By Monica Kotwani, Channel NewsAsia, 28 Feb 2013
The Association for Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) has said any framework that legislates SMEs to hire Singaporeans will result in increased costs and red tape.
ASME's president, Chan Chong Beng, made the statement on the sidelines of a Fair Employment Practices seminar on Thursday.
But Mr Chan acknowledged that there is an urgent need among SMEs to restructure work processes in order to survive, in light of the government's tightening of restrictions on foreign labour.
For many small and medium enterprises, Mr Chan said further tightening of the foreign labour inflow has been a "bitter pill to swallow".
"Companies that are not doing well today and are still looking for workers will really have to look into the future of their business, or whether they should re-look their productivity, their work process," he said.
"And you know the government is not likely to U-turn on foreign workers and in fact it is tightening," he added.
He said that in restructuring their work practices, SMEs can bust the misconception that productivity increase is only dependent on the use of technology and machines.
However, Mr Chan said legislating a fair employment policy is not the way to go.
He was commenting on possible new measures to ensure fair hiring practices here which could include requiring companies to advertise job vacancies to locals, before they can apply for a foreign work pass.
Instead, Mr Chan said there should be guidelines to instil best employment practices among SMEs.
He said: "Good guidelines like what TAFEP (Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices) is doing right now - teaching SMEs and putting this into the mind of SMEs.
"But as I said earlier, as a Singaporean employer, I would definitely and most of my SME members would want to employ Singaporeans. Getting foreigners is the last thing in their head."
For stakeholders, the need to adopt fair employment practices has become more urgent.
Ang Yuit, managing director of The Adventus Consultants, said: "For many of us, the tightening of the workforce is a reality, and try as we might, many of us are dealing with that reality already, and being Singaporeans, we do know that things are a little crowded, so for many of us, we're dealing with that."
Yet a survey conducted by TAFEP found that 64 per cent of some 550 SMEs surveyed do not place importance on adopting fair employment practices despite the fact that many have shown some diversity in their workplace.
The number of organisations signing the alliance's Pledge of Fair Employment Practices has increased, from about 600 in 2007 to more than 2,100 today.
The survey found that of those SMEs that highlighted barriers to diversity and inclusion in the workplace, about 35 per cent of them thought it was due to a lack of knowledge and guidance.
The toolkit features interactive games, as well as an assessment tool that determines how open one's workplace is to fair practices.
Don't rush into new framework on fair employment practices, say stakeholders
By Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia, 27 Feb 2013
Business groups say the government should not rush into any new framework to promote a Singaporean-first HR policy.
They were responding to recent comments by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, during the Budget announcement, on possible new measures to ensure fair hiring practices in Singapore.
No one knows for sure what the new framework will be like.
But an idea was floated by the Finance Minister who said the Manpower Ministry has been studying work pass policies in various developed countries.
Some countries, for example, require companies to advertise job vacancies to locals before they can apply for a foreign work pass.
The Manpower Ministry says it will consult various stakeholders on this new framework.
Mr Heng Chee How, Co-Chair of the Tripartitie Alliance for Fair Employment, said it's an important signal by the government.
"I think the most straightforward read of that would be to say that it is an open direct commitment on the part of the government that it would do whatever is necessary through policy to ensure that the Singaporean core is safeguarded and strengthened, and that would include the area of manpower recruitment," he said.
Mr Chan Chong Beng, president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprise, cautioned against rushing into any new restrictions.
"You may not get the best people that you want. The second thing is it will slow down the company's expansion if they need workers urgently and of course, thirdly... the cost of recruitment will go up," he said.
The Singapore National Employers Federation has said that employers are prepared to make reasonable efforts to hire and develop Singaporeans.
But they do not support calls to comply with additional control measures such as tests to fill a vacancy with a Singaporean before employment passes can be approved.
It said there are already constraints with work permits and 'S' passes for semi-skilled workers.
Subjecting employers to additional administrative hurdles before work passes can be approved, it said, will lengthen the time for hiring, add more costs and new rigidities and be unnecessarily onerous on employers, especially the SMEs.
This will undermine Singapore's labour market flexibility which has been a key competitive advantage in attracting and increasing investments that creates jobs for Singaporeans.
Mr Mark Hall, vice president of recruitment company Kelly Services, said MNCs too may face problems.
Mr Hall said: "Multi-national companies come here to enjoy multiple benefits and that could include being a safe regional hub, a great business location, but in addition for a company to thrive, they require talent, and that talent may come in different forms and at different levels.
"In addition, companies as part of their global mobility in attracting talent, like to transfer people from other countries into Singapore to enhance their attractiveness to employees.
"If their employee cannot get a job in Singapore because of a talent restriction, that may indeed have a negative impact on that company's attraction on their target employees as well.
"So companies may decide that if the restrictions are too tough, we may need to choose another location in which our business can thrive better."
Guidelines for fair employment practices under the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP) were last revised in 2011 to include a chapter on "Hiring and Developing a Singaporean Core".
Among the guidelines is that employers should ensure jobs advertised must be open to Singaporeans.
Whatever the new framework, Mr Heng said meritocracy should be at the core of hiring policies.
Mr Heng said: "Any new framework, over and above TAFEP guidelines that can strengthen the need for employers to look seriously at Singaporean job seekers before they look elsewhere, I think, would be helpful to Singaporean job seekers who have the competence and the aptitude for those jobs."
Mr Chan suggested that the Wage Credit Scheme, aimed at helping companies pay more to low-wage workers here, should be given time to take effect, before any additional measures are introduced to ensure fair employment practices.
"If you put too much of framework, by then, it would be the employers who are complaining, not the employees who are complaining. So it will swing the other way round. So why don't we just let the guidelines and wage credit work out?" he asked.
And Mr Chan said most employers would know that it makes sense to hire Singaporeans first.
He added: "As an employer, I should know who is the best person I should recruit besides salaries. Now, salaries for foreigners are no longer cheap. I would obviously employ somebody who knows Singapore, who understand the culture, who can straightaway get into society.
"I don't have to worry about whether to give him time to settle down. I think employers all have this same feeling. It is only when we can't find locals, that's when we resort to foreign workers."
The authorities say whenever they receive a complaint of foreigners hiring only their countrymen, or companies just hiring certain nationalities, they will look into those cases, and employers will then have to comply with the guidelines.
On Thursday, some executive council members from the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises will sign a pledge to signal their commitment to fair employment practices.
During the Budget statement, Mr Tharman had said that any new framework "must enable companies to continue to meet their competitive needs so that they can provide Singaporean professionals ample opportunities to do well in their careers". He added that this framework is however "not a matter to be rushed".
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