Company Openly Asks for Foreign Candidates & Got Contacted by the Authorities Soon After

During General Election this year, politicians took to the podium to one-up each other in televised live debates.

In one of those sessions, Progress Singapore Party (PSP) revealed the number of local PMETs who are out of a job to be 100,000.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) later refuted with a much smaller total of 39,000, as stated in the Report on Labour Force in Singapore 2019.

However, PSP representatives remained unconvinced. Judging by the ensuing heated discussions surrounding the topic, so did a large portion of Singaporeans.

The recruitment of foreigners to fill PMET positions since became a source of controversy.

Company Openly States Preference for Foreigners

On Aug 26, a recruitment post was put up on national job portal MyCareersFuture in search of a business development manager.

It openly states – among other requirements – that the company prefers European or westerners.

The job posting caught the attention of the public and began circulating on social media. Subsequently, Workforce Singapore (WSG) was alerted to the job post for suspicion of discriminatory hiring.

WSG Took Actions

Three weeks later (Sep 11), WSG followed up on the case with an update on their Facebook.

They had reportedly contacted the employer in question, who amended the job post at 2.25pm, on 9 Sep 2020.

The Tripartite Alliance for Fair & Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) will continue to look into the company’s employment practices.

A Stern Warning Issued

The statutory board strongly advised employers hiring for Singapore-based jobs to align their recruitment with the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP).

They wrote: “Under the TGFEP, it is discriminatory to exclude Singaporeans or indicate a preference for non-Singaporeans during the recruitment process, including in job advertisements placed on job portals.”

In emphasis of the issue’s seriousness, WSG states that they will not hesitate to refer any breaches to MOM.

The ministry will take appropriate actions against the offending employer.

WSG Encourages Public to Report

WSG extends their gratitude to the public for making the issues known via their feedback portal.

They encourage individuals to report discriminatory hiring practices, including job posts, through TAFEP’s website.

Additionally, they apologized for the delay in their response as they experience “a surge in calls and emails due to increased interest in our programmes and services”.

WSG promises to review its screening process. They also plan to implement new tools on the portal for ease of reporting irregularities to TAFEP for investigation.

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