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WEoften speak about Sabah’s workforce challenges as though they are primarily issues of skills, education, or lack of opportunity. While those explanations are not wrong, they are comfortable because they allow us to place the problem somewhere external — in policy, in institutions, or in economic structure — rather than in something much closer to home, which is how we as a society have come to see work itself.

The uncomfortable truth is that Sabah does not simply lack opportunity; in many cases, we underperform within the opportunities already available because too many people no longer love the jobs they are doing, and more importantly, no longer feel any real obligation to do those jobs well.

People should love the jobs they do and do their very best, no matter what the job is — whether it is cleaning toilets, working in construction, standing guard, serving food, or practising as a lawyer, doctor, or engineer.

If that basic standard is missing, no amount of policy or opportunity will compensate for it.

The Problem We All See — But Rarely Admit

This is not an abstract idea, but something most people recognise from daily experience. It is there in the waiter who serves you as though you are a burden, in the security guard who looks like he would rather be anywhere else, in the construction worker going through the motions, and in the counter staff who treats every question as a problem.

There is often a sense that people are physically present but mentally disengaged, doing what is required to get through the day rather than taking any care in how the work is actually performed.

It would be easy to attribute this to lack of ability, but that explanation does not hold when one observes how the same Sabahans perform in different environments, where expectations are higher and standards are enforced.

The issue is not that people cannot do better, but that too often they do not see a reason to, because the work in front of them is not taken seriously — either by others or by themselves.

There are many Sabahans who take pride in their work and perform at a high level every day. This is not a criticism of them. It is a recognition that they are the exception when they should be the norm.

When Jobs Are Looked Down On, People Stop Caring

Part of the problem lies in how certain jobs are regarded within society. Roles such as cleaning, serving, guarding, or manual labour are frequently treated as something temporary, something to escape from, or something that carries little status, even though they are essential to how everything functions on a daily basis.

When people around you treat your job as something low, it is only a matter of time before you start treating it the same way.

And once that happens, the job becomes something you just want to get through, rather than something you want to do properly. Over time, that mindset spreads, and the standard of work drops across entire sectors.

This mindset does not appear overnight. It is shaped early — in how we are raised, in how we speak about work at home, and in whether discipline and responsibility are instilled when it matters most. 

If from a young age, certain jobs are spoken of as something to avoid or escape from, then we should not be surprised when that attitude carries into adulthood.

The “I Am Better Than This” Mindset

At the same time, there is another issue that we cannot ignore, which is the tendency among many to believe that they are better than the jobs they are currently doing. There is always this thinking that something bigger is waiting, that their current role is beneath them, and that they should be the one giving instructions rather than following them.

Everyone wants to be the boss, the ketua kampung, even the TYT — but very few are prepared to do the work in front of them properly.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to do better in life, but if a person cannot take pride in being a waiter, a cleaner, or a guard, there is no reason to believe they will suddenly become excellent when given a higher position. Habits do not change just because titles change.

What Taking Pride in Work Actually Looks Like

This is not theoretical for me.

I worked as a waiter throughout my university years for about seven years, and I took pride in that job. I did the best I could every shift, not because it was glamorous, but because it was the job in front of me. 

I never saw it as something beneath me, and I never treated customers as an inconvenience.

In fact, not everyone can be a good waiter. Many people cannot, no matter how smart they are, because it requires patience, awareness, consistency, and the ability to deal with people properly. 

When customers were appreciative, I responded in kind and served even better, and that translated into better tips and better income. The effort put into the job had a direct return.

That job taught me something simple — effort shows. Customers respond to it. Income follows it. Respect follows it. The job did not limit me. My attitude would have.

The point is simple — dignity in work is not about the title of the job, but about the standard you bring to it. Once that standard is there, the job changes, and so do the outcomes.

When Pay Feels Unfair, People Stop Trying

It would be incomplete to discuss this without addressing the role of wages and treatment. When people feel they are being paid less than what they deserve, or when they see businesses doing well while their own situation does not improve, it is unrealistic to expect them to remain motivated.

The constant use of “market rate” as justification only reinforces this problem, because it becomes a convenient way of keeping wages low while pretending that it is something fixed and unavoidable. 

