use of the existing talents as these retrenched executives will be throwing away their valuable years of industry experience. We should direct some of the training and job placement assistance instead to help these displaced PMETs get employed back to their industries in the region. These jobs may not be found in Singapore but are certainly available in the region.

As foreign multinational companies relocate out of Singapore because of costs reasons, they still need PMETs to operate in the new foreign locations for them. However, these PMETs need different skill sets to go back to the industry that they used to come from -skills to handle crisis, regional experience to operate in a tougher and foreign environment, etc. PMETs,

especially Singaporeans, are in demand in the region because of our good reputation for integrity and professionalism.

Their past relevant industry experience coupled with good Singapore PMET branding will be further enhanced with their new skill sets to operate in the new harsh environment anywhere in the world.

Notwithstanding this, we have to be prepared that many of these retrenched PMETs will not be able to find alternative jobs or want to work overseas. Alternatively, they need to be trained to be entrepreneurs and free agents. It is wrong to assume that entrepreneurship does not need training. Most of our PMETs work in large and medium-sized companies for many years and will not even know how to start up a company, let alone run a small business -they certainly need to be retrained and taught.

These views were solicited well before Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke on the subject yesterday.

This article was first published in The Business Times.