Work, …Workplace happiness, and why humans have to work, the purpose? What is the motto for all workplaces? Rest time at workplace; Work on fours and rest on three? Work-Life balance;

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Do we know why humans have to work?

If human beings do not, they will not be able to attain true unity and happiness at work, and raise productivity in each company, and even at national level.

Employee well-being will become a deception.

.What is the missing link? Do employers, owners and their advisors know what is the link?

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Forum: Fix work culture to boost employee well-being

PUBLISHED8 HOURS AGOFACE on 20th Nov 2020 in ST Forum

The recently released Tripartite Advisory on Mental Well-being at Workplaces is encouraging (New tripartite advisory sets out steps to tackle mental health needs of workers, ST Online, Nov 17).

However, most of the recommendations are focused on strengthening workers’ resilience or spotting warning signs but do not consider the more important aspect of actually fixing faulty working cultures in organisations.

As highlighted in an article in the Harvard Business Review last December, employee burnout often has less to do with a person’s characteristics than the organisation he is working for. A survey of 7,500 full-time employees by Gallup revealed the top five reasons for burnout to be:

• Unfair treatment at work

• Unmanageable workload

• Lack of role clarity

• Lack of communication and support from their manager

• Unreasonable time pressure

These factors are inherently related to an organisational culture over which employees have little control. Hence, the onus is on leaders to recognise that preventive efforts can only start with them.

The Covid-19 pandemic provides the perfect opportunity for organisations to reflect on their current practices and change them as necessary to support their employees better.

For example, implementing task-based schedules instead of working hours where possible could allow greater flexibility for employees to negotiate and agree upon a reasonable number of assignments or tasks that need to be completed each week or day.

This change empowers employees to determine how their time should be spent while ensuring the organisation’s productivity is not hindered.

For shift workers, perhaps reducing the duration of each shift and allowing employees to spread them out across a week, should they wish, would give them greater autonomy, allowing them better work-life balance.

The possibilities and future of work are endless, limited only by how organisations choose to balance productivity and employee mental health – the two not being dichotomous choices.

Organisations that do not support the well-being of their employees experience a higher turnover rate, lower productivity, and increased healthcare spending.

Implementing measures such as more workshops and wellness classes is not going to improve the mental health of employees if the broader organisational and working culture is the problem.

This pandemic is our chance to re-envision and redesign working life in Singapore as we know it.

by Jonathan Kuek Han Loong

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Work-life balance..What is the purpose of human life on earth?Why humans meet on earth and for what purpose?Some have conflict, some even kill each other? Why?Work…Why humans have to work?Answers to all these questions… do humans know them well?=

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.The Sunday Times’ Editorial says

Work-life balance a winning arrangement

PUBLISHED2 HOURS AGO on 2nd May 2021 in SundayTimes

Achieving work-life balance is a recurring issue, which is why the recent launch of a new tripartite standard is welcome. Among the recommendations to employers are flexible work arrangements, employee-support schemes such as family days and health screenings, as well as flexible arrangements for employees who also have care-giving responsibilities. As recently as 2019, Singapore came in the bottom quarter of 40 cities in a study on work-life balance. The Republic ranked No. 32 and was rated the second highest for work intensity. The average employee here clocked 44.6 hours a week compared with an employee in Oslo, one of the top three cities, who worked 38.9 hours a week. With numbers such as these, it is no wonder that employee-engagement also lags behind the global average and staff turnover rates here are among the highest in Asia.The Covid-19 pandemic, which has upended work routines and forced many to work from home, has raised concerns about the increasingly blurred boundary between work and personal lives. On the bright side, however, the new normal has proven that current technology and connectivity can support remote routines. Employers previously reluctant to introduce such options now accept remote working as a necessity. The tripartite standard’s recommendations will not be enforced by law. But employers looking to improve productivity and retain employees may find that paying attention to work-life balance will benefit their business. The Ministry of Manpower’s 2019 Conditions of Employment Report found that flexible work arrangements had the greatest impact on staff retention. With tough competition for skilled workers, employers who prioritise staff welfare have an edge. Hopefully more will recognise that improving work-life balance can be a win-win for everyone.

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I hope more humans know the purpose of work, and why humans have to work.

