Bigger hard disk and memory for my old desktop PC

It was a very reliable Compaq Presario desktop PC which followed me to Yangon, Myanmar and later Miri, Sarawak. With only 80GB SATA hard disk and 512MB DDR memory, it is under capacity now. It was high end spec and strong then. But now it is nothing, even compared with Atom-powered Toshiba NB520 which came with 2GB RAM and 320GB space.
So, on one trip to KL. I dropped by at Malaysia's famous IT market, owned by Mr Low Yatt, to shop for 500GB SATA internal hard disk (RM205), SATA cable (RM5).
Days before I went to GM Klang and managed to get 2 pieces of 512MB RAM (RM45 each).
Came back home and DIY the installation, and alhamdulillah, it works! My PC hardware knowledge still sound.  Now my old faithful is much faster with upgraded components, i.e. 2.5GB DDR (2 X 256MB plus 2 X 512MB) and 580 GB hard disk (original 80GB plus new 500GB). The brain is still the same -- AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.0Ghz. No complaint.

Using performance appraisal system as a catch-up plan

This story happened in 2008. This company operates in an unionized work environment, which means our plant operators and technicians are members of the Company-approved employee union. We had Collective Agreement that spells out term and condition for union members. This CA is revised every 3 years and the latest revision was implemented last year in July.

Among new item added is new salary adjustment. Somehow during the latest revision issue surfaced as not all operators benefited from the adjustment. Some were considered not eligible. Salary people in HQ said anomalies were inevitable in big population and the approach adopted is the option with less adverse impact. And this resulted in some junior operators left out. They came compaining
to the management and CEO promised he would do something. CEO asked HR to look into the matter. I said salary is one of the policymatters managed by the HQ not by the branch HR manager. What the affected staff could do is work extra hard to catch up with their colleagues. Working harder normally translates into better performance rating. Better rating in turn translates into higher annual increment. HR and CEO met the affected staff during breakfast meeting. We explained the process and calculation and everything we wanted them to know. They bought in. Subsequent HR examined their performance ratings and push one notch higher.

Lesson learnts: Anomalies do happen in any salary revision implementation. Use less damaging approach. Arrange for engagement session. Explain. Don't apologize.

Resigning at 24

This is premature, too me.

While most fresh graduates are so excited to join the labor market after 5 years of burning midnight oil, this one chap strikes different cord. He tendered 24-hour resignation notice just after joining the company in Feb 2012. Reason given is to be closer with family in Melaka. The pressure from the wife and his in-laws seemed so intense that it finally broke down his determination and perhaps sanity to decide wisely. Yes living separately due to work location is not a cuppa tea for every married man or woman. Highest degree of understanding and trust are prerequisites.
In this case, there is an option, Plan  B. Be a weekend husband until your transfer is approved. But he has different plan. Wish him all the best.

Rezeki masing-masing.

Resigning at 48

A cool and highly experienced senior technician who was supposed to be transfered to Basra to support our Iraq operation next month or so made a bold decision. He tendered resignation to everybody's surprise.

Resignation is for the brave and bold only. Making a decision to resign is not a cup of tea. Especially resigning from a well-paid job. Or from an established and reputable company, like this company. Many I met said they had to think over and over and over again before coming to a decision to quit. Quit checklist so lenghty. WHo will pay the bills? All sorts of bills -- water, eletricity, gas, ASTRO, Celcom broadband, cukai pintu, manitenance fees if you are staying in condominium. All sorts of monthly committments -- house rent, home 1 installment, home 2 installment, car 1 installment, car 2 installment, children school fees, childrens pocket money, airtime reloads for all the mobiles you and kids have. School bus fares, petrol money for car 1, petrol money for car 2, money for old mother back home, maid salary. Eat-out expenses, yes once in a while kids and their mom crave for some kinda western meals at McD or KFC or pizza hut. All those are not cheap and are in different league as nasi lemak or mee kolok. They cost a bomb for a penniless. Being used to travel on now-everyone-can-fly airline, you need to continue the tradition. Sedekah to masjid, haji, umrah. All those activities need to be revisited once you resign from the company.

