Working Saturdays are Here To Stay

by Lim Peh

Despite the mounting pressure to make working Saturdays a thing of the past, the management of Intra-Rover Engineering Limited still stand by their stance and maintain that working Saturdays would remain.

With more and more companies adhering to a 5 day work week, Intra-Rover remains one of the few listed company that makes alternate Saturday mornings a mandatory working half-day. This lack of change has been rather demoralising for the employees of the company.

When asked for his opinion on the matter, Ah Lim, who has been a loyal employee of Intra-Rover for 5 years, said, "Aiyah, now 21st century, should modernise mah, even the garh-men sector also have 5 day work week, why shouldn't we?" Ah Lim's colleague, Ah Hock, was quick to add, "Really buay ta-han the management, not only do they expect us to work until 6:30 everyday, they still expect us to come back on Saturday, si bei sian ah! Like that where got mood to Saturday Night Fever!?"

Ah Hock, in an undated file picture

Besides imposing a mandatory alternate working Saturdays rule, Intra-Rover is also known to provide the company transport at 6:30 in the evening, one hour after the official working time. Since the company is located in the heart of Inner Siberia, the employees have little choice but to stay the extra hour and take the company transport.

When the management was queried about their stance on the unpopular alternate Saturday move, company Minister Mentor Lam Yap had this to say. "It has been a long standing tradition for the employees Intra-Rover to work on Saturdays and I see no need to change it. I'll have you know that when I single-handedly started the company, I worked 8 days a week!" When told that there was only 7 days a week, MM Lam muttered something about his laundry being in the rain and walked away.

MM Lam: single-handedly started Intra-Rover and works 8 days a week.

Company spokesperson, Ms Lai Pui Pui added, "Since our company are currently short-handed, we feel to be able to complete our jobs in time, we should stick to the alternate working Saturdays rule. It has served us well before, and I'm sure it'll serve us well in the future. In fact, I'm sure that this would be a tradition that carry us into the 22nd century."

Ms Lai Pui Pui, carrying tradition and a whole lot more.

A recent poll of the company's employees revealed a worrying trend. 74% of the employees feel that they will move onto a job that does not have working Saturdays within the next 2 years, while 20% are not sure if they will change their jobs. A surprising 6% either do not understand the question or are hardcore workaholics will only stay in the job if the company makes all Saturdays a working Saturday. Of the 74% that wish to change their job in the next 2 years, 93% of them are employees below management level.

Despite such damning statistics, MM Lam was still very much in denial. "I single-handedly started the company by working 8 days a week! Tradition is tradition! No one should change it! If I'm still giving Ang Baos to my grandchildren, then I don't see why we shouldn't work on alternate Saturdays!"