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General Motors To Layoff 70% Of Employees In Singapore

General Motors will be laying-off employees at the company’s international headquarters in Singapore.

As per Reuters, approximately 90 employees, who are all familiar with teardrop racking systems will be laid-off by the end June 2017 and another 40 towards the end of this year. That amounts to around 70% of GM’s current workforce in Singapore. For those employees who need money fast, they can easily get loans for bad credit here.

“As the industry continues to change, we are transforming our business, establishing GM as a more focused and disciplined company,” said General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra.

The company will also be working to improve operations and streamline activities in the region.For motor or kart racing accessories just visit streeter basic stationary kart stand. This is all part of a global effort to save USD 100 million a year. When you want to help, you could sell your car to a dealership to make some profit.

As per a representative from the organisation - “GM is working with employees, their union representatives and local authorities to provide transition support.”

 

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How Essential Is Your Job To Your Firm's Mission?

how essential is your job

If you were offered several different jobs, there would be a lot of factors that went into deciding which job to take.

In addition to the usual factors like seniority level, salary and work-life balance, new research by professors at University of Wisconsin and Washington State University, suggests another important factor to take into account.

How indispensable you are to place?

In other words, is the role a ‘lynchpin’ and how essential is the job to the firm’s overall goal?

Examples of lynchpin roles are engineers in a technology company, or a management consultant at a consulting firm.

To gauge the lynchpinness of a job there are four dimensions that come into play:

  1. How vital the work is to the overall purpose of the company.
  2. If someone else can do the work.
  3. How quickly other work activities would stop, if the job was not done.
  4. How many other work activities would stop, if the job was not done.

The study in question found that being an “organizational lynchpin,” as researchers put it, has several advantages.

First, and most obvious, is that of job security. If you are perceived as vital to the life of a company, you really don’t have to worry about being fired or replaced. This is good, but it’s not the only advantage.

Lynchpins also feel a higher sense of job satisfaction because people like to know that they are doing something meaningful and something that others depend on. Being essential also helps to foster a deeper emotional connection to the company. All this leads to more enjoyment at work, and a smaller chance of getting burned out by your job.

So, why is this good to know?

  • As you are considering future career choices, it’s important to think about your role in the company in question. Are you getting a job as just a cog in the machine, or are you signing on to play a significant role?
  • This also has implications for internal transfers within an organization. If you are offered a transfer to a more central position in the company, it is something you want to seriously consider.
  • For supervisors, this research also suggests that efforts to increase employee satisfaction are best targeted to those employees who work in more peripheral areas of the company. That’s because they are the ones who will most likely be unhappier in their jobs due to burnout, a sense of being left out or a feeling of not being important.
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A Selection Of 6 Books To Help You Build Great Teams

Team building can be a tough task for leaders at any level.

Whether you’re starting a business or working to complete a project, getting everyone’s personalities, work habits and mindsets on the same page can be a significant barrier to reaching the ultimate team goal: cohesion as a means to an end.

Many times, the problem lies in the fact that each person approaches the task at hand differently and with varying levels of ego and ambition. Unfortunately, you, as the leader, are the one left asking yourself how to help your team.

  • How can I account for each person’s attitude and motivation?
  • How can I encourage and push the team to work together?
  • How can I foster an environment of support and respect?

All of these are important principles behind team building. The skill pulls in psychology, sociology, anthropology and other practices that study the behavior of individuals and groups.

Luckily, you don’t have to go back to school for an advanced degree to work well with your team. Here is a selection of good books to help build your team.

A Team of Leaders: Empowering Every Member to Take Ownership, Demonstrate Initiative, and Deliver Results, by Paul Gustavson and Stewart Liff

Looking for a book for the entire team?

This is your pick.

It’s written to help team members identify their effectiveness on a scale of one to five.

This book gives them practical steps to achieve greater results.

Debugging Teams: Better Productivity through Collaboration, by Brian Fitzpatrick and Ben Collins-Sussman

As you know, there’s more to a job than the job description.

