Yingluck Urges Thai Workers To Upgrade Skills

[lemoncake]

In the mean time i have people calling to apply for a job not knowing the name of the company

Not knowing the job title

Not being able to speak English, while advertising clearly states "must speak English"

Asking for double the advertised salary

Applying for position of a manager with 0 MINUTES experience.

Says it all , really.

You mean like your multi million dollar factory with 15 days visa runs?

[khaowong1]

How exactly do workers upgrade their own skills?

Surely there either needs to be government training or incentives for businesses to provide it.

As for the breast feeding corners - that does sort of imply mothers taking infants to work with them. Nurseries at work might work for larger companies IF an incentive is provided but kids should really not be going to work IMO.

This was my thoughts also.. How?

[Thai at Heart]

How exactly do workers upgrade their own skills?

Surely there either needs to be government training or incentives for businesses to provide it.

As for the breast feeding corners - that does sort of imply mothers taking infants to work with them. Nurseries at work might work for larger companies IF an incentive is provided but kids should really not be going to work IMO.

This was my thoughts also.. How?

Indeed, shouldn't a breast feeding mother be entitled to 9 months paid leave from a company, if she was there already? Or wouldn't it be even better for the govt to pay her 6000 baht a month to stay home?

[lemoncake]

To lemoncake All you have mentioned is so true. I can relate as over many years ive had to many people to count apply for jobs and be not qualified for anything but a job as housekeeping. In terms of management jobs good luck finding someone it takes me on average anywhere from 1 - 3 months to get someone. Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

i can make you feel better, i have been short staffed for over 2.5 years now and advertising 365 days per year.

Have tried to have a manager twice and both times, were rather painful

Just today had a 52 year old come for interview where i ended up listening how engine pumps work and are sold for 20 mins and that was in response to my question what his last job was.

He had no experience in my field of business but then proceeded to teach me how it should work for another 20 or so mins.

Lucky i had tylenol handy

Edited May 2, 2013 by lemoncake

[utalkin2me]

"What do I get if I improve my skills"

"Nothing"

"Oh, ok, I see".....

[philw]

In the mean time i have people calling to apply for a job not knowing the name of the company

Not knowing the job title

Not being able to speak English, while advertising clearly states "must speak English"

Asking for double the advertised salary

Applying for position of a manager with 0 MINUTES experience.

Says it all , really.

You mean like your multi million dollar factory with 15 days visa runs?

Please tell us the name of your hotel, you advertise it so well..

My company is called Mangofishing Ltd.

Yours ???

[lemoncake]

In the mean time i have people calling to apply for a job not knowing the name of the company

Not knowing the job title

Not being able to speak English, while advertising clearly states "must speak English"

Asking for double the advertised salary

Applying for position of a manager with 0 MINUTES experience.

Says it all , really.

You mean like your multi million dollar factory with 15 days visa runs?

Please tell us the name of your hotel, you advertise it so well..

My company is called Mangofishing Ltd.

Yours ???

Yes we are all aware of what your company is called, hence why you do the 15 day border runs

[hellodolly]

How exactly do workers upgrade their own skills?

Surely there either needs to be government training or incentives for businesses to provide it.

As for the breast feeding corners - that does sort of imply mothers taking infants to work with them. Nurseries at work might work for larger companies IF an incentive is provided but kids should really not be going to work IMO.

This was my thoughts also.. How?

Indeed, shouldn't a breast feeding mother be entitled to 9 months paid leave from a company, if she was there already? Or wouldn't it be even better for the govt to pay her 6000 baht a month to stay home?

"Indeed, shouldn't a breast feeding mother be entitled to 9 months

paid leave from a company, if she was there already? Or wouldn't it be

even better for the govt to pay her 6000 300 baht a day to stay at home ?"

[DeepInTheForest]

How exactly do workers upgrade their own skills?

Surely there either needs to be government training or incentives for businesses to provide it.

As for the breast feeding corners - that does sort of imply mothers taking infants to work with them. Nurseries at work might work for larger companies IF an incentive is provided but kids should really not be going to work IMO.

This was my thoughts also.. How?

Indeed, shouldn't a breast feeding mother be entitled to 9 months paid leave from a company, if she was there already? Or wouldn't it be even better for the govt to pay her 6000 baht a month to stay home?

Well, we can dream. Nine months of paid leave is a great goal. However, if that were accomplished, Thailand would join only 9 other countries that currently offer 9 months of paid benefits. All of them are European (including Albania!).