I hope more humans grasp the following and use it as their motto at their workplaces:

“Work with the aim to help others to become more efficient”.

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.I wrote the following to Today Voices on 17 Nov 2015:

I refer to “Boss, there is no need to delight our clients” in Today Voices, 12th Nov 2015.  [please see copy below].

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We know that the debate will continue as to who is more important to a business, the employees or the clients.

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Humans must awaken to why we have to work and the purpose of working.

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Work is not all about earning an income or raising productivity and the GDP.

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When humans get to appreciate the hidden values of work, the rest will fall into place.

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I have asked for all, from the highest organ of state down to all business levels to work with the motto:

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“Work with the aim of helping others to become more efficient”.

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Indirectly, this motto at work would benefit clients when they are served by employees who care for one another, and who have little or even no friction among themselves.

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Bosses and employees who put this motto at the forefront to work efficiently for the sake of others will beget better customer satisfaction.

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Virgin Airline’s Richard Branson said on 5 July 2013: “The secret ingredient for successful businesses, ….If you have a happy company, it will be invincible.”

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A good work attitude means that customers’ interests will not be overlooked by employees, who would also wish to create work efficiency for the benefit of colleagues. The spillover effect is based on the positive work attitude of caring for others.

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It is an attitude not aiming at efficiency at work only, but has the hidden virtues of wishing to ensure the safety of fellow workers, and not to cause inconvenience to them or other departments.

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It is to wish for and and have the intention to be caring, projecting it all the time for harmony at workplaces by not leaving behind work issues and work-related problems to fellow workers to mop up, to attend or contend with.

 

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This work motto is all-encompassing and inter-related and when applied to attain work efficiency with zero defects and errors, it would flow in all directions too, surely bringing about clients’ satisfaction ultimately.

 

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It would also mean higher productivity for the entity, thus improving our nation’s GDP when wastage at work of time and materials at work are reduced through better and caring teamwork and workplace safety.

It would be a win-win situation for all.

The motto and why it is the key to open work place happiness and higher productivity?

Unless and until employees know the positive attitude embedded in the motto, and they make effort to grasp it well, accept and practice it diligently at workplaces, there will be no harmony and unity at their place of work.

When employers and employees send out positive vibes as their main aim and attitude at work, the vibes will return to them.  

Similarly, when they send out negative vibes, it will return and affect the progress and productivity at their workplace.

What goes around will and must come around.  

The principle of echo works all the time 24/7, 365 in the lives of all humans.

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It applies to everyone.

This positive motto and practice is a prerequisite for a happy workplace.

It  applies to all, including bosses, managers, supervisors and their subordinates.  

It does not apply only to supporting staff, the subordinates, for them to practice and the bosses and supervisors stay aloof.   

When the boss and supervisors send out their positive vibes to the staff below them, it will transform the workplace very fast to have harmony, unity and higher productivity.

A workplace cannot achieve its optimum level of productivity and happiness when there are vibes of selfishness, negativity and inward-looking individuals in the team whether the person is a boss or a supporting staff.

When all the team members are arrogant and driven by ego and conceit, and do not accept advice and guidance readily, it will lead to friction, even conflict.

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It is a common practice.

Are there bosses practising negativity at their workplaces? 

Do bosses wish to have a work place of harmony and unity or one that has continuous friction or even conflict?

Not many bosses can change easily to practice this motto even when they have learned it by the the hard way filled with anguish. 

If the bosses do not change, others below them will not change.

I hope many bosses will promote this positive motto at their workplace:

The motto is: “Work with the aim to help others to become more efficient”.

It will transform negativity into positivity.  

However, the boss has to change first by sincerely putting this positive aim at work as the main, and practise it diligently.

There is no shortcut.

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What is the role of a boss or a supervisor at the workplace?

It is to diffuse or cushion tension and stress from reaching or affecting the staff.

It is for the boss or supervisors not to create tension and stress on their staff.

It is for them to block and absorb stress as and when it flows downwards through them, rung by rung, in the hierarchy of command and control at workplaces.

It is for them to shield it, and not let it end up bringing stress on the staff.  

A workplace with less stress and friction will have more happiness and higher productivity. The reverse is true.   

Many workplaces suffer in grief because of that.

