Meeting in the middle

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: How will the "green lane" arrangements for business travel between Singapore and Malaysia facilitate your operations?

Yeoh Oon Jin Executive chairman PwC Singapore

In this new normal, international business travel will undoubtedly be significantly reduced as many business activities can be done digitally. However, there remain essential business activities that must be carried out in person. These include critical negotiations, where non-verbal cues play a big part in the communication, or certain physical due diligence checks that are needed for compliance reasons and so on. As such, the ''green lane'' arrangements would allow us as trusted business advisors to support our clients in achieving their business objectives - whether it be reshaping their businesses through acquisitions, mergers, divestments or supply-chain transformation. Starting with Malaysia, we look forward to the gradual resumption of more business travel across our neighbouring countries in South-east Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar), where the majority of our businesses are conducted.

Lawrence Loh Director, Centre for Governance, Institutions and Organisations NUS Business School

The Singapore-Malaysia green lane is a good start and should not end there. As many organisations are global, eventual connectivity to more locations will be necessary. The planned green lane with Malaysia will provide the protocols and learning experience for arrangements with other countries, either on a bilateral or even multilateral basis. Indeed, it will be good for regional and international organisations to have common standards for movement of people where feasible. The green lane is a refreshing change from the red traffic lights so far. However, the risk assessments must be conducted continually. Most importantly, travellers must use this privilege responsibly.

Choe Peng Sum Chief Executive Officer Pan Pacific Hotels Group

The hospitality industry takes a fair share of Malaysians workers. The Periodic Commuting Arrangement (PCA) arrangement is timely; it allows our associates to come back to the workforce as our hotels gradually reopen for stays and dining in with a pent-up domestic market.

Both the PCA and Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL) arrangements will also provide business opportunities which will positively affect our bottom lines. With a portfolio of eight hotels and serviced suites locally, we provide a variety of accommodation options to both business travellers as well as those seeking Stay-Home Notice (SHN) venues. On a larger scale, the agreement is a good litmus test for Singapore to eventually expand travel. This is an important step towards facilitating essential business with recalibrated models and protocols in the new norm of travel.

Tom Simpson SVP, Asia Pacific AdColony

We have learned during the pandemic that 90 per cent of business can be done over Zoom, but for many deals, that extra 10 per cent makes all the difference. We look forward to the opportunity to reconnect and drive business with our Malaysian partners, and contribute to getting the Singapore economy running another notch faster.

Kenneth Worsdale Chief Executive Officer Extra Space Asia Group of Companies

The reopening of borders will be welcomed by many. For Extra Space Asia, a Singapore-headquartered business wanting to continue expanding regionally, it is absolutely critical that travel can commence again. Plans including but not limited to expansions and cross-country cooperation can now resume. For the majority of industries, Singapore has limited growth opportunities, and the growth of the Singapore economy is very much dependent on regional expansions. The longer restrictions are in place, the longer it will take for the Singapore economy to expand and provide employment opportunities.

Damien Dhellemmes Cluster President, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei Schneider Electric

While Schneider Electric has existing measures in place to facilitate working from remote locations, the ''green lane'' arrangements will allow our business team to travel and assist clients in both countries. It will allow our management teams and technical experts to physically meet and support our customers, especially in the essential and critical segments such as healthcare, data centre and manufacturing. We will be covering all Covid-19 related costs for RGL travel while we are planning for employees with long-term work passes to receive a one-time payout which allows them to travel home to visit their families and loved ones.

Chia Ngiang Hong President Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (REDAS)

Firstly, the arrangements are welcome as they will lessen our labour constraints, with many Malaysian workers in the construction and services sectors. Secondly, real estate businesses with cross-border presence will benefit from smoother two-way business operations and facilitate potential investment opportunities. The PCA will facilitate movement for those who need medium to long-term commitment, while the RGL will be useful for special or ad-hoc work requirements, such as when negotiating or concluding important deals or when on-site inspections or presences are vital. Despite the benefit of enhanced digitalisation over the past few months, personal touch in some processes is still more effective. Ultimately, each organisation will have to weigh the value-add of physical presence versus the additional administrative inconvenience and financial costs - for example, the strict regulation of itineraries in the use of the RGL, the seven-day SHN required in the PCA, swab tests, and other measures to arrive at a pragmatic decision.

Mario Singh Chief Executive Officer Fullerton Markets

The ''green lane'' requirements for shorter essential business and official visits are part of the new normal that we all have to get used to.

Over the last few months, our organisation has taken many steps to ensure that business continues even without air travel. Due to the success of our business continuity planning initiatives with our colleagues, vendors, clients and partners, we have largely cushioned the impact that the pandemic has had on our business.

