By Tessa Wong

CUSTOMER satisfaction levels here have fallen and it may be because consumers are getting more sophisticated and have higher expectations.

Those in the retail as well as food and beverage industries - two sectors that performed worse this year than last year in a recent survey - said that their customers have become more demanding, and do not shy away from making clear the level of service that they expect.

They want retailers to engage them over their purchase, and they give their feedback more readily. They also go online to discuss service standards, or the lack thereof.

No training subsidies for foreign staff

WITH the government service training programme subsidising only Singaporeans and permanent residents, one group is falling through the net - the growing number of foreigners in front-line service positions.

Doing the jobs that Singaporeans shun, these foreign workers made up a quarter of the service sector's nearly two million workers last year.

Just three years ago, such workers formed 22 per cent of the sector.