The emotional and human side can take much longer to learn.

This book shows you how to work with and around this side, to create a collaborative environment.

Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances, by J. Richard Hackman

A classic in the team-building book category, this tome is grounded in a deeper look at practical results.

Hackman makes this masterpiece funny and witty at the same time.

Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy, by Amy C. Edmondson

While many of Edmondson’s ideas are ones that will come naturally, once you learn and put them in practice you can account for the personality differences among team members.

The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age, by Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, and Cris Yeh

With the experience of an entrepreneurial team and a LinkedIn co-founder, this book examines the leader/team member relationship and helps to build that experience into a greater connected-ness.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, by Patrick Lencioni

In an easy-to-read, entertaining story about a new CEO who has to create a team, Lencioni looks at the five main reasons for team failure and organizational politics.

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Salary And Hiring Expectations For Singapore In 2017

singapore job market 2017

Recruitment consultancy Michael Page released the results of their 2017 salary and employment survey for Singapore.

93% of employers in Singapore plan on maintaining or raising headcount, and only 36% said they will get new hires on board. 61% of employers who are planning to increase headcount, are actively looking for mid-level candidates.

Recently the unemployment rate in Singapore reached a six year high at 2.2%.

In Singapore 58% of companies expect a 1 to 5% salary increase for managers and senior staff. Across Asia 48% of companies expect similar increases, for all employee levels.

Sectors with the best growth/prospects are digital, technology and healthcare. As the Singapore government is aiming to invest more in these areas, the sectors will see relatively greater hiring activity.

Companies will continue to find it challenging to get headcount approval and as a result, contract/part-time jobs will gain popularity. Around 70% of firms are already using contractors, particularly in areas such as business support, technology and operations.

To have a look at the entire report, with lots of detail on the job market and salaries for different sectors, click here.

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Cities And Functions In Asia With The Most Job Opportunities

Asian markets are becoming popular options for millennials and expats alike as they face an uncertain and sometimes volatile Western economy. The body corporate managers help committee members cope with the complex demands of building management and body corporate law. Speaking of law, checkout this awesome blog about legal document assembly, click this link https://www.smokeball.com/features/document-assembly/ to learn more.

Events like Brexit, the U.S. presidential election and the Trans-Pacific Partnership all made companies a bit hesitant to grow their employee base.

Certain Asian cities, though, such as Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Singapore and Tokyo, are emerging as promising destinations for employees at all levels in a variety of industries. This is as per a survey by ExpatFinder.

Human resources and finance are industries with an overall high demand in most cities, while communications, food and hospitality, and logistics and manufacturing are, overall, the industries least likely to have available positions. These are the effect of poor marketing strategies. Visit Gold Coast Joel for SEO advice and marketing strategies.

Hong Kong: Finance, Logistics and Manufacturing, and Sales and Marketing in Demand

A skills shortage in finance has opened up a variety of positions, especially for individuals skilled in audit, compliance and cybersecurity.

Positions in Hong Kong-based companies along with some Chinese companies moving into the region are available at various levels. This includes full-time as well as temporary and contract opportunities.

More than 27 percent of Hong Kong’s job vacancies were in the financial industry in recent months.

Mid-level and junior employees in logistics and manufacturing, and sales and marketing, are also in high demand. Each of these industries accounts for slightly more than 13.5 percent of the job vacancies.

Food and hospitality positions are extremely hard to find, as the industry makes up only 1.33 percent of the available jobs. Engineering (3.01 percent of available jobs) and retail (4.48 of available jobs) positions also have few available jobs.

Kuala Lumpur: Demand for Sales and Marketing, Consultancy and Management, and Finance

Overall, high turnover in most industries in Kuala Lumpur makes jobs available in many sectors.

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Individuals who look for jobs in sales and marketing may find the greatest job availability, as more than 19 percent of available jobs fell into this industry. Nearly 60 percent of the industry’s jobs are for entry or junior-level positions.

