Guidelines on fair employment and responsible recruitment practices have been revised, following Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s call at the 2011 National Day Rally, so that Singaporeans are given fair opportunities in recruitment and career development.
Enhanced Guidelines
Under the new section, the tripartite partners acknowledged in the guidelines that Singaporeans aspire to have good jobs and prospects, while businesses want and need to compete and grow well in a globalised economy. The guidelines affirm that an open and diverse employment market is key to achieving both these outcomes.
The guidelines also affirmed that Singaporeans must remain the core of the Singapore workforce, while recognising that foreigners play a valuable role in complementing the local workforce and help fill gaps in skills and expertise.
The guidelines indicate the reasonable efforts that employers should make to attract and consider Singaporeans for job positions on merit, and to train and develop the potential and careers of Singaporeans. Examples of such efforts include:
i) Ensuring that jobs advertised must be open to Singaporeans;
ii) Working with educational institutions, career centres and recruitment agencies to attract and recruit Singaporeans;
iii) Developing skills and expertise of Singaporean employees for higher level jobs.
These guidelines will be incorporated into a new section on “Hiring and Developing a Singapore Core” in the existing Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices. TAFEP and MOM will make reference to this set of guidelines in promoting fair and responsible employment practices.
Amended Guidelines
A consequential amendment to the section job advertisements in the existing Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices will also now indicate that “Words or phrases that exclude Singaporeans or indicate preference for non-Singaporeans should not be used in job advertisements.”
