“Many employers give us feedback that something is changing in our new generation, those who are starting work or who are early in their careers – people do not stay long on the job, and are impatient to move on, fewer believe in learning the ropes, taking time to develop skills on the job and working their way up.
“There is less hunger compared to 20 years ago, and of course compared to 40 or 50 years ago. It is not something we have hard data on, but the qualitative feedback is common and widespread.” – Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, 17 June 2017
“Many factories in Singapore have become testing ground for numerous youths, including national service reservists who hope from one job to another to savour which suits them the best.
This cavalier attitude among young men has angered many Singapore industralists who yesterday complained that the high turnover of workers was costing them a lot of money.” – ‘Job-hopping youths anger S’pore industrialists’, The Straits Times, 23 February 1978
“Are Singaporeans losing the sharp edge of an envied work ethic that enabled the Republic’s economy to leap ahead in the 1970s?
“Is the picture perfect worker bee of the past – hardworking, dedicated and uncomplaining – being replaced by a new breed of drones who are spolit, lazy and overly demanding?” – ‘What is happening to our work ethic?’, The Straits Times, 19 February 1989
“Some of our workers who have been retrenched have unrealistic attitudes. The Ministry of Manpower gave me these stories. First, there are those who are fussy about working hours.
A hotel recently offered an executive position to a lady. She insisted that she would only work till 1pm on Saturdays. As all hotel staff are rostered to work on some weekends, she did not take the job.
Then there are those who are unwilling to travel. I don’t mean travel overseas. There was this job seeker who found travelling from Bedok to Pan Pacific Hotel too far!
Others have dainty reasons to turn down jobs. A café recruited a woman retrenched from a factory to be a kitchen-help. In the first two days, she was taught to cut vegetables and make salads. On the third day, she was asked to wash some dishes. On the fourth day, she quit. Her reason? Washing dishes was not good for her pretty hands.
Some job seekers cannot get their priorities right.” – Ex-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, National Day Rally Speech 18 Aug 2002
“Another criticism about Generation Y is that we always switching jobs every 2-3 years instead of staying 8-10 years like the previous generation. I’d try to help the older folks understand why we do so here.
My grandfather only worked two jobs in his life. One at a shipyard and the other was his retirement job at McDonalds.
The next generation followed in his footsteps. What did they get? After years of loyal service, my generation witnessed our parents, uncles and aunties being retrenched because of recession and replaced by cheaper foreign labour. In return for their ‘loyalty’, many of them are driving taxis now or had tons of family problems and unhappiness because of financial issues.
Having been brought up in such circumstances, my generation begins to question whether staying in one company for 10 years would pay off eventually.
Then we look at our peers and realize, those who jump ship are often rewarded financially but loyal employees are not. In fact, Employees Who Stay In Companies Longer Than Two Years Get Paid 50% Less.” – Young blogger Jeraldine Phneah