The consultancy, management and financial industries, though, are seeing an overwhelming need for mid-level employees. In the financial industry alone, more than 87 percent of available jobs fall into the middle-level position.

There are fewer jobs available for construction, education and engineering industries.

Mumbai: Technology, Finance, and Sales and Marketing in Demand

Mid- and senior-level employees are highly needed in the top three industries in Mumbai.

More than 29 percent of job vacancies in Mumbai fell into the technology industry. Of those, more than 74.5 percent of the positions were for mid-level employees.

As much as 60 percent of the finance jobs, which accounted for 13 percent of the overall job vacancies, and 75 percent of sales and marketing jobs, which accounted for 8 percent of all job vacancies, were also in the mid-level category.

Few jobs are available in the food and hospitality, sciences, and logistics and manufacturing industries.

Singapore: Demand for Human Resources, Finance, Sales and Marketing

The highest demand for jobs in Singapore is for human resources positions, which account for more than 14 percent of all available jobs.

Entry-level positions in are the most widely available position in the top three industries, making up nearly 54 percent of the positions in the human resources industry.

One-third of the human resources industry positions are filled by middle-level managers. Senior executives and managers in human resources are the least likely to find a position in Singapore, as these jobs make up 12 percent of the available jobs in the industry.

The finance sector makes up nearly 13 percent of the available jobs, with a great need for mid-level executives. Individuals with skills in auditing, compliance and risk are especially needed.

In sales and marketing, which accounts for about 12.5 percent of Singapore’s job vacancies, mid-level executives are also in high demand, as they make up about half of the positions in the industry.

Workers with any level of experience in healthcare, logistics and manufacturing, and communications will have a tough time finding a position, as the are the three industries with the least job availability.

Tokyo: High Demand in Technology, Finance, and Logistics and Manufacturing

Technology professionals, especially mid-level employees, are in very high demand in Tokyo, as nearly 20 percent of job vacancies were in this industry.

A skills shortage, especially in applications development, data and database management, IT security, networking, and software development, has made it hard for companies that need to grow their department to find good candidates, some companies even decide to hire external resources as temporal outsourcing like outsourcing vs offshoring depending on the companies need.

About 12.6 percent of available jobs were in the finance industry. The logistics and manufacturing industry showed a similar number of available jobs. In both industries, companies are looking for middle-level employees.

The challenge of finding qualified candidates has led many companies to look for temporary professionals.

The fewest jobs are available in the communications, media and publishing, and human resources industries.

which industries and functions are hiring for jobs in asia

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4 Excellent New Books For Your Career

best career books 2017

To help your career in 2017, here is a selection of new books that provide guidance on topics such as changing careers, finding a good job, professional development, networking and achieving your goals.

“Pivot: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One”

Former Google career development manager and current career coach Jenny Blake explains a four-step, incremental method to change your career in “Pivot.” The steps include:

  • Planning your career and goals for the future.
  • Getting a good idea of your strengths.
  • Figuring our how to get from where you are, to where you want to be.

Blake offers dozens of how-to exercises to illustrate how you make small changes in the right direction. She advocates making small changes in succession until you reach an ultimate career goal.

“Reinvention Roadmap”

Liz Ryan, founder and CEO of Human Workplace, gives her tips on how to reinvent yourself as you look for new opportunities and new career paths.

Her 20-plus years of experience in HR demonstrate her expertise.

Ryan has more than 1 million followers on LinkedIn, so you should listen heartily to the concepts presented in her book “Reinvention Roadmap: Break the Rules to Get the Job You Want and Career You Deserve.”

“Designing Your Life”

“Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life,” by professors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans of Stanford University’s design department, explores how interior design principles can be used to improve your life and career.

The authors talk about a five-step, life/career design process. The trick to design the life you want lies in continually testing things in small yet impactful ways until you discover what works best.