Even with the RGL and PCA measures in place for travel between Singapore and Malaysia, I do not foresee that our company will be utilising these initiatives very much. This is because travel is not necessary for us to get the job done in the first place, and the various precautionary measures coupled with the SHN requirement (for as long as is mandatory), might actually impede our overall productivity rather than boost it.

Toby Koh Group MD Ademco Security Group

My Malaysian colleagues who opted to stay home in Malaysia have expressed their wish to return to work. Those who chose to stay put and work are now presented with the option of heading home to visit their loved ones for a holiday. I am sure there are many companies who will need their talent to return to the fold and help drive their business activities. Cautious methodical travel to mitigate risk is vital. But we have to quickly establish more ''green lane'' arrangements so essential travel and trade will continue to flow.

There are some critical meetings where a face-to-face greeting, a meal together, or some kind of physical proximity is needed. After all, business is really about people coming together in alignment.

Helen Ng Chief Executive Officer Lock+Store

The PCA scheme will help our Malaysian staff members who were previously caught between a rock and a hard place. Although still prohibitive, the cross-border arrangements will restore some semblance of normalcy to their family lives. Under the RGL scheme, we can finally visit our facility in Malaysia and attend to essential matters in person.

Lee Quane Regional Director - Asia ECA International

The resumption of cross-border mobility is a positive sign for organisations that rely on business travel as it signals a recovery in the global economy. However, strict health protocols must be adhered to in order for the schemes to work effectively for both countries without compromising the health and safety of travellers and citizens alike. While these new processes may take time for travellers to become familiar with, the earlier organisations adapt to this new way of working and managing employee mobility, the faster the business can recover and move forward. In the long run, employees will value companies that prioritise their health and safety, and those that are more agile and able to adapt to these new processes will be seen as progressive. Furthermore, expats who now have the option of returning home to see their family will be more willing to travel and motivated to work.

John Ng Chief Executive Officer YTL PowerSeraya

Many businesses and industries have been impacted since the onset of the pandemic outbreak, especially those who look towards foreign specialised manpower resources to support their work activities. While interim measures may be taken to cushion a short period of disruption given the uncertainty in business travel, this could impact business continuity in the long term. The ''green lane'' arrangements can therefore help to alleviate this uncertainty, and facilitate organisations' planning and on-time deployment of critical manpower resources to align with the execution of business activities.

As these ''green lane'' arrangements are subject to adherence and compliance of specific conditions, the development of the Covid-19 situation within these two countries will have a direct bearing on the viability of these arrangements. It is hence important that the countries continue to strengthen their resolve to prevent the pandemic crisis from deteriorating so that these arrangements can stay to help business progressively from the downturn.

Ronak Shah Chief Executive Officer QBE Insurance (Singapore) Pte Ltd

The green lane arrangements are a welcome step for businesses here. It is a definitive mark of our economy recovering and rebuilding. For us, it also signals a gradual return to the business environment of before. As both countries slowly resume cross-border activity, we hope that this is a sign of an uptick in business and a resumption of intra-regional and even extra-regional business activities.

Even as we are eager for business to pick back up, we must tread with pragmatism and mindfulness. As an insurer, we have been advising companies in their risk management portfolios specific to conducting business in this climate. We encourage firms to remain diligent in prioritising safety over reopening as we transition to a post-pandemic phase.

Saikrishnan Ranganathan CEO, Co-Founder SensorFlow

Singapore's ''green lane'' arrangement with Malaysia is a welcome step as it signals business growth and opportunities for both countries. Our sales team will now travel to meet our existing and prospective hotelier customers in Malaysia to help them manage the Covid-19 crisis better. With the travel restrictions gradually being lifted, hotels in Malaysia will be anticipating an accompanying increase in tourists and hotel guest stays.

Joanne Wong VP, International Markets LogRhythm

With the gradual resumption of cross-border travel, employees will benefit from more flexible working arrangements, including our Malaysian staff who have had to pick a side the last five months. At the same time, remote working is here to stay and at LogRhythm, we fully support our staff who wish to continue working from home.

Organisations must continue to prioritise employees' health and well-being. Leaders must offer holistic support to help them strike a work-life balance, and address work-related challenges. Our recent survey found that cyber-security professionals now experience more pressure to perform than before, but are stressed by the lack of executive support. By identifying and resolving these pain points, business leaders can cultivate a more sustainable working environment from home.

Maren Schweizer Director Schweizer World Pte. Ltd.

