Singapore is a small place. Many people think that it is all right to live in one part of Singapore and to work in another part.
With traffic congestion and crowded buses and trains, it can take more than one hour to commute from home to workplace and the same time to return back. Travelling time and cost now becomes an important consideration.
To reduce travelling cost, time and congestion, workers should make a conscious effort to look for employment nearer their home. Employers should also consciously look for workers who live near their workplace. This is a win-win solution.
Workers are likely to work longer in a place, if the travelling time and cost is reduced. They may even be willing to accept a slightly lower salary.
Recruitment practices should now focus on workplace. It will be a good strategy for job opportunities to be advertised according to the zones, so as to attract the workers who live near by.
I hope that popular job portals should make a conscious effort to arrange the jobs according to zones, and make it easy for workers to search for job opporunities according to this criteria.
We need to change our mindset and recruitment practices.
Tan Kin Lian
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Agreed. But will not happen due to the way the city designate zones for development.
ReplyDeleteFor example: CBD - everyone wants a pie. Jurong Island - for chemical industry.
HDB also built flats away from industry and business.
So how do we live near our work place?
Hi
ReplyDeleteThis may not apply for some jobs, but for many most other jobs, the concept of finding employees who live near the workplace can be implemented.
We only need to adopt a new approach. Show jobs according to location of workplace. Give preference to job seekers who live near the workplace.
If many workers live near the workplace, it will help to reduce congestion. We do not need ALL workers to follow this approach.
Hi
ReplyDeleteFor some of jobs that do not require going to office daily or on regular basis, it may not be a bad idea to encourage work from home since most of the companies these days measure performance based on result (KPI) or such.
Perhaps that would help in reducing the congestion and meeting the objection of having a greener environment. And not to mentioned the benefits of encouraging parent who given up their career for family and children :)
I think the government does not mind people having to travel far to go to work because it means more revenue for the transport companies that are government owned.
ReplyDeleteHi, I think with the scarcity of jobs in the current employment climate, work distance from home is a factor that many will have to live with and compromise as compared to not having a job. Unfortunate but "got job, will travel".
ReplyDelete