For example, the pair say you should explore your next move by conducting interviews with someone who made the same decision in their past that you’re pondering for your future.

In the midst of the interviews, you get a feel for the reality of your possible path and whether it measures up to your expectations, effort and expertise.

“Build Your Dream Network”

We all know that developing meaningful connections, both off and online, is important for our careers.

However, many of us don’t make the time to do so. We also don’t go about it in a well planned and strategic way.

Author J. Kelly Hoey provides great tips, expert interviews and checklists, to help you make the process easier and effective.

Happy reading!

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Practical Ways To Make Your Weekends More Enjoyable

Science has proven what many of us already know to be true: most people are happier on the weekend than they are Monday through Friday.

However, there are those dreary weekends when you’re stuck inside catching up on chores, engaging in activities that you don’t enjoy as much, cleaning the house or completing work tasks that didn’t get done during the week. To enjoy your e-cigar just visit top rated vaporizer pens. You can use different types of Rubber Stamps that you can use for decorating objects or for planning events. Commercially available rubber stamps fall into two categories: stamps for use in the office or those used as children’s toys like the latest RC cars. But if you´re more into the social media life, you should buy Instagram followers to make your account grow, or maybe buy youtube subs.

Some weekends are just more enjoyable than others. Or you can spend your weekends travelling with your baby while making him comfortable with car seat stroller combo inside your car.

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So here are ways to make sure more of your weekends are spent on the enjoyable side.

Sketch out your plans

You don’t need a detailed, hourly outline, but writing down a rough idea of your plans can help build the anticipation that research shows leads to greater happiness.

This is similar to how holiday planning works. Often it is the travel planning and anticipation that gives us the most joy. Or you can spend your weekend hunting by just visiting corporate hunting package.

Make a list of things you want to do, from dinner with friends to going to a show, or going for a run and getting some exercise.

Prepare ahead of time by contacting your friends and buying tickets, which will help get you and them excited for the upcoming weekend.

Make the most of your time

When do you feel the happiest?

For participants in one study, their times of greatest happiness came when they were exercising, socializing and doing something spiritual like reading angel cards, if you dont know how to read them, then check out guide to angel card readings.

When you’re planning out your weekend, make sure you include a mix of these activitities.

Also, we all have specific things that we enjoy relatively more. Think about your favorite activities and things which you enjoyed during previous weekends. Include them on your list.

Take some time to relax

It can be tempting to pack your weekend with activities, including shopping, catching up with friends and family events.

By the time Monday morning rolls around, you’re more tired and worn out than you were on Friday.

In your plan, schedule time for yourself, as one study shows that even daydreaming can help your psychological functions.

Whether you get outside for a walk, curl up with a book, or enjoy a cup of coffee by yourself, find some time to relax and refresh.

Cut down your “must-do” list

In the study that measured people’s happiest times of the day, they also found that housework and office work did not make the cut.

To keep your weekends upbeat and happier, put up clear boundaries for when you will and won’t work — and stick to them.

Leave your emails alone until a set time each day.

If housework needs to be completed, multi-task. Throw a load of laundry in while you’re getting the family ready to head out, or toss dinner ingredients in a slow-cooker so that when you come home from a day out, your meal will be hot and ready to serve.

Minimize the Sunday evening blues

About 76 percent of people end up with a “really bad” case of the Sunday night blues, one study shows.

Keep your entire weekend happy by planning something fun to do on Sunday afternoon or evening.

You’ll be focused on that, rather than the Monday return to work, and the weekend will seem longer and more pleasurable.

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Deutsche Bank Cuts Bonuses Substantially

In light of the bank’s performance and the USD 7.2 billion settlement with U.S. authorities, Deutsche bank announced that it will be making drastic cuts to bonuses employees will receive this year.

“Now that we have a clearer idea of the financial impact of the settlement with the US Department of Justice and our performance for the year, we feel that tough measures are unavoidable,” Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan said in a message to employees.