When humans seek happiness, why do they create friction, stress and unhappiness instead, and many do, why?   Ponder.

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Many bosses and employees, subjecting themselves to work stress and friction in a negative pressure-cooker type of work relationship for a long period, might be unable to find the release valve, or take corrective actions early to diffuse situations.  

Many might end up in poor health condition, some popping pills, having all  kinds of chronic sufferings.

Do they know the causal effects of human sufferings and their own sufferings? 

In most cases, it is self created, self invited sufferings.

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What are the benefits by practising this motto?

The plus point is that when the boss and staff practise this motto, the work place will have less chances of work accidents or mishaps.  

By all practising this motto, the boss and staff will look out for one another, take action to care for one another, and want the work place to be safe for the sake of fellow workers’ safety and wellbeing.

No one wants fellow workers to have workplace accidents. 

For example, with the attitude of consideration and care for others, the person will make sure that there is no slippery floor, that things are placed in a safe place, observe safety rules, and that safety barriers and measures are applied conscientiously by fellow workers to prevent accidents.

The opposite will be: 

An unsafe workplace.

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This motto will also benefit the customers and clients when they are served by the employees.

The boss and employees, by putting this motto in the front of their wishes to work efficiently for the sake of others, will bring about better customers’ satisfaction.

A good work attitude with this motto will mean the customers’ interest will not be overlooked by employees, who wish to work and bring about ‘work efficiency for the benefit of fellow workers’.  

It will not be a negative work attitude of not-caring for others.  

Rather, it will be a wish to be caring, projecting it all the time, and by having the wish for harmony at workplaces not to leave behind more work issues and work problems to fellow workers for them to mop up,  to attend, and to contend with.

It is inter-related when this motto is applied, it will flow both ways.  

It is a win-win situation for all.

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Does this motto apply to work places only? 

What is work?

When at home or anywhere else, and when humans care for one another, and do not leave a mess or leave a place where there are danger spots for others to trip or get hurt, it would mean they have practised this motto: ‘…with the aim to help others to become more efficient’.

By not leaving things around to cause injury to loved ones at home or to others outside the house or at work place, one is practising this motto to make it possible for others to become ‘efficient’.  

By leaving obstacles or problems around, one will not be caring and wishing others to become ‘efficient’.

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Happiness and Work, are they closely interlinked?

Why humans seek happiness, and why humans have to work?

All humans seek happiness from the time of birth till the time of physical death.

All seek the bluebird of happiness. At the end, some end up empty handed, disillusioned, and disappointed.

There are strict rules for seeking happiness like there are strict rules when one plays a set of chess game. No two ways about it.

Humans want happiness as it is stemmed in our soul. We are spiritual beings first in this physical world as human beings working to fill this earth with only happy people as our main mission.

No one works very hard to have more unhappiness. No one. Never.

Ultimately, by seeking happiness, all aspects of human lives, our endeavours and desires must work on ‘happiness as the base’. Selfishness will not bring the desired result. The opposite will happen, and some will self invite pain and suffering.

Divine government or a Utopian society is the base upon which humans can attain uncollapsible happiness, which all seek. Seeking happiness by all humans is fixed, given, and it is not possible for anyone to change this as they like.

If divine government [encompassing all, from science, to religion, politics, business, medicine, education, etc.] is not attained, happiness will not be possible on earth. Happiness will remain elusive in the physical world of humans.

World peace, religious peace, and political peace, etc., though many pray for it including many in religions are praying hard for it, will remain a dream or deception to all mankind.

How blind can humans be in seeking happiness for self but not knowing where true happiness stems from?

Some humans cause unhappiness while seeking happiness for self. How egoistic and arrogant can humans be? How contradictory can we be?

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Work on four and rest on three…..this was disclosed to mankind some 50 years ago…

Back then, many scoff at the idea.   Why?

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On four and rest on three…

 

Some countries have started it.

 

The world will be entering this 4-3 age where three free days are for appreciating culture, sports and the arts.

 

Possible?

Impossible?

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Why humans have to work?

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What is the most important motto at all workplaces?

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From Notifications

 

 

World Economic Forum

 

Today at 00:00  · on 25th June 2021

 

Japan wants to give workers the choice of a 4-day week

 

What would you do with an extra day off a week?

