Although I'd love to spend my life doctoring, especially when it involves Aesthetics, realistically I spend way more time doing admin. Recently, the theme has been (yet again) Ministry of Manpower.
Over the past 3.5 years, I've filled in umpteen forms, called, begged, shouted, pleaded... You name it, I've done it!
With the recent spate of resignations, our ads have just yielded Filipino nurses. To be fair, there are a couple of them that are fabulous, and it was really hard pressed to choose one. But as we can't get any local candidates, we've had to take both on.
Correction... Take MOH on twice!
I've always been able to get EPs for my Filipino nurses. Even MJ who has no clinical experience had no problems after a simple appeal. But they changed the criteria again. And now a Bachelor in Nursing, plus State Registration in the Philippines, plus over 3 years clinic experience is inadequate!!! Yikes!
So poor Marigold has been on tenterhooks for the past 2 weeks. I've been tearing my hair out, submitting EP, then appeal, then S Pass, then EP/S Pass followed by appeal. We are still hopeful, but we won't know for another couple of weeks yet.
Aubrey, on the other hand, took me by surprise. Working on the premise there was no way she could get an EP, I went straight for an S Pass. I expected the usual rejection within 5 minutes, but 2 days on, so far so good! We'll find out by the end of next week if she passes. It'll be really ironic if she comes on board before Marigold. But it's cool as she's been waiting for this position for almost 6 months now!
I still feel bad about it. She popped into the spa months ago, and I offered her the post of Receptionist, under work permit. She had to leave the country for us to apply. She was rejected.
MJ was lucky. She turned up a couple of weeks after that, also asking for reception work at the spa. But as we were trying to replace Cha at the time, we took her on in the clinic instead.
Poor Aubrey! But at least she should be joining us soon. Better late than never, especially with the messy situation over the last few months.
So it got me thinking. For this industry, it's virtually impossible to find any local candidates for the job. Yes, I provide training, and we can train someone from scratch. But unless you have the passion, it's a hard battle to get any enthusiasm. And an eye for beauty and common sense is also essential. Plus loyalty. Recently, we've trained up so many staff, only to have them leave once they knew the ropes.
So what of foreign workers? The Filipinos are generally hardworking, keen to learn, speak well and look good. Culturally, they are also more suitable for theservice industry than the standard spoilt Singaporean who only knows how to complain when the service is bad!
With 3 Filipino nurses, communicating with Chinese and Malay speakers will be tough. Julie will need to be pulled in to translate. But as Aesthetics is new to her too, it's not going to be easy. The old staff could just rattle on with me interjecting important points.
But given the situation, MOM really should not make things even more difficult for employers. They know I'd rather hire local. But if no local wants the job, do I just close shop? It was really looking desperate a couple of days ago...
And thinking back, I've had to appeal for most of my foreign workers. Some many, many times. The stress can be extreme. Knowing the right candidate is available, but you can't get approval for them to start work? I wish things could be a lot more straightforward. Businesses already struggle to survive in Singapore. If the government really wants to support entrepreneurship, let us hire foreign workers without such a battle. It wastes tax payers money, saves the environment, and I'm sure it'll save a few bosses from stress-related heart attacks!
In the meantime, I'm keeping fingers and toes crossed that Aubrey's pass will be approved next week and she'll be on board by 1 April. And of course, I'm praying that Marigold will be joining the team soon too...