The Singapore-Malaysian ''green lane'' agreement is significant for our businesses. Recent green and fast lane agreements set the tone for future reciprocal travel regulations. We hope that Singapore can establish a standard for such protocols in the Asia-Pacific to minimise complexity and cost. For example, instead of undergoing different sets of health tests on both ends of the journey, business travellers commuting between Singapore and green lane countries can sit through one mutually recognised test.

Covid-19 considerations will dominate travel planning for the foreseeable future. I believe that Singapore can be at the forefront of an end-to-end digital integration for safer and healthier travel, tapping on a well-established ecosystem to benefit our recovery.

Dora Hoan Chief Executive Officer Best World International Ltd

Most of our business activities have been conducted virtually since the lockdown. The ''green lane'' arrangements do help to provide flexibility, and are an alternative for necessary and essential cross-border business travels. Our Industry 4.0 plant construction project in Tuas has stalled for quite some time, and with this initiative, workers can resume their work. The implementation of the PCA and RGL in a careful and controlled manner will certainly boost confidence in cross-border businesses, especially for international organisations like us.

Axel Berkling Executive Vice President KONE Asia Pacific

As borders closed while countries worked to curb the spread of the global pandemic, many businesses have since been disrupted in several ways - in particular, industries highly dependent on foreign labour. While Singapore and Malaysia work together to cautiously reopen their borders to facilitate business travel, this has also created opportunities for people working in the construction industry to travel to and from their workplaces, gradually normalising activities in the industry. This helps in business continuity and greater flexibility in the movement flow of employees.

Tan Mui Huat President and CEO, Asia International SOS

International SOS, like many of our clients, have shared clients, services and supply chains integrated in both Singapore and Malaysia. The ''green lane'' arrangements will be a definite leap forward in resuming travel.

In preparation, we have been working closely with clients with operations in both countries, to advise them on the best medical and security practices needed to facilitate safe travels for their employees.

In addition to the testing protocols and guidelines agreed by both countries, we are advising organisations to ensure a mobile travel bubble for employees by implementing measures - from pre-trip planning and support, to on-the-ground assistance when overseas, to safety protocols upon return. These measures are vital to ensuring the safety and resilience of the workforce, their families and the business.

Thiantara Kruathorn Country Director, Singapore and Brunei Fortinet

Fortinet's Singapore office serves as a regional hub to support our offices and customers in neighbouring countries, including Malaysia. Allowing business travel again between Malaysia and Singapore will allow us to collaborate more effectively and flexibly to share resources, whether remotely or to provide on-site services when necessary. As for PCA, it comes as a welcome relief to our employees who have family across the Causeway. Being able to visit their family again will ease some of the mental stress from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lim Soon Hock Managing Director PLAN-B ICAG

The ''green lane'' arrangement is a step closer to the pre-Covid normal and will also help to avert closures of more businesses. It is a welcome move to solve the manpower shortages arising from the travel restrictions, and to allow more businesses between both countries to resume. Any inconvenience arising from compliance with the protocols is a small price to pay for the larger objective of preventing any resurgence in the virus outbreak. It is also a relatively small cost to incur in the short term to save businesses and more importantly, to be ready for the post-Covid era.

As our employees are our most valuable assets, two companies that I have been involved in have chosen to pay for all these extra costs, recognising that they already have to put up with pre-departure and post-arrival Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, and comply with itinerary and contract-tracing protocols. Businesses should spare no efforts to make this interim arrangement work so that normalisation can resume as soon as possible.

Leonard Cheong Managing Director AdNovum Singapore Pte Ltd

Businesses of various industries have made investments and streamlined the hurdles of going virtual for many activities and experiences, since Covid-19 has permanently changed human attitudes and behaviours in all aspects of life. This has resulted in massive change, from re-thinking and re-designing to communicating and running the experiences that people now need and want.

Customer connections and collaboration have also shifted online. The resumption of business travel will not make much difference for AdNovum, being in the cyber-security business where operations are mostly digital. Our employees and customers are better equipped and more accustomed to the new way of doing things, moving forward.

David Leong Managing Director PeopleWorldwide Consulting Pte Ltd

A large part of our workforce is composed of Malaysians. Crossing the Causeway to Singapore to work is a way of life for them that has been taken for granted. When the movement control order was rolled out in Malaysia, Singapore went into a frenzied scramble to retain those Malaysian workers in Singapore with accommodation support. This was a hefty bill, and almost unsustainable over prolonged period.

This PCA is a solution that will release a large bulk of Malaysians to return to Singapore to work subject to tests, SHN requirements and monitored movements. Our business is to facilitate such flows of workers. This measure will help employers, particularly in the construction industry, to facilitate their skilled Malaysian workers' return to work.