Workers are not unaware of this, and when they feel that they are not valued, they stop giving more than what is necessary.

Pride cannot exist in a vacuum. It must be matched by fairness, structure, and the possibility of growth. 

When a worker sees no path forward, no recognition for doing better, and no meaningful difference between effort and indifference, pride alone will not sustain performance. 

Over time, even the most motivated person will stop trying. If we expect people to take their work seriously, then the system around them must also take them seriously.

How That Negativity Spreads

The consequences of this do not remain confined to the workplace. When people dislike their jobs, feel disrespected, and believe they are stuck in something beneath them, that frustration does not stay inside. It shows itself in how they treat others, particularly customers and clients.

That is why so many everyday interactions feel unnecessarily unpleasant — not because people are incapable of better, but because they have stopped caring.

Somewhere along the way, “cukup lah” became acceptable. Good enough became good enough for everything. And once that becomes the standard, excellence has no place to grow.

We do not just tolerate mediocrity — we have normalised it.

A Different Way of Working

This becomes very obvious when one sees how similar roles are carried out elsewhere. In places like Japan and the Philippines, the jobs themselves are not fundamentally different, but the way people approach them is.

In Japan, in places like Tokyo Disneyland, there are workers whose job is simply to mop up puddles after a rainy day, and they do it properly, without complaint, without looking like they hate being there. 

Construction workers are uniformed, clean, and professional, and those managing road works are alert and focused rather than standing around with the look of someone who wishes they were anywhere else.

In the Philippines, service staff often come across as genuinely warm, not forced, not reluctant.

These are not better jobs. The difference is that people do not treat the job as beneath them. These are not differences in ability. They are differences in expectation, discipline, and what society accepts as normal.

Respect Must Go Both Ways

If this is to change, responsibility cannot rest on one side alone. Employers must pay fairly, especially when the business is doing well, because workers need to feel that they are part of something and not simply being used.

At the same time, society needs to reflect on how it treats work.

How many times have we actually said thank you to the toilet cleaner for doing a good job, or to the waiter who served us well? Respect cannot only go upwards. It must exist at every level.

At the same time, we cannot ignore the role of leadership. In many workplaces, mediocrity is not just tolerated — it is led. 

When supervisors do not care, when standards are not enforced, and when effort is neither recognised nor rewarded, workers quickly learn that doing more makes no difference. Culture is set from the top, and too often in Sabah, that culture is weak. 

We cannot demand pride from workers while accepting indifference from those in charge.

This issue is not limited to the private sector. Anyone who has dealt with public services knows that the same problem exists there as well — delays, indifference, and a lack of urgency. When the public sector reflects the same standards, it reinforces the idea that this is acceptable everywhere.

What Taking Work Seriously Actually Means

Taking work seriously is not complicated. It is showing up on time. Doing the job properly even when no one is watching. Treating people with basic respect. Paying attention to detail. Finishing what is started. 

These are not high standards — they are basic ones. But they are the foundation of everything else.

The Cost of Not Fixing This

If this continues, the consequences will not be abstract. Businesses will continue to rely on foreign labour because it is seen as more dependable. Service standards will remain inconsistent. 

Investors will look elsewhere for reliability. And Sabahans will increasingly find themselves displaced — not because they lack ability, but because they are perceived as unwilling to take their work seriously.

The Part We Cannot Avoid

Ultimately, Sabah’s challenge is not simply about jobs or skills, but about whether we are prepared to take our work seriously, regardless of what that work is.

Because the reality is straightforward.

This is not a labour shortage. It is not a skills shortage. It is a standards problem.

And until we confront that honestly — in how we work, how we lead, and how we treat every job — nothing else we fix will matter. The limits we face will not be imposed by policy, by investment, or by circumstance.

They will be imposed by us.

And this is where the question becomes uncomfortable. Not what Sabah is doing wrong — but what each of us is willing to tolerate in ourselves. 

Because the standard we accept in our own work is the standard we set for everything else.

The views expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Express. If you have something to share, write to us at: Forum@dailyexpress.com.my