| 14. First of all, setting
ourselves apart from our competitors through
good service.
Service excellence is a critical competitive
advantage and it is as much about attitudes as
it is about
skills. If you are sitting on a production line
and you scowl at the computer chip, it will not
scowl back at you and it will not run away from
you nor tell its friends about you. But if you
are a shop attendant, an airline attendant, a
waitress in a restaurant or a banker, and you
scowl at your
client or customer, you do not just do yourself
harm, but also do the whole business and Singapore’s
reputation harm.
15. If we think about the IRs (Integrated Resorts),
service quality is critical. One of the foreign
bidders for the IR at Marina had HR executives
who visited WDA (Workforce Development Agency)
to find out what schemes we had to train workers
and help them to find jobs. WDA asked the executives: “What
can we do to help to prepare the workers, help
to prepare Singaporeans to support the IR, to
take up the jobs there?”
16. These HR executives replied that they will
have in-house training to impart specific skills
to the workers - how to turn the roulette wheel,
how to dish out the cards, how to rake in the
chips; these, they will train. There is no need
for WDA to do that. But the most valuable training
which the WDA can provide is to prepare Singaporean
workers for service jobs in general - to know
how to serve, to want to serve and to go the
extra mile for good service.
17. This is not just about the IRs, it is about
all our service industries: tourism, retail,
food and beverage, finance, and healthcare. Service
quality matters. Even in community centres (CCs),
service quality matters - the PA (People’s
Association) staff running our CCs must provide
five-star quality service. It is an outfit which
is for the mass market, but the quality of service
must be first class.
18. That is critical to Singapore’s future,
to our ability to earn a living in a competitive
world, and it is a national challenge. That is
why I got Minister Raymond Lim to spearhead the
GEMS Movement, Go-the-Extra-Mile-for-Service.
19. GEMS has created a buzz. A lot of people
have written to Raymond Lim to ask to join the
movement and we have involved many private sector
executives, businessmen, and entrepreneurs in
this effort. They have started initiatives, TV
and publicity ads to promote great service, training
programmes and leadership seminars. They have
got service indicators to benchmark our service
level with other countries, “Thank You” cards
which customers are supposed to give to the service
provider to show appreciation - to show that
the good service has been noticed and has been
recognised with appreciation.
20. I think we are beginning to see a difference.
The employers are showing more commitment to
service excellence. Metro has reported a doubling
of compliments for the staff and a 20 percent
reduction in complaints since it participated
in the Customer Centric Initiative. The senior
counter manager for Estee Lauder at Metro, Ms
Joanne Liu, was interviewed by CNA and she explained
why. She said: “For example, when customers
came back for goods exchange before, we were
unwilling to do it. But now, we accept the changes
and we do it on the spot willingly”. It
is a mindset change. The Government is fully
behind this movement. We are allocating $63 million
to support this movement.
21. Fundamentally, what we are trying to do
is to achieve a change in behaviour, in social
norms, and make Singaporeans focus on courtesy
and graciousness. We want to transform our society
into one where people who serve do so willingly
and with passion, and people who are served show
respect and appreciation for those who serve
them.
22. It is not going to happen overnight. It
will take time. We have to start in the schools,
practise in the community and transform the workplace.
But we can do it. Over the years we have changed
many aspects of Singaporeans’ behaviour
- no spitting, no littering, no messing up public
toilets, speak English more properly, (that,
we are still trying), accept other races and
religions, keep fit and so on. So, many efforts,
but cumulatively they have made a difference.
Singaporeans today - I do not say we are beautiful
Singaporeans, but less ugly than we used to be.
We must continue to make an effort to be less
ugly, not just in Singapore, but when we go overseas.
I think the changes with GEMS are within our
reach, because deep within each one of us is
a desire to be appreciated and to be respected.
What we need to do is to develop the habit of
putting ourselves in the other person’s
shoes and ‘do unto others as we would like
others to do unto us’.
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