Really? Another year of boosting productivity? Another year of economic restructuring to increase productivity?
Training to increase productivity in Asia, well specifically in Singapore, I think is an utter waste of time. Because we don’t comprehend the meaning of it. Citizens simply sign up for classes, spend all day at work and all evening studying, and guess what you get for all that work – more work – and really you have no one else to blame but yourself, is it really?
Dr Amy Khor finally shed some light on this issue – or not. This was not the first time that we tried this – restructuring the Singapore’s economy. Just the fact that a ‘productivity’ campaign jingle from the 80′s was sung at our last parliament debate/talkie/overacting/underacting: ‘Good, better, best, never let it rest, till your good is better and your better is best’, the ‘P’ word has been around in Singapore for a long time, since her birth… so is it really?
In my short less-than-30 years of age 
I realised that the ‘P’ word, really, has never had a positive connotation in Asia. To most, it just means workers work harder, bosses get richer and work is neverending… is it really?
See that’s the state of ‘productivity’ in Singapore, or rather in Asia. It’s in our DNA, our genes, that we, Asians, are simply masochists when it comes to labour, I mean work (hmm come to think of it, sex may seem like work to some leading to pregnancy most likely then more work – I digress). Really.
We pushed our retirement age to 65 (apparently because, why again?), we gamble because we know it’ll be addictive and risky and may result in us working again and sending out emails at 3am in the morning means I’m a dedicated, hard-working worker – hard! Really.
“Labor productivity is typically measured as a ratio of output per labor-hour, an input.” Take it all in from Wiki then see if you can relate it at work – you can’t, can you – why not?
Confucious says: 先苦後甜, ok maybe it wasn’t him but some Asian persons certainly did and thence we have always believed that if we suffer now, we’ll enjoy later. Want success, you have to work hard for it, I agree, but what happens when you are successful in your own terms? What happens if you’re content now? When is later?
The ‘P’ word is taboo, sex is sexy and wanting to work smart and play hard is dirty. Can we really live life? Are we happy with our beliefs of productivity? I’m not.
My suggestion is that the ‘big boys’ on top should talk the walk and walk the talk.
Want workers to be more productive, why don’t you lead by example? Show us how, make a documentary, film how you live your work-life balance (my ex-boss said that means we work now enjoy life later, or something like that), publish a study, produce tv shows, whatever. Just show us.
Start from young – educate and philosophizes – though again, the teachers would need to take it easy too. But could we, with all the syllabi being rushed, books to read, competition to ‘stupidfy’ and projects to ‘learn’ from? Suffer now, get a degree and enjoy an over-paid job later. I contradict.
Elitism – Suffrage – ‘Productivity’: Can Asians be relieved of these shackles so that we can live life?
Start with the ‘man in the mirror, why don’t you! Be happy. I’ll try too…
