Articles

NEA: Story of Jonathan from Infocus Integrated Engineerin...

19 Aug, Thu

As part of his school project when he was 15 years old, Mr Jonathan Xiao was understudying a cleaner when he unexpectedly found a wallet with $30,000 in it. He returned it to its owner, and received an award for his honesty. The incident sparked his interest to learn more about the Environmental Services (ES) industry, even though it was not a “glamorous one”, and has since evolved into a lifetime passion to improve the work environment and processes in the ES industry. At age 17, he took a step into the ES industry as a cleaner, and today, at age 32, Jonathan is now an Assistant Manager at Infocus Integrated Engineering.

Throughout his career, Jonathan took multiple courses to stay relevant. “It’s not easy to work in the day and study at night, but going through the various courses helped me to understand the issues that my staff face at work, and the standards and expectations of our clients. With this knowledge, I am better equipped to improve and redesign work processes, to ease the physical challenges faced by Infocus’ mature workforce.” Apart from upgrading the company’s manual equipment to an automated version, Jonathan is also exploring robotics and artificial intelligence to further enhance the productivity of Infocus’ workforce. In addition, he shared that small changes can make a huge difference. For example, he introduced longer litter-picking tools to help his workers, so that they don’t have to bend their backs as much to pick litter off the floor. All these efforts have increased the company’s productivity by 30%, and earned the company the “WDA-SMF Productivity and Innovation Gold Award” in 2013.

Jonathan recalled overhearing disparaging comments such as “if you do not study hard, you have to work as a cleaner like this boy”, while working as a cleaner at a hawker centre in his early days in the industry. “The public was not aware that cleaning is a profession that requires deep knowledge and skills. The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly helped the public to recognise the important role that our cleaners play,” Jonathan shared. As an advocate for the ES industry, Jonathan said “The need for cleaning will always be there, and so will the prospects. Personally, I see myself staying in this industry for the long run, and hope to be able to make a difference for workers in the industry.” For more information about the ES industry: http://www.nea.gov.sg/…/environmental-services-industry…

Strait Times: Has productivity increased for the PWM sect...

30 Jun, Wed

“Has productivity increased for the PWM sectors?” is a question that is sometimes raised.

Analysis of data available suggests that in addition to benefiting workers, PWM can help lift productivity.

This article examines the findings.

https://www.todayonline.com/commentary/progressive-wage-model-benefits-workers-but-does-it-lift-productivity-help-businesses

CNA: What would it take to attract younger workers to the...

17 Jun, Thu

Cleaning is a sunrise industry as the demand for cleaning and disinfection services will keep increasing in the new normal. The nature and scope of the cleaning role has also changed through the years with exciting developments in, for example, robotics and technology. Such positive changes are creating interesting opportunities for new and younger talent – Mr Tony Chooi, EMAS.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/…/singapore-cleaning…

NTUC: Recognising Importance and Higher Value of Cleaners...

07 Jun, Mon

𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀’ 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸

The Tripartite Cluster for Cleaners today announced it’s recommendations on the Progressive Wage Model updates for the cleaning industry.

Our cleaners can again look forward to higher base wages, which will progress very year!

Training requirements have also been enhanced to help our cleaners keep pace with industry transformation.

Cleaning businesses must ensure cleaners attain 1 mandatory WSH module + 1 core module by 31 Dec 2022

Number of WSQ training modules cleaners must be trained in will increase from 2025

Six-year schedule of increases to PWM baseline wages from 1 Jul 2023

Together with our Tripartite partners, NTUC remains committed in uplifting our cleaners so that they will have better wages, welfare and work prospects. We will continue to make good progress in pushing to implement the PWM to uplift more sectors and workers, faster!