In order to provide proactive strategies related to the hiring of foreign workers in Singapore in the context of the increasing labor market restrictions, here are recommended steps companies can take in advance of immigration sponsorship to meet government requirements going forward:

Overview:

The Ministry of Manpower of Singapore (MOM) has recently strengthened its Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) for greater deterrence against workplace discrimination. This has resulted in the MOM raising the administrative penalties across the board for all discrimination cases. These updates are intended to ensure that more jobs are advertised to locals as part of a fair hiring process, and there is no pre-selection of a foreign candidate.

Exemption:

Employers are not required to advertise on MyCareersFuture if any of the following applies:

• Your company has fewer than 10 employees.
• The fixed monthly salary for the vacancy is SGD 20,000 and above.
• The vacancy is short-term, i.e. not more than 1 month.
• The vacancy is to be filled by an intra-corporate transferee as defined by the World Trade Organization’s General Agreement on Trade in Services: (1) The employee must have worked for the company outside Singapore for at least 1 year before being posted to the branch, affiliate or subsidiary in Singapore; (2) The employee must be a manager, or executive, or specialist.

We recommend that employers use reasonable channels to source for suitable candidates and to keep records on job advertising and recruitment efforts even if the position is exempted from the advertising requirement.  If the position is exempt from mandatory advertising, there is no required minimum duration of running the ad, or specific format (for example, the job vacancy can be posted through the company’s internal talent portal). But the advertisement must contain all information related to the position, such as salary, duties, responsibilities, qualifications, etc.

Recruitment when exceptions above do not apply:

The Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) requires employers to advertise their job vacancies on MyCareersFuture for at least 28 days before a new Employment Pass application is submitted.

• The advertisement should clearly explain the job requirements and salary offered to attract the right candidates. MOM will reject any EP applications linked to advertisements that are discriminatory or do not represent the job accurately.

• If you change any advertisement details (e.g. job title, salary or number of vacancies), you must keep it open for at least another 28 days before you can submit the EP application.

• Job advertisements that have expired or have closed for more than 3 months cannot be used for EP applications. You must advertise the vacancy again to reach out to other job seekers.

• If you are using an advertisement for multiple EP applications, the total number of EP applications cannot exceed the number of vacancies in the advertisement.

• There is no specific requirement on how the employer must review the candidates. The employer can apply its own standard hiring procedures on reviewing candidates. It is not necessary to interview all or any candidates if they are unsuitable based on review of resumes.

• The employer must document the recruitment process.  This would typically include profile of candidates who were interviewed and reason(s) why they are not suitable.

Please contact WR for more tailored guidance.