Learn more about what is important to employees post-pandemic: http://ow.ly/wq2O50FhE5B 

 

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Who will initiate this motto at ‘workplaces’ that will improve productivity nationwide, and hang up the banners to proclaim:

 

In schools: “Educate with the aim to help others become more efficient”.

 

In the military: “Train with the aim to help others become more efficient”.

 

In medical, religious and charitable institutions: “Serve with the aim to help others become more efficient”.

In commercial workplaces:

 

“Work with the aim to help others become more efficient”.

 

In all places of work starting from the Istana:

 

“Serve with the aim to help others become more efficient”.

 

Who will dare start to hang up these banners at ‘workplaces’? The boss, the man at the helm?

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The Sunday Times’ Editorial says

Guaranteed rest a workable idea

 

PUBLISHED2 HOURS AGO on 18th Oct 2020 in Sunday Times

 

Many workers would agree heartily with labour MP Melvin Yong’s proposal in Parliament for a “Right to Disconnect” law that would help employees have protected time to rest and recharge. That right would no doubt help address issues such as burnout and lead to safer workplaces.

 

French legislation, for example, requires employers and employees to negotiate the protocol for non-emergency calls and non-critical e-mails, outside of working hours. That regulatory framework is paralleled by the German practice of “Feierabend”, which describes the time after the work day ends and when rest time begins.

 

Although there is no evidence to suggest that Singapore workers are at risk of karoshi, the Japanese term for death by overwork, no one would want Singapore to get to the point where occupational sudden mortality would demand official intervention.

 

It would be far better if the need to legislate workers’ need for rest – which could go too far because different industries have different needs – were to be pre-empted instead by companies themselves.

 

Acting in their enlightened self-interest, companies and bosses should recognise that a rested workforce will be a more productive one.

 

They should heed the findings of a 2014 study by Stanford University in the United States, cited in Parliament, which found that overworking, or working beyond 55 hours a week, caused a sharp decline in productivity per hour, and led to more workplace accidents and injuries. Surely, that is not the way to go.

 

At the end of the day, the corporate management of employees’ time should be a matter of custom mediated by occasional urgency. Emergencies by definition disrupt established patterns of time devoted to work.

 

But emergencies cannot become the norm. Employers owe it to themselves, as much as they do to their employees, to follow fair work timetables.

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Ego and Conceit. And Humility Practice….

We have been told:

People today accept only the good of what others say about them.

If someone points out something negative to them, they don’t accept it. This means they are already poor in mind.

On the extreme, listen only to what is said negative about you, don’t listen to the good aspects.

Whenever you are criticized by someone, all you have to do is to appreciate that person. Thank you very much! You must say thank you from the bottom of your heart.

The person, who can be told to improve his or her shortcomings and accept criticism whenever it appears, is happy.

You must transform yourself into such a person as soon as possible.

You must respect the person who gives you ‘straight words’ all the time.

You need to always have someone like this around you who can be very frank with you.

One who can receive direct advice is the very happy one.

Therefore, choose friends who can criticize you quickly.

Especially young people need to practise it early in life.

However Ego and Conceit will block all humility to put this into practice.

Beware and be aware.

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Ego and Acceptance Practices.

 

Ego will block this Practice.

 

I hope many practitioners of the Divine Light around the world will check out the following:

 

EGO on pages 314, 315, 316, 329 and 330 of the HWs.

 

And in pages: 36, 54, 248, 249, 255, 283, 284, 294, 320, and 429. Also in pages 113, 196, 296 of the PB.

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We have been told:

Up till now, human beings have worked for other human beings to earn a living.

Will the time come soon when human beings will work and serve the Creator God, Lord God, Su God directly?

The time will come for all humankind to serve and work for the Creator God so that the heavenly world will materialise according to the Divine Plan, and when Divine governments are established for all mankind.

More humans should use their talents and resources to work and be of use to Su God.

Humans should continue to pray to Su God: 

“Please use me, use me, use me for the Divine Plan.”  

Let us beg Su God for us to be of use, and beg Him repeatedly.

By doing so, only then will humankind seeking happiness will know what is true freedom, and all humans will flourish together as they did in the Divine era.

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The cleansing and the polishing.