The Netherlands, which TV posters are fond of holding up as a role model, clocks in at a mere 16 weeks paid leave.

The UK is generous, with 52 weeks at 90 percent of wages.

Sweden tops the list in length of time, at 420 days, 80 percent of wages.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/05/22/maternity-leaves-around-the-world_n_1536120.html

Given the impracticality at this juncture of declaring 9 months paid maternal leave in Thailand, breastfeeding at the workplace would seem to be the next best alternative.

Europe is all over it, though much needs to be done:

Breastfeeding is the natural way to feed infants and young children. Exclusive breastfeeding for

the first six months of life ensures optimal growth, development and health. After that,

breastfeeding, with appropriate complementary foods, continues to contribute to the infant’s

and young child’s nutrition, development and health.

• Breastfeeding is not fully promoted and supported. Many health care and social institutions

provide services that often represent obstacles to the initiation and continuation of

breastfeeding. As a result, not all children in Europe get this ideal start to life.

• Low rates and early cessation of breastfeeding have important adverse health and social

implications for women, children, the community and the environment, result in greater

expenditure on national health care provision, and increase inequalities in health.

http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_projects/2002/promotion/fp_promotion_2002_frep_18_en.pdf

Clearly, Europe (or at least the authors of this planning paper) feels that promoting workplace breastfeeding is a desirable thing.

It is also worth noting that women, particularly young women, provide the labor engine that has powered Thailand's economic rise.

From a 1997 paper in American Ethnologist:

Khem is but one among hundreds of thousands of rural women whose labor in Bangkok

manufacturing and service jobs has sustained Thailand's drive toward the ranks of Asia's

celebrated "newly industrializing countries" (Bell 1992; Girling 1981:178-79).2 Village households

practicing small cash and subsistence crop production have played an essential part in

the rapid expansion of Thailand's urban industrial economy. They provide a highly flexible pool

of labor through out-migration while, at the same time, the continuing economic ties between

workers and their village homes bear part of the cost of maintaining and reproducing this labor

force, thereby allowing urban employers to pay lower wages and offer fewer benefits (Porpora

and Lim 1987).3 Indeed, women like Khem—unmarried and in their late teens and early

twenties—now constitute the preferred workforce of many Bangkok employers.

http://www.wou.edu/~smithr/370%20WOMEN/Select%20for%202008/Mills_consuming_desires.pdf

Edited May 2, 2013 by DeepInTheForest

[Thai at Heart]

How exactly do workers upgrade their own skills?

Surely there either needs to be government training or incentives for businesses to provide it.

As for the breast feeding corners - that does sort of imply mothers taking infants to work with them. Nurseries at work might work for larger companies IF an incentive is provided but kids should really not be going to work IMO.

This was my thoughts also.. How?

Indeed, shouldn't a breast feeding mother be entitled to 9 months paid leave from a company, if she was there already? Or wouldn't it be even better for the govt to pay her 6000 baht a month to stay home?

Well, we can dream. Nine months of paid leave is a great goal. However, if that were accomplished, Thailand would join only 9 other countries that currently offer 9 months of paid benefits. All of them are European (including Albania!).

The Netherlands, which TV posters are fond of holding up as a role model, clocks in at a mere 16 weeks paid leave.

The UK is generous, with 52 weeks at 90 percent of wages.

Sweden tops the list in length of time, at 420 days, 80 percent of wages.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/05/22/maternity-leaves-around-the-world_n_1536120.html

Given the impracticality at this juncture of declaring 9 months paid maternal leave in Thailand, breastfeeding at the workplace would seem to be the next best alternative.

Europe is all over it, though much needs to be done:

Breastfeeding is the natural way to feed infants and young children. Exclusive breastfeeding for

the first six months of life ensures optimal growth, development and health. After that,

breastfeeding, with appropriate complementary foods, continues to contribute to the infants

and young childs nutrition, development and health.

Breastfeeding is not fully promoted and supported. Many health care and social institutions

provide services that often represent obstacles to the initiation and continuation of

breastfeeding. As a result, not all children in Europe get this ideal start to life.

Low rates and early cessation of breastfeeding have important adverse health and social

implications for women, children, the community and the environment, result in greater

expenditure on national health care provision, and increase inequalities in health.

http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_projects/2002/promotion/fp_promotion_2002_frep_18_en.pdf

Clearly, Europe (or at least the authors of this planning paper) feels that promoting workplace breastfeeding is a desirable thing.

It is also worth noting that women, particularly young women, provide the labor engine that has powered Thailand's economic rise.

