Southeast Asia Training

by Jean Barbazette

There is nothing like a three week training trip to Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand to make you appreciate sleeping in your own bed and eating a hamburger. I've just returned from conducting public workshops on customer service management and train-the-trainer in Singapore and presenting at the 20th Asia Regional Training & Development Organization (ARTDO) Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Training is taken very seriously in the economically emerging Southeast Asian "tiger" countries of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong. Government, business and employees view training and education as fundamental tools that are necessary to keep themselves, their products/services and countries competitive in an increasingly shrinking world. During this latest trip these examples brought the point home:

The Singapore government's National Productivity Board has just launched "OJT 2000". This is a plan intended to use on-the-job training to assist smaller companies in establishing a structured in-house training program for primarily older workers. For older workers to remain productive, learning new skills is essential. The target is to encourage smaller companies, which currently spend .7% to 1.5% of their payrolls on training, to increase their expenditures to 4% by 1995.

Larger Singapore companies with 500+ employees spend, on average, 5.2% of payroll on training.

The announcement of "OJT 2000" was reported in a banner-headlined, 3-page, 3,500 word article in the "Strait Times", the largest circulation newspaper in Singapore.

One of my workshop attendees commented that competition for good jobs is fierce, with 500 applicants with college degrees applying for a clerk's position. This has caused problems for training. Managers want their employees to be trained, but they are hesitant to share their knowledge with others because if they teach their subordinates too much they believe they might take over their jobs.

Semi-skilled or unskilled manufacturing labor in Singapore is in short supply. The Singapore government has approved immigration for foreign laborers from China and Vietnam. Immigrants from other countries who want to work in Singapore, must apply for another, more restrictive work permit; or the hiring company must show a special circumstance to hire workers from other countries.

Other problems of rapid growth are showing up in the educational system. Elementary schools have been operating on split session for some time. The early session is from 6:30 am to 12:30 pm. Children the early session have to get up very early, but have the time to participate in after-school sports or see afternoon television shows directed at the youth market. The second session is from 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm. It was not unusual to see groups of energetic children in school uniforms wearing back packs on the sidewalks or in the MRT (Metropolitan Rapid Transit) when going out to dinner. Remember, these kids get to sleep in every morning!

Other symptoms of rapid, and often unchecked, growth is how different countries deal with the mounting traffic congestion from automobiles.

Singapore prefers to control traffic in three ways:

• The rapid transit system is superb. The longest ride costs about 70 cents US.

• Buying a car in Singapore is not only expensive, but sometimes prohibitive. Not only must the consumer go through the normal rigors of buying a new car, an added element enters the negotiations: getting the "best deal" on a COE, or "Certificate of Eligibility". In order to buy a new car, the consumer must competitively bid for a COE (about $26,000 US) plus pay a tax of 195% of the value of the car! Yes, that's right, a $20,000 car can end up costing about $80,000.

• During peak traffic hours, access to central city streets are closed to automobiles with a single occupant unless you have a special permit.

Bangkok is building major toll roads to speed cars from the airport to downtown. If you think traffic is bad in your city, between 600 to 800 new cars are purchased and added to the already crowded streets of Bangkok everyday. A commute trip of 10 miles often takes 2 hours.

Jakarta has recently added a fleet of new, upscale Toyota Corollas with tinted windows to the city's metered taxi fleet.

Another article will follow shortly about "tips and traps" of using various training activities that are effective in the US but produce unexpected results when presented in an Asian culture!