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Hiring rules: Light touch or heavy hand, or both?

MEASURING SUCCESS

Patrick Tay Teck Guan: Dependency ratios for professionals, managers and executives (PMEs), which the National Trades Union Congress proposed two years ago, are quite sector-specific vis-a-vis ... the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF), which casts the net across all sectors for compliance. We will wait to see how successful it is, for example, measured by the number of complaints we receive and the number of local PMEs getting jobs in these sectors. We will need the mechanisms to kick in because the jobs bank will be a great tool for government agencies to detect the skills gaps.

LEGISLATION OR SOFT NUDGES?

Sanjay Krishnan: Soft nudges are not enough because employers have the resources to look for loopholes and make it seem like they are doing what they can. We need legislation to make employers, especially companies, listen. This would send the message that the Government is taking our views seriously and prioritising Singaporeans over others.

Ho Meng Kit: Discriminatory human resource practices are not prevalent, with 300-odd complaints made last year to the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices. So why stigmatise the bulk of employers because of a group of companies? Closer scrutiny of those who are not compliant is a better approach, and for those who comply, (such scrutiny) signals to them a process for the right treatment of Singaporeans.

Patrick: We are also looking at other pieces of labour legislation because, yes, we have been pro-business, but we have come to a point where the workforce demographic has changed, with more PMEs coming on board and growing exponentially. There is a need to protect and advance their interests. The FCF is a light touch to the majority, but a heavy hand on the recalcitrant.

Thomas Tyrone Beiron Tay: But companies must start looking at the ethics they are going to use and reinforce over and above what the FCF is trying to introduce. It is really about what sort of ethics exists and whether there are self-checks and transparency.

David Soh Poh Huat: Yes, I think employers must change their mindset and employ as well as treasure older workers. Nowadays, many older workers are told to leave at an earlier age.

Patrick: With the jobs bank, PME jobs will be advertised nationally and will provide transparency, such that both young and mature PMEs have access to it. While there is only a 14-day advertising requirement, HR practitioners and hirers should be mindful to keep good records ... in selecting candidates because if there are still complaints, the heavy hand may come into play.

Prashant Ryan Joseph: It looks like we are a pampered society if a Singaporean will not stand up for his right to or make the effort to look for a job, and depends on the Government to do this. We are so used to being protected by the Government, by legislation, that we might become complacent.

Ang Yuit: The Singapore context exists within a global context. If we try to be an overprotected island ... our small and medium enterprises would be unable to compete, our people would have a distorted understanding of reality and it would be bad for us in the long run.

IMPACT OF NS

Kelly Koh Ben-Lin: It is important to educate employers. Whether a Singaporean employer or foreign employer, if one is operating here, one has to face this issue that some employees are National Servicemen, who must serve their NS obligations. We could have legislation, but whether that is properly enforced or circumvented is another question altogether.

Siddharth Jain: Half my workforce is Singaporean; their NS can at times be inconvenient. But would I give up my Singaporean staff because of that? Absolutely not. I would hire someone because he has a rare skill set. That he has to take a couple of weeks off each year has no impact on his value.

Patrick Tay helms NTUC’s PME Unit and its Legal Services Department. Ho Meng Kit is Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Business Federation. Ang Yuit sits on the Executive Council of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.

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