SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) can have sturdy governance measures towards makes an attempt to recreation a factors system for Employment Passes (EP) that can be launched in 2023, stated Manpower Minister Tan See Leng in Parliament on Monday (Mar 7).
“It is not our intention, but we will not hesitate to take employers to task if firms are found to have falsely declared information to get the application approved,” stated Dr Tan.
He was responding to clarifications from Members of Parliament on the brand new Complementarity Assessment Framework or COMPASS, which is to come back into impact for brand spanking new EP candidates in September 2023.
Mr Yip Hon Weng (PAP-Yio Chu Kang) had requested the minister whether or not the transparency of the COMPASS framework would permit employers to “game the new system”.
The new framework requires companies hiring foreigners on EPs to chalk up no less than 40 factors on varied standards, together with the candidate’s wage, {qualifications}, the agency’s nationality range and its assist for native employment.
The software may also rating bonus factors if the candidate fills a job on an inventory of occupations which can be wanting employees.
Dr Tan stated that the ministry already has “strong governance measures” to protect towards “dishonest attempts” to recreation the system and can strengthen its enforcement course of.
“Today we already have processes to enforce against fraud for criteria considered in our current framework such as salary and qualifications,” he stated.
“Similarly, we will also develop processes around additional criteria such as the shortage occupation list.”
Firms will be unable to “get away” with altering the job title to assert bonus factors, stated the Manpower Minister.
“There will be some firms who do not meet this bar. These include firms that make a habit out of hiring EP holders not due to the high calibre of skills, but based on the convenience of old networks in an old boys kind of club, without heed of our calls to develop our workforce,” stated Dr Tan.
“COMPASS ensures that these firms cannot simply carry on with their status quo and they must fundamentally relook at their hiring practices.”
Mr Yip and Mr Liang Eng Hwa (PAP-Bukit Panjang) additionally requested if the brand new framework might end in extra EP holders getting into Singapore. Dr Tan, in his response, stated that COMPASS is a further stage within the software course of, on prime of the qualifying wage, and can “in no way” loosen the present EP framework.
To get an EP, a candidate has to first meet a minimal qualifying wage of S$4,500, or for the monetary sector, S$5,000. This is ready to go up by S$500 this September.
“We are trying to make this framework a very highly differentiated system, a set of criteria which allow us to titrate, to be able to right-size, right-site and continuously uplift our level of competitiveness,” stated Dr Tan.
“We are also cognisant of the fact that with the multiple disruptions … the accelerated change and transformation happening around the world, I think it behoves us to now move into a system where every EP holder coming in … will have to pull his weight in working, complementing our local (workers), at the same time supporting and driving our economy.”
S$20,000 SALARY CEILING
Mr Desmond Choo (PAP-Tampines) requested the Manpower Minister why COMPASS solely applies to employees with month-to-month salaries beneath S$20,000.
Dr Tan stated that MOM took a “practical approach” on this, as EP holders at that pay vary are usually senior administration or specialists on the prime of their fields.
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“They have gone through even more selective hiring processes to be appointed in the company, since these roles typically require very specific capabilities or skill sets,” he stated.
“Regardless of these exemptions, firms are expected to provide to practise fair hiring.”
Like all the qualifying salaries, the S$20,000 exemption bar can be reviewed occasionally, he added.
Mr Patrick Tay (PAP-Pioneer) wished to know what constitutes a “top-tier institution” below the “qualifications” criterion and if the qualification must be related to the job.
Dr Tan stated that the record of the top-tier universities can be accessible on the MOM web site, and they don’t simply embrace universities, but additionally technical institutes, polytechnics and a few vocational institutes.
Mr Gerald Giam (WP-Aljunied) wished to know if the minister expects the foreign-local expertise combine to stay largely unchanged transferring ahead, along with different clarifications.
Dr Tan stated that COMPASS has considered many months of knowledge analytics within the hiring patterns of companies primarily based on range, instructional qualification and likewise the focus of PMETs throughout the agency to give you the framework.
“The fact that the vast majority of the companies actually pass when we put them through this as a COMPASS framework, the vast majority would pass is actually a testimony to the fact that many companies the past many years have actually been very progressive, very responsive and very nimble to their needs of our economy,” he added.
Dr Tan additionally stated that the nationality range criterion would assist to diversify the chance of being overly depending on any supply of expertise – one thing that was highlighted as a danger issue in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic as borders closed.
Leader of the Opposition and Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh requested if, going ahead, the analysis standards for EP renewals may embrace whether or not there had been an actual switch of expertise from international hires to native employees. This will handle a “long-term bugbear”, he stated.
Dr Tan stated this could possibly be thought of sooner or later, however that Singapore should additionally be sure that firms who need spend money on Singapore do not need the impression that the goalposts are all the time transferring.
Mr Sharael Taha (PAP-Pasir Ris Punggol) was involved that these further necessities might create a bottleneck within the recruitment course of.
But Dr Tan stated that COMPASS is not going to make the appliance course of extra cumbersome or lengthier, as a lot of the knowledge required is already “collected upstream” by MOM.
“I have also shared that there will be a rubric, a framework that will be published on our website. Companies, before they even apply, they can actually score the the potential candidate on the rubric and know, before they even apply … what is the chance of this EP being approved,” he stated.
Source : channelnewsasia.com
