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Higher pay in social service sector gives recognition to professionals, helps with staff retention

One challenge however is managing the increment in salary, one social service agency said. 

Higher pay in social service sector gives recognition to professionals, helps with staff retention

Mr Tan Khye Suan, executive director of Epworth Community Services which hires more than 100 staff, said higher salary means a slower turnover rate and better staff retention.

SINGAPORE: Mr Sean Cheng took a pay cut when he left the engineering sector to follow his heart to do social work.

It has led him to his current role where he supports a team that deals with issues like family violence and mental illness.He told CNA knows first-hand how much goes into the work.

“Many of them have worked very, very hard for their jobs. A lot of them have sacrificed (their) nights, (worked) long hours to serve the clients,” he said of his colleagues.

While those who enter the industry do so as they find the work meaningful and fulfilling, higher salaries can go a long way, he added. 

“They use some of (their pay) for self-care, which is important, so that they can have the energy and the space and capacity to actually serve the clients. 

Mr Sean Cheng took a pay cut when he left engineering to follow his heart to do social work.

“Some of them also have needs at home, whether it's elderly folks or children, and (better pay will) go a long way in supporting their families' needs,” said Mr Cheng, who is the head of Fei Yue Family Service Centre’s Choa Chu Kang branch.

Better remuneration can also be a form of appreciation and recognition for the employees’ hard work, he added. 

Earlier this year, it was announced that the salaries of those in the social service sector would go up by between 4 to 15 per cent across all professions and job levels.

Mr Cheng is among those who benefitted from the change. He received a pay bump after his organisation adjusted wages to meet the new guidelines from the National Council of Social Service (NCSS).

SLOWER TURNOVER

Mr Tan Khye Suan, executive director of Epworth Community Services, which hires more than 100 staff, said higher salary means a slower turnover rate and better staff retention. 

“The salary guidelines may make it (the job) more attractive because we have to work at night, we have to work on weekends, so having the salary guidelines which increase the remuneration helps,” he said.

However, it is not just salary that matters, he noted.

“We must not have a mistaken notion that just because you have a higher salary, you would necessarily expect people to come do the job,” he said, adding that other factors like work environment, corporate culture and career development also matter. 

Paying employees more also presents a new challenge – stretching the budget to afford the increment. For social service agencies, 75 to 80 per cent of expenditure goes to manpower, Mr Tan said. Raising funds is quintessential for such agencies to support the work they are doing, he added.

“It is challenging. We always need to look at ways of raising funds, getting more donations, but to do that, we need to be very communicative and persuasive,” he said.

“We have to continuously communicate with donors, potential donors, existing donors about the work we are doing, and how we're using these donations to benefit the clients.”

His agency has been able to cope with the additional costs, he said.

HELP FROM NCSS

NCSS also serves as a resource to help organisations work within their means, such as aiding agencies in digitalising and training their staff to boost efficiency.

The statutory board told CNA that 91 out of about 500 agencies have sought assistance since the guidelines were revised in April.

To make social service agencies more financially sustainable in the long-term, one solution could be looking at hiring additional manpower that is not necessarily as skilled and would therefore command lower pay, said researcher Mathew Mathews, who is head of the Institute of Policy Studies Social Lab at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. 

“It can be a lot more sustainable to leverage paraprofessionals for quite a few tasks, since not all tasks require someone with a very high level of professional training,” he said.

“If you're able to get others with less training, but have the competence to do perhaps the less complicated tasks, that can be a more financially sustaining operation.”

Source: CNA/ja(dn)
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