Approximately 33% of the bank’s 100,000 employees will be impacted by the decision to reduce/eliminate bonuses.

The management board will not receive any bonus and staff with titles of VP, director and MD will not see a bonus but will get a retention package.

The retention package will be in the form of deferred share and cash awards, which will be cancelled if Deutsche Bank’s stock price does not increase by 30% over the coming 3 to 4 years.

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1,400 CEOs Share Expectations For The Economy And Jobs In 2017

PWC released their survey of around 1,400 CEOs from 79 countries, which aims to gauge their expectations for growth of their company and as well as the economy.

For 2017, 38% (35% in 2016) of the CEOs are confident about their organisation’s growth prospects and 29% (27% in 2016) are of the opinion that global economic growth will see an uptick.

ceo job and economic growth 2017

The leaders expressed concern over a number of issues, including over-regulation (80%), economic uncertainty (82%), availability of key skills (77%) and protectionism (59%).

As per Bob Moritz, PWC’s Global Chairman:

“Despite a tumultuous 2016, CEO confidence is moving back up – albeit slowly and still a long way from the levels we saw back in 2007. But there are signs of optimism right across the globe, including in the UK and US, where despite predictions of a Trump slump and a Brexit exit, CEOs confidence in their company’s growth are up from 2016. “

77% of CEOs are also worried about the availability of talent which matches the skills their business needs. This issue is the most pressing for leaders in Africa (80%) and Asia Pacific (82%).

52% of CEOs plan to increase headcount in 2017, while 16% are looking to reduce the number of people employed. Leaders in India (67%), Canada (64%), UK (63%) and China (60%) report the biggest hiring plans.

The industries where the most hires are expected are Asset Management (64%), Healthcare (64%) and Technology (59%).

For detailed information on the survey results and CEO interviews, take a look here.

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Most Employees In Asia Reject Counter-Offers From Employers

A recent survey from recruiting firm Hays says that last year around 61 percent of employees in Singapore rejected a counter-offer from their bosses to make them stay in the firm. Meanwhile, 30 percent of employees claimed that they accepted their offers and stayed.

Such counter-offers ranged from salary increases, more company benefits, a highly sought-after promotion or a new job title, more responsibility, a change in the current role, or more involvement in projects. These types of counter-offers are made in the hope that managers and CEOs convince employees to stay at the firm.

Hays’ survey revealed that while 30 percent of employees said that they accepted the counter-offers and ended up staying with their employers for more than 12 months after accepting the counter-offer, 9 percent said they ended up leaving the organization anyway less than 12 months after receiving the counter-offer. For these 9 percent, those counter-offers from their employers were not enough to make them stay in the long run.

“People reject counter-offers because in most cases it’s too late” says Lynne Roeder, Hays’ managing director for Singapore “Whether it’s because they want to take the next step in their career or they want to broaden their professional horizons, chances are they made their mind up when they applied for that other job. It could also be that they wish to change industries or simply because they are currently unhappy in their present role. Before considering presenting a counter offer, employers should be wary that once an employee has announced their intention to leave, their long-term loyalty can come into question.”

Singapore is not the only area where a high number of workers are rejecting counter-offers from their employers. Hays has conducted similar research throughout Asia and found that 45 percent of workers in China, 56 percent of workers in Hong Kong, 61 percent of workers in Japan and 63 percent of workers in Malaysia said “thanks but no thanks” to the counter-offers they received from their bosses.

This makes Singapore tied with Japan for the second-highest rate of employees ditching counter offers and leaving their firms, with Malaysia having the highest rate and China having the lowest.

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Ranking Of The Best Universities For Landing A Job

A new global ranking shows which universities are the best for getting a job after graduation. QS, a group of global higher education analysts, has put together its first graduate employability index. The index aims to measure how appealing a university’s graduates are to employers.

The Results

QS examined data from over 300 universities around the world, comparing their performance on five key employment indicators.

Their data shows that Stanford University is the number one university for getting a job, with Massachusetts Institute of Technology coming in second.

