You could say that helping others runs in unionist Komala P’s blood.
Her grandfather was a communist leader in India and her mother likes to help people in need.
This seems to have inspired Komala to contribute to the community in whatever way she could. And she has been doing so as the President of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore Staff Union (IRASSU) for the past 20 years.
The 48-year-old sees the trait of helping others in her two grown children, too, as they would go all out to help their friends in need.
The Union Leader
Currently, the union has 1,100 members and Komala hopes to see its membership grow further to about 1,300 in the years to come. So, when an IRAS staff gets updates about the union’s training programmes via intranet or meets Komala at an orientation session, you can be sure getting them to join the union will be her key priority.
What about the long haul?
What are unionists at IRAS concerned about?
One area, said Komala, is getting members ready for a second career post-retirement.
“We have seen people who are keen to take up entrepreneurship to become their own bosses. So, we encourage them to go for courses to prepare themselves in this area if that is their interest. Then there are those who are looking at the healthcare sector or customer service sector for a second career. At the union we help our members link up to these upskilling courses with the relevant training bodies, let them try out these jobs after they retire,” said Komala.
Another big concern is getting members on board the upskilling bandwagon to stay relevant and not rest on their laurels.
For this, Komala had worked with her company IRAS to kickstart a training scheme.
Since 2009, IRAS and IRASSU has introduced the Lifelong Employability Training Grant Scheme (LETGS) where members can claim for reimbursement of courses fees on courses undertaken for employability purposes from IRASSU.
Now with SkillsFuture Credit, the Union Training Assistance Programme (UTAP) and the IRAS grant, she said there are no excuses for members not to take a shot at upskilling.
The Working Parent
Komala became a single parent when her two children were one and a half and six months old.
With the help of another woman in her life, her mother, she was able to raise her family.
Today her daughter is 20 years old and pursuing a diploma in molecular biotechnology, a fast-growing research sector in Singapore. Her son is 19 years old , an ITE graduate from Western Culinary Arts and waiting for his enlistment into National Service.
“I am a single parent and I have a lot of personal responsibilities looking into their education and spending sufficient time with them. I have to prioritise my job, union work and my family. I am pretty occupied almost 100 per cent with office work and union activities. My family has been a great help to me. When my kids were very young they would come and help me - especially my mum - to take care of them,” explained Komala.
From my conversation with Komala, I could sense evidently that her two children are her everything.
She even explains to them why at times mum can’t be with them at their events.
“I had to do a lot of buy-in with my kids. Sometimes they are upset that I am not there to spend time with them, but I would let them know what takes my time away from work and it is my union work. So, at times I will also bring them to my events to show them how I am being involved so that they can appreciate why I am not there for certain events. But I will ensure that I attend their graduation ceremony and school prize-giving day. There are also the days when we have our family time on holidays when I completely dedicate my time with them,” said Komala.
The Continuous Learner
When it comes to improving your own skills, don’t feel shy about having to learn from a subordinate. That is Komala’s personal upskilling mantra.
“I am not an IT person. I also have to learn and pick up the skills. I can have a junior staff teaching me about it, he could be an expert in that field. Rather than saying that I cannot accept a junior person teaching me, I am willing to learn from anyone.
“Even my children teach me a lot of things which I am not good at. They will actually sit down and go through the steps with me. So, what I normally do is I will pass some of my union work to them and they will help me out with it. As long as we are open about learning, we can go up wherever you want. For me, each day is a learning day because you will somehow learn something new every day”.
