Dear The Real Singapore,
I'm writing this article to address the grievances of fellow Singaporeans who are against foreigners stealing our jobs. There seems to be a negative stigma against business owners who choose to hire foreigner's instead of Singaporeans. This article is meant as an encouragement to fellow business owners to tell you that you're not alone, your fellow citizen business owners are facing the same issues, and also, to educate those non-business owners who are very quick to judge an employer harshly for hiring foreigners. Lastly, it's also to inform fellow Singaporeans that the hiring of foreigners actually creates more jobs for Singaporeans in the long-term. Without further ado, here are the list of problems we are facing:
1) SMEs, especially F&B, have a need for a large pool of low-skilled workers. It's really difficult to find Singaporeans who are willing to take up those jobs. A common joke I make with my fellow business friends is the '3 cycle' rule. If you're hiring Singaporeans, be prepared to re-hire 3 times to finally get a stable employee that actually stays and gets the job done. And take note, it could take anywhere from 2 weeks to a month just to find a new candidate There was a period of 2 months where I was desperate to the point that I was offering high salary packages to Singaporeans. None were willing to take it up. My girlfriend's business has been searching for 4 months for a Singaporean to work. I've helped her post on JobsDB, Gumtree(with the paid benefits), erected 'we are hiring' posters, and even asked within my own social circle. Nothing. It's a simple job, just need to stand at the counter, serve the customers, and prepare to collect your pay at the end of the week. In case you're wondering, it's nothing to do with our job positions being 'tough', they are standard jobs like sales assistant, packer, machine operator, delivery drivers, etc. Meanwhile, our SMS inboxes and e-mails are constantly flooded by foreigners wanting to take up the job.
2) Locals tend to have poorer work attitude. This is not because locals are inferior to foreigners. Foreigners who are willing to leave their families to work abroad definitely have a thirst for survival and will ensure they not only get the job, but stay employed, at all costs. Admittedly, from my experience locals seem to be smarter and better able to think on their feet, but these people will never pick a low-skilled job. Therefore, we're left with locals such as the following:
-Turning up for work irregularly. Eg. Taking last minute leave due to relatives death or hospitalization. 90% of these are not genuine cases.There was once an employee said his mum had passed away, I was struck with sadness upon hearing that and excused him from work. A few months later, he asked for an off-day to celebrate Mother's Day with his mum. Oops? There was also a day, where I had three new employees coming in. All three SMSed me to say that a relative has been hospitalized and they must visit them.. 2 hours after their reporting timing.
-Coming to work in day One, and then going MIA. We business owners are experienced enough to see from their faces on the first day at work. We all know who will last long and who wouldn't. So when a fresh-faced employee says 'I like this job, see you tomorrow', we say 'alright'. And sure enough, that's the last we ever see of them.
-Another eg. Falling sick once every week. As an employer, I would sometimes check their 'last seen' on whatsapp to get a rough idea of what time they slept because the reporting timing is 530 in the morning. If I see that some of them slept late, I would give them a courtesy call in the morning. Yes, I would go to that extent to protect my business. When they fail to pick up their calls, I know I have a problem. I'd roll up my sleeves and actually do their jobs for them, or get someone else to. Sure enough, 2 hours after their reporting timing, they would SMS me to tell me they are sick.
-Last eg. Intimidation. Fellow business owner's, here's a high five for you if you've been through this. When it comes to SME, every job position is very important. If one person is giving problems, that's okay. If two or three, you've got a problem. I've talked to my suppliers-cum-friends who also have this problem whereby locals who keep asking for pay increases otherwise they would leave the company. These employees know it's very hard for us to find another local in such a short period of time. They effectively got us by the balls.
The above 3 examples are just a slice of the cake. But I won't list any more. The bottom line is, foreign workers hardly give these problems. And I wish to reiterate, locals are not worse than foreigners. It's just that those good locals won't ever want to work in low-skilled jobs like these. There is just no prospect for them. You work in a bank for 2 years, after which you may promote to premier or jump to a different bank with as much as a $1,000 pay increase. A data analyst can promote to being a project manager after 2 years. The list goes on. But if you're a delivery driver, or a packer, or a cook, there's no guarantee that if you leave your current company, your pay will increase or even remain the same! Foreigner's on the other hand, are super hardworking because firstly, they traveled all the way here. Secondly, they know they can easily be replaced. Thirdly, we provide lodging, so they hardly have any social life distractions except to just work and sleep. Most of them retire to their rooms after work instead of going out to watch movies, etc.
3) Foreigner's are cheaper. Does that make us cheapskates? Rentals are sky-high, and because all supplies are imported, raw materials are very expensive too. Let me give a sweeping statement that if we don't hire foreigners, we will not survive. I speak on behalf of 99% of local-owned SMEs. Business owners, here another high-five because I know that when a foreigner applies to work in your company, your response is hardly ever 'Sorry we would like a local for this job'. Instead, it's 'sorry, we just don't have quota'. It's because of this reason that many SMEs commit the illegal act of hiring phantom workers. It's illegal, yes. Can we blame them? If they don't, these business owners will lose their business, go bankrupt, and at the same time cause the 10 to 20 employees in the company to lose their jobs too. None of their families will get fed. And let me clear the air, even hiring foreigners are getting more and more expensive with the ever increasing levies. A recent rule prohibits shophouses from being run as central kitchens, effectively causing most F&B companies to go into a serious heart attack. This is because aside from shop houses, central kitchens cost as much as $13,000 to $20,000 a month, opposed to a shop house which is around $5000 to $12,000 a month.
A note of encouragement to fellow Singaporeans. If you ask most business owners, many would readily admit that they would rather give managerial roles to Singaporeans. I feel the same too. We want foreigners doing the low-skill jobs because it's a win-win situation. They are paid much more over here compared to their home country, and we receive their hard work and dedication. But when our business grows and we need more supervisors and managers, we prefer locals. So dear Singaporeans, please give us your support. We have not forgotten you, but we need to survive for the time being.
I, and many other business-owners, believe that there has been a terrible mismatch of skills in the local workforce. We have a highly educated population, consisting of people that deserve to be employed in white-collar positions. But these positions, are often given to foreigners. The reason is because many of these companies are owned by foreigners. And the reason why this is so is because the government brought them in, and the reason why they brought them in is because they feel our country needs their business ideas and technology. The government believes there will be trickle-down benefits to locals if these foreign companies are to survive. However, you need experience to find a job, and to get a job, you need experience. It's a 'chicken-egg' situation. On the other hand, you have struggling SME's desperate to hire locals, but we can't find enough of them, and sometimes we can't afford them, and often those that we do find are sub-quality who frequently 'fall sick'. To make matters worse, hiring foreigners is difficult because of the quota system and the ever-increasing levies.
My humble suggestion to the government is to maintain such a quota system for high-skilled jobs and large companies. Singaporeans deserve to work in large companies with prestigious job roles because that's what we studied so hard for. Let us humble SMEs hire as many foreigners as we want. When we get bigger, we'll follow suit and hire locals to manage our business, so you can go ahead and impose whatever quota rules you want. Alternatively, allow us to hire foreigners if we are able to prove that we've been searching for locals for 2 months without any results.
This is just my input to share with you the problems we business-owners face. We're locals just like you, trying to make a living. I hope that before criticizing, maybe take some time to understand what we have to go through, and you'll realize, the fault doesn't really lie with us. It's every locals dream that local SME's become huge corporations because that would be a great opportunity for all Singaporeans. Thank You.
Local Business Owner
TRS contributor