From a 1997 paper in American Ethnologist:

Khem is but one among hundreds of thousands of rural women whose labor in Bangkok

manufacturing and service jobs has sustained Thailand's drive toward the ranks of Asia's

celebrated "newly industrializing countries" (Bell 1992; Girling 1981:178-79).2 Village households

practicing small cash and subsistence crop production have played an essential part in

the rapid expansion of Thailand's urban industrial economy. They provide a highly flexible pool

of labor through out-migration while, at the same time, the continuing economic ties between

workers and their village homes bear part of the cost of maintaining and reproducing this labor

force, thereby allowing urban employers to pay lower wages and offer fewer benefits (Porpora

and Lim 1987).3 Indeed, women like Khemunmarried and in their late teens and early

twentiesnow constitute the preferred workforce of many Bangkok employers.

http://www.wou.edu/~smithr/370%20WOMEN/Select%20for%202008/Mills_consuming_desires.pdf

Don't they get 3 or 6 months now?

[alanferdi]

How exactly do workers upgrade their own skills?

Surely there either needs to be government training or incentives for businesses to provide it.

As for the breast feeding corners - that does sort of imply mothers taking infants to work with them. Nurseries at work might work for larger companies IF an incentive is provided but kids should really not be going to work IMO.

Well... the present curriculum;

Learn to lie professionally

Learn to concede defeat or blame it on someone else

Learn to avoid taking responsibility for wrong actions

Perfect in quietly following rules....

The advanced Curriculum in the benefit of the country;

-Learning to speak the truth

-Learning to seek advice from those who know better

-Learning to take up responsibility and declining from those that are a person is not qualified from

-Learning to question and discuss honestly

-Learning to put the poor man first rather than using him as a pawn in all the rallies and then starving him of his rights!

I hope she is not suggesting to follow Thaksin, her brother to learn Criminology and perfect in it!

Good luck Thailand

[Tboy928]

To lemoncake All you have mentioned is so true. I can relate as over many years ive had to many people to count apply for jobs and be not qualified for anything but a job as housekeeping. In terms of management jobs good luck finding someone it takes me on average anywhere from 1 - 3 months to get someone. Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Impressiv, i did not even find good women that could do housecleaning correct.... Painters i had to teach, tell them, dont do this and that.. only skill i seen in Thailand so far is Massage, and rip you off and start a job and half way, ask for more money .. for anything else, useless people

[ginjag]

Looking forward to watching ballet in the go-go bars.

Have you been asleep? they already wear tutu's

Heyyyy, I try to stay away from boyz town.

Try--how much ???

[rubl]

Yingluck said

"Yingluck has accepted all the demands"

Why didn't some one demand she end corruption and get serious about giving a real education in all the schools?

At times my understanding of English is lacking. To me a politician saying 'to accept demands' is like "I've listened, heard you. Now please go away". Maybe I should really start to learn proper English, to the level like PM Yingluck is displaying

[utalkin2me]

To lemoncake All you have mentioned is so true. I can relate as over many years ive had to many people to count apply for jobs and be not qualified for anything but a job as housekeeping. In terms of management jobs good luck finding someone it takes me on average anywhere from 1 - 3 months to get someone. Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Impressiv, i did not even find good women that could do housecleaning correct.... Painters i had to teach, tell them, dont do this and that.. only skill i seen in Thailand so far is Massage, and rip you off and start a job and half way, ask for more money .. for anything else, useless people

Crass, but what you say is the truth. Your post (and mine lol) may get deleted, but as Churchill once said:

"The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is."

[philw]

To lemoncake All you have mentioned is so true. I can relate as over many years ive had to many people to count apply for jobs and be not qualified for anything but a job as housekeeping. In terms of management jobs good luck finding someone it takes me on average anywhere from 1 - 3 months to get someone. Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Impressiv, i did not even find good women that could do housecleaning correct.... Painters i had to teach, tell them, dont do this and that.. only skill i seen in Thailand so far is Massage, and rip you off and start a job and half way, ask for more money .. for anything else, useless people

Crass, but what you say is the truth. Your post (and mine lol) may get deleted, but as Churchill once said:

"The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is."

A "hotelier" can't find staff for his / her hotel and there seems to be a shortage of good cleaning women, painters and non rip off massage girls.

Life in Thailand is hard.

Wonder how the remaining 100's of thousands of businesses get by and how the economy keeps growing and them tourists just keep coming?

Edited May 4, 2013 by philw

[tominbkk]

Where I come from, most teens start with a min wage job, then move up. Many like myself work thoughout university, and when they have gotten certification and experience move into progressional jobs that pay well.

