Showing 21 - 30 of 51
Building bridges or barriers: bricks or brains?
Christopher Bruton, Published on 05/06/2017
» With so much attention now being devoted to "Thailand 4.0", the talk is all about innovation, competitiveness, sustainable development, value creation and a host of other expressions for which at this stage there are no familiar Thai language equivalents. There is also an immense amount of planning of enabling infrastructure, including high-speed trains, expressways, special economic zones, science and industrial parks, creative districts and even an "aerotropolis". All this is to be achieved in parade ground style, in a double quick timeframe.
Thailand's challenge: Rich in ambitions, poor in people skills?
Christopher Bruton, Published on 22/05/2017
» Announcement of visionary and ambitious plans has become almost routine. The year 2017 will apparently not be an election year (nothing new about that) but has begun with boom times in the planning sector. In January 2017, we were treated to announcements about "Thailand 4.0". These were soon followed by further revelations about the "Eastern Economic Corridor". These schemes are all part of government strategies to move Thailand into "Thriving in the 21st century: security, prosperity and sustainability". The 21st century has been going for quite a while now, but "better late than never", and "never" had become quite a routine in recent years.
Forced or free: Thailand's rating in World labour freedom
Christopher Bruton, Published on 26/12/2016
» Recent legislation affecting a number of Thailand's major export markets has obliged authorities to pay greater attention to issues that ought to have been addressed and resolved more than a century ago: namely the persistence of what is euphemistically referred to as "forced labour", or more bluntly "slavery" within the Thailand manufacturing and service industry supply chain.
Forced or free?: Thailand’s rating in world labour freedom
Christopher Bruton, Published on 19/12/2016
» Recent legislation affecting a number of Thailand’s major export markets has obliged authorities to pay greater attention to issues that ought to have been addressed and resolved more than a century ago: namely the persistence of what is euphemistically referred to as "forced labour", or more bluntly "slavery" within the Thailand manufacturing and service industry supply chain.
Workplace Cooperatives: a sound way to save
Christopher Bruton, Published on 13/12/2016
» Recently, we featured the pioneering work of iCare Benefits, a zero interest cost employee benefits program. This scheme now serves over 3.1 million workers in more than 1,300 factories in an increasing number of countries, including Thailand. However, even before iCare Benefits reached Thailand, there were already worker cooperatives undertaking savings schemes. These worker cooperatives now have the opportunity to work together with iCare Benefits, joining alongside factory managements and trade union local branches to provide cost-effective benefits for workers.
Women's leadership: mentoring Asia's rising stars
Christopher Bruton, Published on 06/12/2016
» Women represent at least half of national populations around the world, yet they are poorly represented in leadership and management positions in most countries. With increasing emphasis on gender equality, ageing and now diminishing populations, it is increasingly important to take advantage of the talents of women for enhancement of the workforce. In particular, it is essential to take the best advantage of highly talented young women, who can attain top leadership positions in the public and private sectors in the future.
Remote location workers: issues, opportunities and risks
Christopher Bruton, Published on 28/11/2016
» In recent surveys of manpower requirements, a third of business leaders have indicated that they envisage that more than half of their full-time staff may be based and working outside their corporate premises by 2020. This could mean that one in five of all employees, as well as consultants and independent commission workers, may either never, or only rarely, come face-to-face with their immediate reporting supervisors. Many may hardly ever meet other members of their corporate community. This situation presents many physical and psychological risks that need to be resolved.
A worker benefit programme that really cares
Christopher Bruton, Published on 21/11/2016
» Many worker support programmes that are supposed to convey great benefits for employees often in fact do quite the opposite. No wonder, therefore, that schemes designed to offer a road to paradise for hard-pressed workers are often viewed with skepticism by employers and employees alike. However, with the advent of "iCare Benefits" to the Thailand market, there is, at last a truly viable, already internationally tested scheme that really does offer and deliver what it claims.
Career transition: keeping skills within the workforce
Christopher Bruton, Published on 14/11/2016
» Even highly successful companies often downsize or change the structure of their workforces. This can happen because of new technologies, change of nature of operations, mergers and acquisitions or other reasons. When such staff structural modifications take place, best practice companies will turn to career transformation specialists for what are often called out-placement or off-boarding services.
Maintaining Office Security
Christopher Bruton, Published on 07/11/2016
» Continuing our series on various aspects of preventive security for staff and visitors, we are pleased to present the following interview with Matthias Hoffrichter, Business Development Director, PCS Security and Facility (Thailand) Ltd. This explains some of the issues involved in maintaining security of office and factory premises to assure the safety of both staffers and visitors. Security can come alongside some inconvenience, but this is surely better than suffering potential damage and injury from terrorism or violence.