You see that the quit checklist is pretty long, thats why I said tendering resignation notice is for the bold only.  It is certainly a collective decision, should be supported by a spouse, more so if you are the sole breadwinner in the family. In this organization where there is no pension scheme, only KWSP savings is your goldmine, quitting anytime makes no difference. Quitting means you simply lose income from the company you are quitting from.  But quitting closer to retirement age has an advantage. You can withdraw from KWSP to do things you want to do and enjoy doing it. 

Pushing factors

Another resignation. This time a senior executive in procurement department or in this organization, we call it supply chain management.  7 years in the company. Quite an experience. Given a couple more years, he could become an effective manager. But he wanted to leave. What can HR do? Technically nothing. It is employee's right, enshrined in Labor Laws.

Another exit meeting for HR people. The intent is not to persuade him to stay, but to make sure others do not follow him. One staff leaves, one more headache for a recruiter. To find a replacement, with  equivalent experience, is an uphill task, a time consuming process.

To get to the bottom, probing must be structured, questions aked one after another. Some will hide the actual reasons, so as not to hurt current superiors or company. Or not to be seen greedy especially when monetary compensation is concerned. However reasons of staff leaving could be summarized into 2: pushing factor or pulling factor.

As for this procurement guy, he was rather straightforward, blaming superiors for not keeping promises. He talked like he is a caring family man but his the problem is his family is not in Miri. So the reason for leaving is to be closer with the family --- personal reason, I'd say.
His story started in October 2011. He was told he is too new in Miri to be considered for transfer to KL. He began to accept the fact and activated Plan B ---  bring the family to Sarawak. He worked hard to transfer the teacher wife to Miri area to the extent of seeking recommendation from Deputy Prime Minister Office in Putraja, via his brother's UMNO political link. The wife transfer was about to materialize when suddenly the superior promised him that he could go back to KL in March 2012 due to department downsizing. With this good news, he dropped everything about bringing his wife to Miri, putting DPM recommendation letter into a dustbin. He felt guilty to everybody who helped him -- his brother and above all to DPM. He waited for March. Came January, the superior dropped a bombshell on him. He was not releasable for reasons that downsized structure still needed experienced personnel like him to stabilize the operation. He got frustrated so much. All his plans came down to ashes. You know what happened next --  this Plan C.

I could see his points.

On the exit interview form, I summarized what I heard and ticked the PUSHING FACTOR.

Regret? Yes I had a few.

5/5/ 2012@Miri:

Self-Discipline is key to success. A ladder to go up. a key to unlock all sort of doors.so  said wise men of earlier times. and contemporary ones. we pass the same message to our young ones, students at school, staff at office.

And i am one of those who needs a reminder, a constant one, because I sometimes lose sight of the destination. So I will start writing again, at least 100 words a day. God help me. 

Double parking

Dec 2011:
The above situation is called 'double parking' in our organization. It is not a good HR practises anywhere. But somehow we have to have it. A young female process engineer came sobbing into the HR Manager Room. So innocent. She is worried that in the same position in her dept org chart, there is another name alongside with hers. It took some time to explain why it happened.

Why it happened? It could either be:
1. The incumbent in the box was away from the dept doing other things on assignment basis. In this case he is still in the box. At the same time the manager wants somebody to do his/her job. Someone comes into the position, thus 2 names.
2. The second name just borrow the box while waiting for another approved box or waiting for the new structure approved.
3. To secure the competent staff, even though no position available.

Her case was no. 2. The way forward is to relocate the other name to another empty box (read: position) in other dept. ANd we did that. The challenge is you must find other vacant box and once you found it, you must seek the approval from dept head to relocate the body (read: staff) there. After all, mobility of staff is a willing buyer willing seller business.


There are also cases of triplr parking.