38 firms identified for not hiring, grooming Singaporeans

SINGAPORE — In the one year since rules were put in place to ensure that firms consider locals for job openings, 38 companies here have been placed on a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) watch list for not doing enough to hire and groom Singa­poreans.

In addition, the ministry will be speaking to about 100 other firms on the issue. These companies are in industries such as administration and support, construction, infocommunications, finance and insurance, professional services, transport and storage, as well as wholesale trade.

Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say today (Aug 13) revealed these details in an update on the Fair Consideration Framework, which was implemented in August last year.

Writing on his ministry’s blog, Mr Lim said the MOM is committed to scrutinising applications for Employment Passes (EP) from what he called “double weak” firms — companies that have a weak Singaporean Core and show poor commitment to fair consideration in hiring and developing Singaporeans.

He added: “Being placed on the watch list means that the MOM will scrutinise their EP applications more closely. They will be asked to provide additional details, such as the number of Singaporeans who applied and were interviewed for the posts, and whether their existing Singaporean employees have been considered.”

The Fair Consideration Framework requires businesses to first advertise job openings for 14 days on the Workforce Development Agency’s Jobs Bank, before turning to EP holders. Failure to do so will result in the company’s EP privileges being taken away. The framework applies to companies with more than 25 workers and which are seeking foreign professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) for jobs paying up to S$12,000.

Mr Lim said the MOM would get the firms on the watch list, which include both small and medium enterprises and multinational companies, to do more to train, develop and upgrade their local PMEs. In the event of a shortage of qualified Singaporeans in specific areas, the ministry would encourage firms to transfer the expertise from their foreign PMEs to local staff, he added.