Greater scrutiny of “Double Weak” firms by MOM
13 August 2015
Last
month, I announced several measures to give stronger
employment support to our local PMEs (Professionals, Managers and Executives).
Our purpose is to build a stronger core of Singaporean PMEs in all major
sectors of the economy. We believe this will benefit our people with better job
and career opportunities. It will also benefit firms here with a more
sustainable pool of talent as they restructure for future growth.
One key measure is to enhance the Fair Consideration
Framework (FCF). It was introduced last year to ensure that Singaporeans
are considered fairly for job openings before firms apply to employ foreign
PMEs. MOM is committed to scrutinise the applications
for Employment Pass (EP) by what I call
“Double Weak” firms: weak in Singaporean Core and weak in commitment to fair
consideration in hiring and developing Singaporeans.
Today, I would like to give an update that my MOM
colleagues have engaged 150 firms over the past year and identified 38 of them
for closer scrutiny. We have also identified about 100 more firms for further
engagement. They are the outliers in their respective
industries such as Admin & Support,
Construction, Infocomm, Finance & Insurance, Professional
Services, Transport & Storage and Wholesale Trade.
Being
placed on the watchlist means that
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.
MOM will also
engage these firms to step up their efforts in the training,
development and upgrading of local PMEs. In the event that we
have a shortage of qualified Singaporeans in some specific
areas, we will encourage them to transfer know-how from the foreign PMEs to
their Singaporean staff so that over time, more Singaporeans will be qualified
to take on these opportunities and challenges. Should there be "Double
Weak" firms that are unresponsive or uncooperative, they will
have their EP privileges curtailed.
Human capital is our most precious resource. I believe a majority
of the "Double Weak" firms will respond constructively to our call to
strengthen their Singaporean Core. I also believe that many of our
local PMEs are willing to up-skill and re-skill, and
are open to try out some of these jobs and careers
we are creating for them.
Working together, we can help companies to grow their
businesses and Singaporeans to grow their careers, in a win-win partnership.
Minister for Manpower
Lim Swee Say
