Warren’s Singapore

By: Warren Carter

Date June 27, 2008

Since moving to Singapore I have worked in the security field in as a protection office, instructor and been to 2 locations to tender for location so I have seen both sides of the fence you can say. Added to that my military back round where base security was a vital factor and being trained as a reactionary force member I have a very good understanding of the responsibilities that are needed to have an effective force.

There is no way I can compare a military security force to a civilian agency mainly for one reason, money. The civilian companies are there to make a profit like any other company, that is the prime factor and why they started the company, so keep this in mind for later on.

The other night my wife asked me, “if the companies paid more do you think the security force would be better?” Good question and one I had to think about before giving a decent answer to her. I told her I didn’t think it would; the reason being is that the agencies only give a shit about having a butt at the gate. I went on to say, if you look at some of the people stand duty you have to ask you self how in the heel did they get the job and what could they do if something happen.

There are people out there with serious medical condition, I’m talking about strokes to were all the person can do is sit at a gate and push a button to open the gate due to lost of the ability to walk correctly. This case is the worst I have seen and was one of my students. I had him removed from my class because, I thought no one would hire him but you what, I was wrong because there was a company that wanted to hire him so the next week he returned and finished the class. Just goes to show you I can be wrong!

I thought to my self WTF? This has to be a joke or something! My oldest student was 75 years old, oh I’m sure he’ll be a big help if I need back up because of a fight breaking out in the middle of the mall. At the other end you have about 10% that can hardly read and about the same about that only know broken English, but in a multi-racial country that is not a big deal really but it could be in times of emergency and they need to communicate with the masses over a public announcement system.

I have worked with 6 different security agencies in Singapore, some where good some not so good. Over all 2 were good the other four will let’s just say I thought there was a lot of room for improvement which I will talk about.

So we already know that the S/O’s work 12 days six days a week. Just to put it in to perspective that is only 48 days off a year because holidays are considered normal work days. I have been told I could not take off my scheduled work day due to the company having man power shortage because they pick up a new project, well that really is not my problem, is it? So I show up at work on what should be off day and there is a guy already there ready to take over, so I call the control office and they are clueless, needless to say I still worked and the other guy was sent off to a different location about 45 minutes later. So that told me the company lied to me about man power shortage, I hate being lied to! This shows that the company cares nothing about the welfare of the worker and only wants to meet own needs and any ones expense.

The saying in Singapore is “if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”. When I first started in the industry I was making about $1,300 bring home pay, 4 years later I bring home $1,100, ok im with a different company but when I check with my old company the starting pay was the same as was in 2004, WTF? Cost go up and the over 4 years the pay is the same, again no concern for the man in field.

So why is the pay so low? Companies bin on the tender after they review the manning needs and the layout of the location. Everyone knows the lowest bidder will get the contract that is a no brainer. So the company figures the cost for each guard at the location and the amount of working they have to do there. Deduct admin cost, staff salary, share holders percentage and other items and you come up with what the guard will get paid. So if they charge 1,800 per guard, the guards pay could in the 1,000 to 1,200 range to take home. With the competition among agencies to get that tender the bidding stays low so for the guards the pay stays low, it is just that simple. The agency still makes it money because it has over, let say, 400 guards working, so each month the money in flowing in.

On the job site: I have worked in locations where I never saw my zone supervisor, saw him once a week, maybe and saw him every day, going from worst to best. My supervisory I was weekly was clueless as to what was going on at the location. The company had the location for 2 year and things were going on he know knowing about or just didn’t give a shit about to find out. When he would show up he would go thought the motions but nothing really special then after 5 or 10 minutes he would depart. Maybe he did more a location that needed more to be done but still the lack of knowledge of my location was sad and I had to use my favorite phase, WTF?

If you are like me and have no other place to go you go into security. You may go kicking and screaming but at least it is a job so you make the best of a bad situation, grit your teeth, put your head down and drag you ass to work just like everyone else.

The Guards: For the most part many do a great job, I never had a bad partner working with me, but I have known some that didn’t do anything during their shifts, they would fake patrol in the log book and reset clocking machines and sleep the entire night away. Sure you will always have a few bad apples I just had to bring it up anyway as a reminder.

Why are there not many long term workers: The job sucks, that why! The Long hours, low pay, no benefits to speck of, and no future to advance for most of them. Training course are out there for the workers but the agencies see no need to seed the works since they already meet the requirement in-place my the government to work so why cut into profits by spending the money on upgrading the guard, after all you cant charge more for a guard just because he has all these other classes. When tender time comes it still goes to the lowers bidder remember? GUARDS = MONEY = PROFIT, spend money on training guards = LESS PROFIT.

So why the 12 hour day? Will that way you only need 2 guard per day and not 3, if you have 3 working 8 hours shift you can not charge as much for each guard and the pay would be very low for the guard with the current system of paying. Would it be better for the guards, sure but not at $700 or less a month.

Well what about the IR’s that are coming and the security there? Shit I don’t have a clue how that s going to work and can’t wait to see it come about. But I would guess to say that what ever company gets the contract will be closely linked with the government some how. Since there are only 2 agencies that can carry weapons it would have to go to one of them for sure. So if another company should come out of now all the sudden, well that will be the government sponsored company. You have to understand anything that will make big money in the country the government will have it’s hands in some how, it is just good business plus there is a lot a stake for Singapore if something should go wrong and that need to be safe guarded. The IR’s will have to have the best of the best working there and so they will be paying for that with the highest wages and the larges force in the country and what does that equal? PROFIT my friends.

But this is just my opinion, hope I’m wrong but, dough it!