The Government has sent a strong signal to employers that Singapore will not stand for foreign managers who hire and promote their own kind, at the expense of qualified local candidates.
Minister of State for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin recently announced new guidelines taking aim at such discriminatory practices. These include job advertisements that indicate foreigners are preferred, and preferential hiring of foreigners over suitable Singaporeans.
Why S'poreans cry foul: Three case studies
Case Study 1: Foreigners hiring fellow countrymen
A Singaporean known only as Ms Tan complained to the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (Tafep) that a foreign manager at her IT firm preferred to hire his own countrymen rather than qualified Singaporeans. Singaporeans thus became a minority in her company, she said.
The company told Tafep that it had difficulties in hiring Singaporeans with relevant skills. But after Tafep reviewed its hiring processes, the management accepted that some of its departments had seen an increased representation from a particular country in recent years.
The company agreed to monitor its hiring patterns more closely and also to put in place fair recruitment procedures, such as involving persons of more than one nationality in the selection process. It also made a commitment to hire and develop Singaporeans as the core of its workforce.
Case Study 2: Discriminatory practices by an employment agency
An employment agency specialising in foreign recruitment told its clients by e-mail that foreigners were more hard-working, less choosy and job-hop less than Singaporeans.
After Tafep stepped in, the agency corrected its e-mail and pledged not to do so again.
It counselled and warned the manager involved before making a public apology. The agency also agreed to send its staff for the relevant training.
Alerted to the case, the Manpower Ministry held its own investigation before issuing a written warning to the agency for acting in a manner detrimental to public interest.
Case Study 3: Over-reliance on foreigners
Minister of State for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin shared an anecdote last month of a chief executive who was inundated by complaints from his Singaporean workers that the company was employing too many foreigners from certain countries.
The CEO was surprised as he was not aware of these practices. He said many of his employees left for another company which did not hire too many foreigners.
The CEO also shared his company's workforce figures, which 'didn't make very good reading' for a company based here, said Mr Tan.
However, do you think that our government is doing a good job so far in preventing discriminatory hiring against Singaporeans? Is their measures effective?