Brunei Capital

Employers Say They Find It an Uphill Battle to Attract, Retain Bruneians

Bandar Seri Begawan - Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are more keen to employ foreign workers than locals because they find that the latter generally tend to stay at their jobs for just a short period while waiting for better offers usually from the public sector.

Norina Hj Ossen, a songkok (traditional Malay headgear) maker who runs a stall at Sumbangsih Mulia Complex told The Brunei Times of difficulty in retaining local employees to help fill orders. "The problem is that when we have many orders we have to look for foreign workers to help us out. It's not that we do not prioritise locals for employment, it is just that locals are not enthusiastic about working with SMEs," she said.

According to Norina, the average period that locals have worked with her was between two and three months, the reason being the salary was too low for them to sustain their style of living." They want a better income," she said.

She said she visited the Labour Department to get more locals and was lucky enough to get just one.

"However, we still want to employ some foreign labour. We won't be teaching them the trade from A to Z, just the needed basics to assist us. However we did not receive Labour Department approval," she said.

Norina, a graduate from the Arts and Handicraft Centre has been in the business for 20 years, working in several areas before settling at the complex three years ago.

A workshop owner also made similar comments, saying that the problem is the attitude of local workers.

'Working with locals does not warrant them to be pampered just because we're from the same community, we as a sole proprietorship should be working harder instead," he said.
So far he has had four local employees all of whom had worked as receptionists for less than three months each.

A former restaurant owner of Seri Bahagia at the Anggerek Complex relates a similar experience - some difficulties and disappointments - when they employed a local chef.

"The last person that we employed had taken the restaurant's food supply for her self.

Even though she was an excellent cook, I think it will be harder for us to trust anyone to do the job properly without having us to be watching all the time," he said.

Faced with the difficulty of finding a replacement chef, the restaurant closed it doors for after operating for a year.

Ammilee Farahiyah, a local shrimp breeder, said that she was keener on employing foreign labour, particularly Indonesians, as they have more experience in the aquaculture industry compared to locals.

"They (locals) don't have the mental capacity to follow things through," she said, adding that external commitments such as attending weddings, funerals and other ceremonial duties often interfere with their work commitments at the farm.

She pointed out that working hours on a shrimp farm was not like working in an office. Giving an example, she said they may need to harvest shrimps at 2am requiring all employees to be present.

"It's not that we're reluctant to get locals, it's just that they don't have the stamina to stay," she said referring to the intensive nature of the work.

This has made her more wary about employing locals as training inexperienced workers may take time and that it would be a waste when they quit soon after. its just like job-hopping to get to better positions," she said.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm from locals to working in SMEs, Arvin, 27, a promoter for local food products had urged locals to at least consider such work.

"Locals should try their luck in the private sector rather than wait for a government job; at least they will gain the necessary experience for them to pursue a career in the government sector in the future.

"Who knows they may enjoy working there (SMEs) and have second thoughts about a government job," he said.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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written by Jie , September 08, 2009

How about employer attitude? Why just blame on pkrja local? Not fair lah.. SME mnggaji org local sma dgn org asing tp org asing dbagi tpt tinggal, mkn and transport percuma. Sapa kn tahan? Tentu th org luar tahan. Aku msane nda jua milih keja gaji 2 ratus lbih sj p transport kna sdiakn kna antar ambil balik.. Bos baik nda cerewet, awal2 sdh dtunjuk ajar smpai faham nah kn 3thun dh ku keja sini stahun skali naik gaji wlupun 10 inggit sj. Ganya org bkawinan nada ku kn minta cuti dtg sj ku mlm kcuali th indung mninggal mustahil ku nda minta kuar 2. Dulu ku keja pat lain, gaji 300 sma dgn pkrja luar p tggl, mkn , transport sndiri tbuat org luar bh smua dsediakn mana kn dorg sng mnghasut org! Lau bnar org luar ne baik dan rajin nada kn tiap hari ada kes pkrja asing lari dari majikan.. So yg pnting niat bekerja dan mmbagi keraja. Jgn menganiaya sesama makhluk! ok

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written by jimie , September 08, 2009

banar tu salah kan org local saja.....nda smua org luar ani baik...apa lah.......

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very true...
written by ... , September 08, 2009

to all SME partner esp:
Norina Hj Ossen, a songkok (traditional Malay headgear) Norina, a graduate from the Arts and Handicraft Centre Ammilee Farahiyah, a local shrimp breeder.

please give local a chance lah... we local can work very hard too

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written by local , September 09, 2009

Yang banarnya bukan pekerja local bermasalah, durang ani kurang diberikan penghargaan atau kepercayaan oleh pengusaha local sendiri.. ku dulu pernah jua keraja dgn org asing.. quality keraja kurang labih, kdg2 bagus lagi org local.. apa yang mengecewakan ialah benefits pekerja asing lebih tinggi dari org local, contohnya: org local dbari gaji 300, urg asing dberikan gaji 350 + tmpt tgl + transportation.. kalau benefits atu kerana pangkat dalam pekerjaan atu nda ku kisah macam kedia atu supervisor, aku pekerja bawahan.. ani sama rank tapi seolah2 org local atu lebih murah harganya dan kurang/tiada benefits mcm org asing.. Lagipun pengusaha sepatutnya sentiasa mendahulukan pengambilan orang local daripada org asing,jgntah luan takutkan bermasalah, sama2 tah ketani membagi mkn anak bangsa sendiri daripada kan menyanangkan urg luar tia ganya..

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