Singapore – The job listing for a “tray return ambassador” has been widely circulated on social media, making the online community wonder why the position pays more than a cleaner.
A new normal is developing due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with positions such as social distancing ambassadors and contact tracers being established.
Another example that has been upgraded due to the changing environment is tray return ambassadors or those that would uphold safety and cleanliness at hawker centres.
Reddit user u/HelloWorld0921 shared a screenshot of a tray return ambassador job listing on the Singapore subreddit on Wednesday (Jun 30), indicating that the position entails a salary of up to S$2,500 a month.
The roles and responsibilities listed on the job posting include “improving the adoption rate of tray return habit by patrons” and “ensuring patrons or stallholders observe safe-distancing measures.”
With over 1,100 upvotes, the thread has gotten the online community wondering why the job pays more than the people who clean the tables and clear trays.
“This salary can probably hire three elderly cleaners,” added Redditor @thelastresort87.
Meanwhile, Redditor @ahbengtothemax noted that it is a temporary job. “If you want someone to fill the shoes quickly you’ll have to offer an attractive salary. Same deal with covid swabbers getting paid more than nurses.”
Under another listing, table top cleaners were only offered a salary of S$1700 to S$1800, S$800 less than Tray Return Ambassadors.
Others wondered if the salary couldn’t be extended to the cleaners instead. “Why not give this job automatically to the uncle and aunties who were collecting the trays in the first place? What are they going to do now?” asked another netizen.
A more recent job listing for the same position could be accessed at the mycareersfuture website, with the salary ranging from S$1,400 to S$2,200 monthly.
According to the post, the job requirements include being physically fit and able to stand on long hours, having good communication skills and able to work in a team.
In response to the circulating job listings, the National Environment Agency (NEA) has announced that the “listings were made by companies on their own accord, without having secured any contract with NEA.”
A Today report noted that the NEA had asked several companies to take down the unsolicited listings.
The term “tray return ambassador” is also not officially used by NEA, the report added.
NEA highlighted that government agencies put up tenders for roles such as ambassadors and award these to private firms. It is the responsibility of the firms to hire workers for the positions.
“The appointed vendor will be responsible for the recruitment and deployment of the ambassadors, including administration of their salaries and other related costs and benefits,” said NEA.
As the tender is not yet awarded, the job listings were “wrongly” posted, hence, they needed to be taken down./TISG