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Asian Travel Industry must offer flexibility in order to meet future staff needs
TMS Asia-Pacific (TMS) has pointed Asia’s staff-strapped travel industry employers towards a potential new source of much needed personnel the recruitment specialist said “demands full consideration” if the industry is to overcome its current staffing crisis.

TMS General Manager Asia, Andrew Chan said the part time, job share, work from home and casual talent pool offered a huge new wealth of untapped talent to industry employers prepared to consider this section of the workforce as a viable source of potential employees.

“The population continues to age and this, combined with record low unemployment figures, (Singapore’s unemployment rate for example stood at 2.9 per cent as of May 2007*) points towards a situation where less people are entering the workforce than leaving,” he said.

“This is creating significant challenges for employers right across the region and needs to be addressed with significantly more onus placed on work place flexibility.”

Mr. Chan referred to KPMG Property Advisory, US Census Bureau research findings which forecast the working age population of several Asian countries will begin contracting into negative growth over the coming 10 years.

These include South Korea which will reach the negative growth point in 2015 followed by China in 2016 and Singapore in 2017.

The report also forecast similar negative growth scenarios for Thailand by 2025 and Indonesia by 2035.

“In client facing roles, the challenge has always been the question of how part-time, job share, and flexible hours will impact on the client relationship,” Mr Chan said.

“Job share, where the employees are well matched in terms of their competencies, combined with well structured operational procedures, can provide a solution to this challenge.”

*Source Singapore Government, Ministry of Manpower statistics released 15 June 2007. Theodore Koumelis - Tuesday, July 10, 2007