Following the latest wave of legislative changes to Singapore’s employment landscape, Randstad has launched the Workpocket 2016 Legislative Update.
The inaugural edition of the Workpocket was launched as a free resource in August 2015 as a HR guide aimed to help navigate the Singaporean employment landscape.
This latest interim update looks at the latest legislative changes impacting the employment landscape which sees the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC), government and private enterprises working together to meet Singapore’s social and economic needs in critical areas.
Jaya Dass, Country Director, Randstad Singapore noted, “The 2016 Legislative Update comes in response to several changes to the legal and regulatory landscape and helps organisations ensure that they stay up to date with the latest legislation that impacts their business regardless of their size or industry.”
Highlights from the Workpocket 2016 Legislative Update include:
Shaping a modern and flexible workforce
Raising the participation rate of Singapore’s resident labour force has been a key focus of employment law reforms. Strong gains gave already been made, with workforce participation up 2% since 2012, mostly deriving from more women and mature workers remaining or returning to employment.
The latest changes are aimed at sustaining this upward trend and include initiatives such as:
- Encouraging employment of mature workers by pushing back retirement age to 67
- Increasing the rates for the Special Employment Credit which encourages employers to employ mature workers
- Increasing CPF contribution rates to encourage employees aged above 50 years to stay longer in the workforce
Enhancing wages and employee protection
The Workpocket Legislative Update offers an overview on the following measures and regulatory changes:
- Wider adoption of the progressive wage model
- Accountability measures with itemised payslips, key employment terms and detailed employment records
- Amendment of the Industrial Relations Act to provide greater union representation for PMEs for collective bargaining, unfair dismissal and disputes
Balancing foreign expertise and maintaining core Singaporean workforce
New initiatives have been launched to ensure that Singaporeans are fairly considered for job opportunities and support SMEs facing talent shortages through flexibility with their foreign worker quotas. Topics covered in the Legislative Update include:
- Updates to the Fair Consideration Framework
- New scheme to allow SMEs hiring flexibility to become more productive, innovative and manpower-lean
- Launch of the Lean Enterprise Development (LED) scheme to help SMEs who have potential to be scaled up to create transformational changes in their industry
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
