The new Fair Consideration Framework has evolved based on feedback from the ‘Our SG Conversation’ national dialogue sessions with the Singapore population comprising working adults and the PME group in question.

Many Singaporeans felt that they had not been considered fairly for some of these PME jobs and were losing out to competition from foreign talent.

These new employment measures have been devised to assure Singaporeans that their voices have been heard, and something is being done to ensure that they are given fair consideration to employment opportunities.

As an employer, I feel that the posting of advertisements in the new national jobs bank is not too big a hassle to comply with. While it may indeed increase the investment in manpower costs as additional administrative work is required to go through this new recruitment mechanism, it also gives employers the opportunity to find some very good candidates through this targeted portal. Overall, I think this is a win for both the candidates and employers.

On the flipside, if an employer is adamant and biased towards hiring a certain foreign nationality, then there is no guarantee that the system will work 100 percent. The new measures are, after all, barriers to deter the employers but not foolproof. If the employer has a fixed intention of not hiring a Singaporean, it may just go through the motions of advertising in the job bank for the stipulated timeframe, and then hire a foreigner anyway.

For now, I personally feel that the 14-day notice is a very reasonable timeframe. The overall system will require further monitoring to determine if it achieves its objective of helping Singaporean PMEs find job opportunities while at the same time assisting employers to find good talents within the Singapore pool.

Source: Singapore Business Review, 16 October 2013