Article
Back in the day, cleaning work was seen as easy. Manual work no doubt, but easy. If the floor is dirty, just use lots of chemical cleaners. If the mirror is dirty, just wipe with a cloth. If the toilet bowl is dirty, just scrub with the toilet brush.
It is no wonder that cleaners are often paid lowly wages.
All that has changed since June 2012 when the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) was introduced. The PWM is a wage system that helps to increase the wages of workers in low-income sectors, such as the cleaning sector, by upgrading their skills, improving their productivity, and mapping a clear career path for them.
A voluntary scheme when it was first introduced, the PWM has since been made mandatory for the cleaning sector in September 2014. And from 2023 to 2028, some 40,000 workers across 15,000 cleaning businesses will see their wages increase progressively over the six years.
So what does it mean for cleaners who wants to earn higher wages through PWM?
Required To Be Trained
All cleaning businesses are to ensure that all its resident cleaners are to attain one mandatory module on workplace safety & health (WSH), and another workforce skills qualification (WSQ) module to be selected from a list of approved core modules by 31 December 2022.
Required To Upskill
Beyond 2025, the total number of WSQ training modules cleaners must be trained in, will be increased to three for those in lower job rungs, and four modules for those in higher job rungs. These are inclusive of the mandatory WSH module.
Looking Beyond
As essential service workers in the cleaning sector, especially in the on-going battle with Covid-19 and its variants, cleaners should continue to upskill themselves as the cleaning sector adopts more technology, and jobs continue to be redesigned.
Upskilling can help cleaners to look beyond ‘I am just a cleaner’ mindset and spur them onwards a progressive career path that entails promotions and corresponding wage increases.