Here, a person making min wage will rarely ever get more than that. Training is not promoted.

Edited May 4, 2013 by tominbkk

[philw]

Where I come from, most teens start with a min wage job, then move up. Many like myself work thoughout university, and when they have gotten certification and experience move into progressional jobs that pay well.

Here, a person making min wage will rarely ever get more than that. Training is not promoted.

Yes you are right and it's very sad.

Cost of training is a cost of doing business and it's increasingly necessary to offer this.

Quite rightly so, I think.

[PoodMaiDai]

Mai pen rai.

Thailand is in for a rude awaking when ASEAN kicks off.

[lemoncake]

To lemoncake All you have mentioned is so true. I can relate as over many years ive had to many people to count apply for jobs and be not qualified for anything but a job as housekeeping. In terms of management jobs good luck finding someone it takes me on average anywhere from 1 - 3 months to get someone. Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Impressiv, i did not even find good women that could do housecleaning correct.... Painters i had to teach, tell them, dont do this and that.. only skill i seen in Thailand so far is Massage, and rip you off and start a job and half way, ask for more money .. for anything else, useless people

Crass, but what you say is the truth. Your post (and mine lol) may get deleted, but as Churchill once said:

"The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is."

A "hotelier" can't find staff for his / her hotel and there seems to be a shortage of good cleaning women, painters and non rip off massage girls.

Life in Thailand is hard.

Wonder how the remaining 100's of thousands of businesses get by and how the economy keeps growing and them tourists just keep coming?

Well i hope you can tell us, after all you own a factory with many staff, compete with China and Vietnam.

Lets put aside that you do 15 days visa runs, which mind you, you have been now been refused and supposedly working without a WP.

Thousands of other businesses struggle on daily basis, perhaps why so many illegals are here, working, and why they considering to bring more.

SO do tell how you get by?

[lemoncake]

Where I come from, most teens start with a min wage job, then move up. Many like myself work thoughout university, and when they have gotten certification and experience move into progressional jobs that pay well.

Here, a person making min wage will rarely ever get more than that. Training is not promoted.

Grossly incorrect.

Any person working in the same job for long period of time will and does get a pay rise.

Only those who change jobs every month get the same minimum wage and will continue to do so because they are not worth more than that.

Skills come with experience, and experience comes from working in the same place for long enough to develop some/any skills.

[lemoncake]

Where I come from, most teens start with a min wage job, then move up. Many like myself work thoughout university, and when they have gotten certification and experience move into progressional jobs that pay well.

Here, a person making min wage will rarely ever get more than that. Training is not promoted.

Yes you are right and it's very sad.

Cost of training is a cost of doing business and it's increasingly necessary to offer this.

Quite rightly so, I think.

YOu sure you still in business or ever done business?

YOu expect company to invest money and time into someone who will be gone 1 month later? Someone who does not bother to show up to work half of the time? Someone who spends half of the day on the phone either talking or playing on facebook?

Someone who does not bother to even listen when spoken to?

Every company on this planet would provide training and promotions as well as pay rise for loyal hard working employees,

[Skywalker69]

Dear PM Yingluck how about you do some upgrading skills yourself? We all know you badly need too.

[lemoncake]

Dear PM Yingluck how about you do some upgrading skills yourself? We all know you badly need too.

English would be a good start

[Thai at Heart]

Where I come from, most teens start with a min wage job, then move up. Many like myself work thoughout university, and when they have gotten certification and experience move into progressional jobs that pay well.

Here, a person making min wage will rarely ever get more than that. Training is not promoted.

The problem is that many companies survive solely by having an endless supply of cheap labour. Stuff that is done by hand here would never be done this way elsewhere.

Problem is, there is always somewhere cheaper so the only option in the long run is more mechanisation and better qualified people.

0.5% unemployment when there are so many minimum wage employees isn't something to really jump up in celebration about.

[utalkin2me]

To lemoncake All you have mentioned is so true. I can relate as over many years ive had to many people to count apply for jobs and be not qualified for anything but a job as housekeeping. In terms of management jobs good luck finding someone it takes me on average anywhere from 1 - 3 months to get someone. Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Impressiv, i did not even find good women that could do housecleaning correct.... Painters i had to teach, tell them, dont do this and that.. only skill i seen in Thailand so far is Massage, and rip you off and start a job and half way, ask for more money .. for anything else, useless people

Crass, but what you say is the truth. Your post (and mine lol) may get deleted, but as Churchill once said:

"The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is."