Though this is a global rankings list, the U.S. has an incredibly strong presence, with five colleges in the top 10 and 10 colleges in the top 20. Making up the rest of the top 20 are three universities each from the U.K. and China, two from Australia, and one each from France and Hong Kong.

Why Is This Study Important?

Employment prospects have never been so crucial to students deciding where they want to study for the next four years. With student debt at record high levels and a global economy still struggling to recover from the recession that began in 2008, there is a powerful incentive to start earning as much as possible and as soon as possible after graduation.

On top of that, college is becoming increasingly more accessible to young people around the world, meaning that young people are going to college more than ever before. As a result, competition for employment after graduation is fiercer than in previous years.

According to Ben Sowter, head of research at QS, the global ranking data shows that universities with a strong focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) scored higher on the employability index.

However, Sowter said the rankings were not solely because of STEM graduates being more employable than non-STEM graduates. The employment rate was only one of the five indicators used to compile the rankings. He also added that the employment rate was not broken down by subject.

According to QS, the top 10 global universities ranked on employability are:

  1. Stanford University (U.S.)
  2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (U.S.)
  3. Tsinghua University (China)
  4. The University of Sydney (Austalia)
  5. University of Cambridge (U.K.)
  6. Ecole Polytechnique ParisTech (France)
  7. Columbia University (U.S.)
  8. University of Oxford (U.K.)
  9. University of California, Berkeley (U.S.)
  10. Princeton University (U.S.)

The full rankings can be found here.

As well as post-graduate employment rates, universities were also assessed on employer reputation, partnerships with employers, employer-student connections and alumni outcomes. All of these factors went into the overall ranking.

Chicago University (23rd overall) was the highest-placed U.S. institution solely on graduate employment rate. The category was topped by South Korea’s Sungkyunkwan University. Australian universities also did well in this particular metric, with five in the top 20, reflecting a currently buoyant domestic economy. South Korea and Mexico both had two universities in the top 20 based on post-grad employment rate.

“As the global employment market changes in unprecedented ways, students are increasingly emphasizing the link between their university choice and their future career,” said Sowter. “We’re confident that the insights provided by this ranking will prove invaluable in allowing them to do so.”

Conclusion

While employability should figure prominently in every student’s considerations for where they’ll go to college, it should not be the only factor. When deciding where they will want to spend the next four years of their life, students will need more than just the prospect of finding a job after graduation to get them through those next four years.

Other equally important factors, like academic quality/style and reputation, affordability, and whether or not they can see themselves being happy and comfortable at the university, should be considered when deciding where to go.

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Positive Changes For Older Employees In Singapore

Yesterday, in Singapore, the Parliament passed the Retirement and Re-employment (Amendment) Bill 2016, which will help the older workforce with re-employment opportunities.

Here are the main changes that will go live on 1 July 2017.

Increasing the re-employment age from 65 to 67 years

Locals who were born on or after 1 July 1952 (or in other words, those who turn 65 on or after July 2017) will be eligible.

Providing an option for re-employment in other organisations

In case the employer cannot re-employ staff in their own company, they have the option to arrange for re-employment with another organisation. This will help to provide more flexibility to the labor market.

However, the employee must agree to such a transfer of re-employment. If the employee does not consent, then the employer must meet the re-employment obligations

As per the MOM -

“This amendment in the Bill allows an employer who is unable to offer a suitable position in his own organisation, to transfer his re-employment obligations to another employer, provided this is done with the older employee’s consent and that the second employer agrees to take over all applicable re-employment obligations.

Allowing eligible employees to be re-employed by another employer will help to provide more options for employers and employees.”

Removing the ability for employers to reduce staff compensation at 60

The new law will not allow employers to cut the salary of those who turn 60 anymore.

The provision to cut wages (by up to 10%) was introduced in 1999 and while 98.5% of companies were not using it in practice, the new law is still a welcome change.