Nationality shouldn’t be a factor

Date : 11 February 2009

Fair Employment

TODAY - Nationality shouldn’t be a factor

11 February 2009

Look at performance, not whether employee is a foreigner, when retrenching, employers told:

SINGAPOREAN employers have been urged to do their utmost to save Singaporean jobs in this downturn, which could mean letting foreign workers go — not renewing their contracts or laying them off. So how does this square with fair employment practices, with tripartite partners yesterday calling on employers to base their decisions on measurables?

According to Mr Koh Juan Kiat, executive director of Singapore National Employers Federation (Snef), the two messages are not in contradiction.

If at all companies need to retrench, he said, "it should be based on a worker’s performance, contribution to the company and the business requirement at that point in time," and not nationality, gender or age.

He was speaking at a panel discussion on "Managing Manpower Fairly and Responsibly During the Economic Downturn" at the Conference on FairEmployment Practices yesterday.

While the populist view is that foreigners should be the first to go, simply axing them is not the answer, said Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices’ co-chairperson Bob Tan. Not when "some of them are critical to the business and if the business collapse, more Singaporean jobs will be lost" — a far worse predicament to avoid, he pointed out.

Still, with businesses preoccupied with cash flow and other issues, fair employment practices might be set aside — a fact not lost on the Acting Minister for Manpower Gan Kim Yong who urged employers not to lose sight of the long-term goal of making fair employment an integral part of corporate culture.

"We need to press ahead with efforts to shape the behaviour and mindsets of employers to hire on merit. Those who put in place enlightened hiring practices now will be more attractive to talent and job-seekers when the economy recovers and the job market tightens," Mr Gan said, giving the keynote speech at the conference.

Indeed, he added, "especially during a downturn, promoting fair employment provides an important base upon which mutual trust can be strengthened".

Discriminatory Job ADS down 19.7%

The number of discriminatory job advertisements has fallen to 1.7 per cent last year, from 19.7 per cent in 2006 when the Tripartite Guidelines on Non-Discriminatory Job Advertisements were last updated.

Meanwhile, efforts to get workplaces to become more inclusive have resulted in 1,000 employers signing the Employers’ Pledge of Fair Employment Practices.

Going forward, to help employers practise fair employment, a handbook that highlights the best practices of 25 leading organisations in Singapore, as well as an e-learning tool, have been launched.

Employers and individuals can also continue to seek advice from the Tripartite Centre for Fair Employment which was set up in 2007.

For instance, revealed Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong, last year an executive who was initially offered a job, was discouraged from starting work when her supervisor discovered that she was pregnant. The centre convinced the management of the importance of fair employment, and the latter made good their job offer.

(With thanks to TODAYonline.com)

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Please click here to view speech by Mr Gan Kim Yong, Acting Minister for Manpower at the Conference on Fair Employment Practices.