Work It Podcast - Prioritise what matters to you and work with your employer when it comes to upskilling: Tan See Leng and Gan Siow Huang

More government money is being pumped into helping mid-career workers upskill - with increased grants and allowances. But how can employees cope with conflicting demands of family needs and retrenchment fears?

Manpower Minister Tan See Leng and Minister of State for Education and Manpower Gan Siow Huang sit down with Tiffany Ang and Gerald Tan to explain.

Here is an excerpt of the conversation:

Tiffany Ang, host:
So I'm a parent with young children, and this is a very critical period of my life where I cannot drop any balls. I want to be a present mom to my young children, but at the same time, I want to get as many skills as possible, upskill as quickly as possible, in case the company decides that there will be some cost-cutting measures. How do I juggle both? Because I honestly have no time. By the time I get back home, I'm so tired.

MOS Gan, you have three daughters, I'm pretty sure you would have been in my position as well where you would have to do this juggle. How can somebody like myself find time to go and upskill when I have a full-time job back home?

Gan Siow Huang, Minister of State for Education and Manpower: 
First, it must be something you're passionate about and you love to do, right? When you find something you love to do, you will make time for it. I think that's the most important point. And secondly, it's better if there can be some alignment of goals with your employer.

Tiffany:
But how do you do it, though? I'm sure you would be very tired by the time you get back home. Honestly, I don't know how to manage this. I love my job. I really do, and sometimes I wish I can do a bit more of my work, but at the same time, I also wish I'm there a bit more for my kids. 

Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower: 
It's interesting that you talked about cannot drop any balls, and that is really very Singaporean, right? I mean, we are sort of "psycho-ed" into this thinking that we must be able to juggle it and put up a brave front. But it's okay to not be okay. 

Tiffany:
What do you mean it's okay to drop something?

Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower: 

It's a journey for you to experience hardships, for you to experience the simple joys in life, for you to appreciate your loved ones. I know it's easy to say when you look at it (in hind sight) ... it's really very tough, but that too will pass. I think that's the first thing. Don't make it so difficult for yourself that: "Oh, I cannot drop any balls." 

I myself failed a couple of times ... in my (business) ventures. I had (to resit a paper) in my final year in medical school. It took me another six months of studying for one subject. So I think each failure actually makes you a stronger person. Of course, I'm not saying that everybody, please go try and fail everything. No.

How do you balance this? You need to, first and foremost, prioritise what is your need. Of course, when your kids are very young, right in the early formative years of adolescence, you want to also maximise the time that you spend with them, so that you inculcate in them the right values. After they've gone to bed, you can get up and study.

And of course, during the time that you're working, hopefully you have a good and understanding boss. Try to work with them. That's why we put up the tripartite guidelines on flexible work arrangement requests. And depending on the type of business that you are in, you could work with them in terms of whether it's flexi-load, flexi-time, flexi-place. I think those are the things that you could work out with them.