Contributed by one of our readers.   Download the mandarin version here.

The third party Integrated Facilities Management (IFM) service market in Singapore is poised for growth. With outsourcing and privatization trends gaining momentum among establishments and the rising awareness of the need for environment-friendly practices, the market is set to benefit significantly. IFM services market in Singapore earned revenues of US$472.1 million in 2006 and is estimated to reach US$1,011.6 million in 2013

Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Terrance Duncan said, “The Singapore Government has played its part by taking the leading role in boosting such service within the country.”  Clearly, government transparency is boosting the demands for third party IFM services.

The government and other private establishments prefer to outsource non-core activities that involved janitorial, landscaping and certain engineering services. Resistance from in-house management is also expected to fade away as businesses start to pay more attention to only core activities within the organization. This should provide a boost to the third party IFM services market.

Duncan added, “Realizing the full potential of opting for third party IFM services will benefit the entire organization in the long run. Moreover, finding the right partner and carefully negotiating FM contracts will benefit a company’s bottom line.”

Major market segments have joined the bandwagon of adopting IFM services. However, third party service providers will need to aggressively market their products and ensure that all benefits are understood in a competitive market such as Singapore.

Please make a guess what are these so-called ”benefits”. 

The non-core activities which engaged IFM services mainly involved almost all workers from janitorial, landscaping and certain engineering services. These workers who have been working in these government sectors have, overnight, become the third party private establishments who contract their former jobs. However, in the process of this change in organizations, they are no longer the staff of the government.

Consequently, they have forfeited their remunerations such as employers’ central provident funds (CPF), medical insurance, annual leaves, annual bonus and the starting pay. I can understand the benefit of these restructuring if Singapore Government has an annual budget deficit. But, is it necessary to rob the insignificant wages from these lowest level workers when Singapore Government pocketed the remaining amount of S$2 billion from the annual budget?

In the coming election, are you going to cast your sacred vote to Lee Kuan Yew and his son again? If so, it is not them who are uncompassionate and merciless, but you are.

Comments

We help ourselves. Don’t expect others to help

Tom Wright painted a bleak picture of Singapore’s property sector going forward at The Wall Street Journal. His article ended with the following:
“I’m yet to see the light at the end of the tunnel [for Singapore],” says Mr. Tan, the high-end broker.
We would expect people to continue to dig the dirt and tell it to [...]



Our skin isn’t as thick as it should be

The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) organised a seminar on March 4 to discuss Singapore’s political blogosphere.  Tan Tarn How, Senior Research Fellow and Research Assistant Tan Simin presented their paper on trends observed in the blogosphere.  As reported in the TOC, the researchers identified the following limitations:

The online-offline firewall, while somewhat alleviated by offline [...]



Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew – The answer to the African problem?

Recently, I followed a thread “Democracy and Economic Growth” which started in PoliticsForum.org.   Apparently, members there often question the role of democracy in a developing nation. “During the wave of democratization in Africa during the 90s, many people had renewed hope for the continent, immediately equating newly established democracies to economic growth. Are these democracies [...]



Tell Singapore government: Ask them a question or give a suggestion

We informed people about the “Tell Singapore Government” subsite and have received some interesting reaction at some forums.
See: 3in1 Kopitiam, Sam’s Alfresco Coffee, Singapore Kopitiam, SgForums
Our responses to some of the comments are listed below. If we are not answering some other specific questions, that is because we do not know how.
 
1. If you want [...]

Petitions

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

I don’t know

Our Singapore

As seen by people

• 
  

• Purpose

To observe, analyse, present our position, and call for action. Read our articles, give your views, and learn together with us.