Underemployment bigger issue than unemployment

Underemployment is a bigger issue than unemployment and stand at 14 per cent. According to a study done the Sri Lankan women is confined to traditional boundaries. Therefore they are happy to follow the men. According to Buddhist teachings everybody is supposed to earn a living righteously, said Country Chairman of Chevron Sri Lanka Kishu Gomes.

He was addressing the Academy for Administrative Professionals (AAP) seminar themed A new Profile for Administrative Professionals. He said today most of the women are housemaids, tea pluckers and sewing girls while there is a handful of professionals. About three years ago there were more than 100,000 expatriate professionals who were employed in Sri Lanka and it was a big issue as the foreign exchange earned by the housemaids and tea pluckers and sewing girls was spent on these people’s salaries.

“But if we are to achieve economic prosperity as a nation we have to take the maximum benefits of our only resource the people as this is the only asset we have to make money.

“For the future to be bright the country needs business leaders and entrepreneurs. This should be achieved through commercial success,” said Gomes.”

Vision

He said that at most times people fail because they don’t have a vision. “Once the vision is identified develop an individual strategy and then conduct an audit of yourself which means identifying your strengths and weaknesses and how you improve your strengths and eliminate your weaknesses. He said that some people have the ability but they don’t understand it, therefore it is necessary to do an audit. Once the audit is done work hard to achieve your goal or goals. When working hard always picture yourself of where you want to be as this gives strength and motivation to achieve your goal while understanding the purpose of living.

Gomes said “Always try to enhance the skills and network with people in addition when you do something well understand it and apply it the next time it has to be done. Most importantly know what you do before you do it. In addition never be complacent with the technical skills a person possesses as there will be somebody who will come and overtake, therefore be multifaceted, he urged.

Each individual is a brand but some are positive, while some are negative or neutral. In the modern day nobody can perform individually, therefore work as a team to create team brilliance. Timing and collaboration are a must to be a team player while being multifaceted. The success begins in the mind and it is the individual who can make the difference to his or her own life. The brain capacity of humans is enormous. The best person who lived on earth who is none other than Albert Einstein has used only 1 per cent of his brain capacity, this proves what our minds are capable of. Therefore if an individual thinks that they want to try something or learn a new skill don’t hesitate, do it and enjoy the rewards was his advice.

Country Manager Allergan/AMO at Hemas Pharmaceuticals T. Sayandhan speaking on the theme of “managing time to deal with interruptions and time wasters” said: a person can make money but not time. Therefore don’t ever waste time. Everybody from beggar to king has 24 hours a day and it is left for the individual to waste it or use it efficiently.

He said: Make sure that you know where time goes and don’t ever keep too much hope on your memory. Check whether you are managing time or whether time is managing you. Most importantly if you have a personal goal and also to be efficient at work and home and enjoy whatever you want to do time management is a must.

Research shows that people spend 5 per cent of the time to plan and the balance to execute the plans while it should be the other way about. He said that 80 per cent of the time spent gives 20 per cent of the results while 20 per cent of the time spent gives 80 per cent of the results.

In a working environment or in our homes there are urgent, important as well as not important and unimportant tasks that we have to on a daily basis.

If the task is not important and urgent spend less than 1 per cent of your time. If it is urgent but not important allocate 55 per cent of the time. If the task at hand is important but not urgent spend between 60-80 per cent before the task becomes urgent. Start working on it and keep to time schedules and if the task is urgent and important spend 20-25 per cent on those tasks, but remember not to spend time on tasks that can be delegated, said Sayandhan.

He said that most people are `scared’ to delegate the work and give many excuses but the day you have taught everything and delegated all the work that is the day the individual is ready for a promotion.

Develop an efficient system in the office environment and strive for good order in the office and utilise all your resources fully and at a time have one paper on your desk and concentrate on that it will increase efficiency and save your time. Sort all documents that you get under the headings for action, information, reading and waste paper daily and when the need arises to write a letter limit it to one page so that you don’t waste your time as well as others time.

Learn to say no politely, be ruthless with time killers but gracious with customers and remember not to call for meetings as a habit or unnecessarily.

Mornings - the best

Sayandhan said that mornings are best for hard work but get the timing right, prepare a list of priorities for the day. Don’t postpone work and most importantly identify your time wasters and eliminate them.

He said that by following these simple rules anybody can manage their time efficiently and be free of stress. Dr. Sabesan and Oriflame conducted workshops for the Participants which were well received. Alan Robertson, Dean, Monash College, conducted a workshop ending the session on Management and Organisational Skills. This gave participants interaction time to discuss their own problems in their profession and to face challenges confidently.

The seminar was held at Cinnamon Grand hotel and the organisers are contended of concluding yet another successful seminar which was well attended and well received.

SG