In order to achieve this, Su God, the Lord God out of His great love for mankind, will undertake to wash the trinity of the spiritual, astral and physical bodies of human beings.

Cleansing is to eliminate our spiritual impurities to reveal the radiant souls of human beings.

The cleansing is a reality but disease is not.

All unhappiness and misfortune should not be viewed by human beings as sufferings, but as intricate arrangements to change an unfavourable situation for the better to bring about the reformation of the world to fill the physical world with happy people.

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The Creator God does not inflict disease upon human beings.

By nature, the Creator God and the universe are free of disorder, existing in health, harmony and prosperity.

By nature, human beings enjoy perfect health and harmony.

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There is no disease or unhappiness.

Disease was invented by the unrighteous to confuse humankind, and it is used by those in the spiritual realms to manipulate humans in the physical realm.

“Disease,” “unhappiness,” and “misfortune” are what the unrighteous use to take advantage of the spiritual impurities in the minds of humans.

These concepts are illusions that only serve to lead mankind astray and head further into the dark recesses of pain, suffering and unhappiness.

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Mankind must understand the cleansing process well and not continue to be confused or allow themselves to be manipulated by this misunderstanding.

Human beings must not forget that it is mankind’s foremost duty to the Creator God, the Lord God, Su God to make this world a place where every single person will be happy.

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Workplace happiness…where should it begin?

 

It is closely related to our level of national productivity…

 

What is work? Why humans have to work? Do we know what is work?

 

Is SPH a workplace? Is the ST’s Editorial Room a workplace? Is a place of religious worship a workplace too, etc. etc?

 

Who should be the first to hang up this motto:

 

“Work with the aim to help others become more efficient” …?

 

Should it start from the top…from the Istana, etc..and downward?

 

Or should we go the reverse, upward?

 

Is the Istana, the Parliament, the schools, the uni, etc. a workplace too?

When humans make this change in their thinking, everything will become clear to them.

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The Straits Times’ Editorial says

Treat workers fairly and considerately

PUBLISHED2 HOURS AGO on 7th Oct 2020 in ST Forum..

 

The Ministry of Manpower’s decision to review penalties for the illegal deployment of maids and stiff penalties for those who abuse bus drivers are two separate but related examples of the need to treat workers, whether domestic or public, fairly and with respect. The ministry says that action will be taken against employers in cases similar to the one involving former maid Parti Liyani, regardless of whether they are aware of the illegal deployment.

 

The issue is not a small one. The ministry received about 550 complaints of illegal deployment each year from 2017 to last year. Of these, an average of 155 employers were warned or fined. It is necessary to strengthen the deterrent framework to deal with employers who are unmindful of the fact that they are accountable for their foreign domestic workers.

 

Quite apart from questions of legal responsibility, the point is a humanitarian one. Ensuring the well-being of maids, who contribute efficiently and silently to the smooth running of families, represents the employers’ end of the contractual bargain, just as the domestic workers are expected to fulfil their duties at their end. Most employers understand and observe this principle of reciprocity, but some do not. Their actions should not be allowed to cast aspersions on society at large by suggesting that foreign domestic workers are exploited because they come from abroad and are not well-off. That is not the kind of society Singapore is or should ever become. At heart, the issue is an attitudinal one: whether an employer considers an employee to be a person with rights along with responsibilities, or whether labour is viewed in terms of exploitative differences in social status and economic power.

 

A similarly attitudinal element perhaps affects the relationship between bus drivers and commuters. A rise in cases of verbal and physical abuse of bus drivers by commuters who did not wear a mask, which is mandatory, draws attention to a woeful lack of civic consciousness that spilled over into the completely unacceptable use of violence. The drivers were doing their job as public transport workers. Every day, rain or shine, their labour helps to make economic and social life possible for Singaporeans who do not own cars. Public transport, as its name says, is a public good. Workers should be commended for their dedication to duty, which has been put to the test by the coronavirus pandemic but has emerged unscathed. Abusive behaviour towards them besmirches the quality of public life in Singapore.

 

It is good, therefore, that would-be offenders have been put on notice that they will face the full force of the law. The punishment can include up to three years in jail when convicted of voluntarily causing hurt. That the treatment of workers has been taken up in Parliament sends a stern signal.

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