Playing hard? Working harder

MANY of my peers spend most of their school holidays working temporary jobs, or participating in internships, or both. Some work part-time during the school term too, as tutors or research assistants.

Those who are graduating seem eager to start work, sending out applications long before their graduations. Given the recession, they have to work harder than their predecessors to secure and retain employment.

Those already in the workforce are also slogging away, with long hours and overtime, and are even thinking of taking on extra jobs.

Seeing how everyone around me is forgoing holidays and other recreation for work, I wonder how the others could view us youth as 'not working as hard as we play'. The way I see it, we not only work as hard as we play, we may actually be working harder.

Anna Wong, 22, is an honours student in psychology at the National University of Singapore

Weekends spent on work, not play

SHORTER work weeks are just an illusion that we are having a good time. The truth is that a lot of us use our weekends to catch up on heavy workloads.

With mass downsizing and retrenchments the norm today, young employees are forced to take on more and stretch their job scopes more broadly than before.

This inevitably means working at the weekend to meet seemingly impossible deadlines, just to retain one's job. A friend of mine works as a private tutor at the weekend to supplement his meagre income, despite being a general manager in a multinational corporation.

Before we can even consider leisure time, our No.1 priority is making ends meet.

Nicholas Lim, 19, has a place at Nanyang Technological University's Nanyang Business School

Nothing wrong with playing hard

THERE'S nothing wrong with playing hard - call it our way of churning the economy.

Those of us with money to spend from parents or side jobs such as tuition are somewhat cushioned from the recession, compared to older folk.

Consider all the retail, food and beverage, and entertainment outlets. If we continue to shop, dine out and spend, we are generating income for the industry. Our patronage forms their pay slips. What goes around comes around.

All the ongoing sales are a temptation I find hard to resist. But seriously, a cutback in spending among youth consumers can spell a dip in business which might be no help to the economy.

We might just need to help one another pull through this recession.

Chew Zhi Wen, 21, is a first-year law student at NUS

Make the most of our time

IF A five-day work week has done nothing for this country's low birth rate, it's unlikely a longer one will improve it.

Instead we should work smart, not just hard, and find ways to make the most of the time we have, both at and outside of work.

My clinical training has taught me a lot about work-life balance. Despite having to work six days a week, inclusive of night shifts and weekends, I have managed to organise my time so that I have sufficient time for rest, study, exercise and spend time with my friends.

Contrary to popular opinion, youth can overcome obstacles and work out solutions if we put our minds to the challenges we face in life.

Tabitha Mok, 22, is a fifth-year medical student at the University of Western Australia

Energy and dynamism of youth

THE question of whether a shorter work week is affecting Singapore's productivity is itself counter-productive because we should concentrate on workplace efficiency and creativity rather than the number of working hours.

Because of their innovative workforces, many world-class economies, such as Sweden and France, boast a higher per-capita gross domestic product than Singapore, despite having shorter work weeks.

Similarly, young Singaporeans looking to enter the workforce should rely on initiative and productivity, rather than on sheer hard work, to get ahead.

We bring with us the energy and dynamism of youth, and should not be afraid to respectfully offer suggestions on how to cut waste and increase workplace efficiency.

The bottom line is that we must not only be willing to work hard. We should be able to work smart as well.

Jonathan Kwok, 24, is an honours student in economics at NUS

This article was first published in The Straits Times.