Employers have part to play in empowering workforce

I refer to the report, “Businesses here find it more difficult to hire workers: Poll” (June 23).

Uncertainty enshrouds the workplace, as Singapore businesses depend largely on the turbulent world economy to thrive. To a 47-year-old white-collar jobseeker, resilience is everything, though it does not hurt if there is empathy.

There is a growth of microenterprises started by graduate entrepreneurs, hiring five or fewer people. These employers are active online; they speak up and engage agencies that aid and spur their endeavours. These youngsters are better educated and may not settle easily for anything less at the workplace.

Regardless of age, though, Singaporeans are generally known not to rest on their laurels.

So take, for example, an employee at Giordano, a retail company with award-winning customer service, and one who works for a pushcart microenterprise. The two employees may view their employers differently. Compared with the Giordano staff, the pushcart employee is unlikely to hold high aspirations for his employer’s enterprise.

In terms of on-the-job training, Giordano can ask more of its employees than a pushcart employer can. Giordano is known for offering the so-called feel-good factor for their employees to go the extra mile in the retail service industry.

Thanks to tripartism, agencies such as the Employment and Employability Institute have been set up to ensure that the Singapore workforce can be a good match for employers. But it seems all that businessmen do is complain.

If the poll that TODAY reported on would separate microenterprises from the bigger small and medium enterprises, it may bring greater insights into why the working population is far from being the right match for them.