A "hotelier" can't find staff for his / her hotel and there seems to be a shortage of good cleaning women, painters and non rip off massage girls.

Life in Thailand is hard.

Wonder how the remaining 100's of thousands of businesses get by and how the economy keeps growing and them tourists just keep coming?

I just have a little story if you will indulge me. I once had this textured wall in my house in the US with a big hole in it. The wall itself had texture, and then there was a texturing that was I think beautifully done by hand kind of artistically put on the entire wall. Anyway, as I say, I had this huge hole in the wall.

I am pretty dam handy, not the best. I tried to naturally cover this hole and it looked so bad. I wasn't even coming close. It was in kind of an important spot, so I decided to call a painter in. It took this guy some time, but he was able to get that wall texture, AND the artistic texture somebody did by hand perfectly. It was really something to watch. It didn't stop there...

Maybe this impressed me more than others.... but he then had to paint over it. I did not have any of the original paint. He started mixing his own paints. I remember asking him if this was easy, and if he could get the paint right. And he said yes he gets it right every time, usually on the first or second try. After he mixed his pain colors, he painted the spot.... it looked too dark if I recall correctly. Came back in after it dried and it literally looked 100% perfect. Stuff like this really impressed me because this was not some easy thing to just get on the first try.

I thought about this after living in Thailand a few years. Why can't we get a guy to come in that has those skills here? It simply does not eben exist in all of Thailand. The #1 reason I come up with is people don't stay in their jobs and get experience. #2 reason is, customers in the US don't look at a wall that just had a spot painted on it and say they are satisfied if it doesn't look perfect (similarly, if there are paint dripping everywhere, and a sloppy job, they wont be satisfied either, right?).

That is why this guy was so good. 1) he stuck with his profession.... 2) there is no way in the world he'd be able to get by with US customers unless he learned how to do this stuff, perfectly.

Sadly, I don't see either of those 2 reasons ever manifesting themselves here.

[OzMick]

Not long ago our landlord decided the back sliding glass door/window needed security mesh (also sliding). His tradesman drilled 36 holes for dyna-bolts in the floor tiles and wall before deciding that it would be better outside the house.

[slapout]

Where I come from, most teens start with a min wage job, then move up. Many like myself work thoughout university, and when they have gotten certification and experience move into progressional jobs that pay well.

Here, a person making min wage will rarely ever get more than that. Training is not promoted.

The problem is that many companies survive solely by having an endless supply of cheap labour. Stuff that is done by hand here would never be done this way elsewhere.

Problem is, there is always somewhere cheaper so the only option in the long run is more mechanisation and better qualified people.

0.5% unemployment when there are so many minimum wage employees isn't something to really jump up in celebration about.

When a large portion of the workforce are classified as farmer, you have several million with the title of monks, add the 100's of thousands of mom and pop stores that serve as a base for housing and a substance living, inmates in jail, homeless, and those that no one can locate and see how that fits into the .05 umemployment bandid around. Sorry I do not want to ignore the professional drunks, thieves, and those who support the internet shops, but they seem to be another invisible part of society.

[Jawnie]

There is very little incentive for the average Thai to go to college or upgrade their skills. It will do little or nothing to get them beyond an office job making 20-25,000 a month. Meanwhile, the elite business owners make fortunes by charging western prices but paying workers Thai salaries. I'm still flabbergasted that Thailand, a country with a tourist and agrarian economy, has 10 billionaires.

[Thai at Heart]

Where I come from, most teens start with a min wage job, then move up. Many like myself work thoughout university, and when they have gotten certification and experience move into progressional jobs that pay well.

Here, a person making min wage will rarely ever get more than that. Training is not promoted.

The problem is that many companies survive solely by having an endless supply of cheap labour. Stuff that is done by hand here would never be done this way elsewhere.

Problem is, there is always somewhere cheaper so the only option in the long run is more mechanisation and better qualified people.

0.5% unemployment when there are so many minimum wage employees isn't something to really jump up in celebration about.

When a large portion of the workforce are classified as farmer, you have several million with the title of monks, add the 100's of thousands of mom and pop stores that serve as a base for housing and a substance living, inmates in jail, homeless, and those that no one can locate and see how that fits into the .05 umemployment bandid around. Sorry I do not want to ignore the professional drunks, thieves, and those who support the internet shops, but they seem to be another invisible part of society.

Of course it's not a complete measure, but it's the consistent measure they have. I wouldn't classify standing in home pro to sell me one brand of water heater a job either.