https://www.quora.com/profile/Huang-Kun-20
Why does Singapore require so much “foreign talent” when Singaporeans are so educated and smart?
Why does Singapore keep “importing” foreigners to do their work when they can get locals to do it?
I have read some answers here blaming the inadequacy of local graduates as the reason for employers to go outside of Singapore to hire "foreign talents" instead.
One said, "The majority of foreign talent who manage to come to Singapore are self-selected (cream of the crop); that’s why they’re here."
"I hardly saw any locals in senior positions. The only reason for this was their quality," he added.
Another person, a HR consultant, said, "I was surprised by the poor quality of local graduates. Their cookie cutter answers, weak language skills, inability to offer Creative answers, general lack of confidence was in complete contrast to their impressive resumes with high scores in standardized tests."
Well, I would like to give a different perspective so as to give Quora readers here a more balanced view of the employment situation in Singapore.
Hiring-own-kind
It's no secret that the locals in Singapore have been griping about the unfair discriminatory employment practices exhibited by some foreign employers, ever since the Singapore government allows more foreign workers into Singapore from mid-2000s. In particular, some foreign employers prefer to "hire their own kind" only from their own home countries.
There were also situations where Singaporeans were retrenched or made to resign in the name of down-sizing, only to realise later that their positions were given to foreigners, who were coincidentally from the same countries as the business heads.
Such discriminatory practices against the locals got so bad especially in the financial industry that the Deputy Prime Minister and Manpower Minister had to arrange for meetings with senior management of a number of foreign financial institutions in Singapore, telling them to hire more locals.
This was revealed in Parliament by the Manpower Minister in Mar 2013:
Committee of Supply Speech 4 by Mr Tan ChuanJin Acting Minister for Manpower 14 March 2013 545 PM Parliament
The Manpower Minister reported, "Some were quite candid – they honestly said they recognized that they had not paid enough attention to how hiring was done and that unhealthy enclaves had been formed."
One CEO told the minister that it was simply more convenient for him to mount an overseas recruitment exercise in a particular country to get all the skilled manpower he needs, than to invest in a detailed and time-consuming recruitment search for potential candidates within the local job market.
The minister also gave examples of companies posting discriminatory job advertisements wanting to only "recruit people of a certain nationality".
"I personally went through the advertisement, and could see no reason why the company had to recruit someone of that particular nationality. This is completely unacceptable. We informed the company to remove the advertisement immediately," he revealed.
Fair Consideration Framework
Later in Sep 2013, the Manpower Ministry introduced the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) so as to prevent discriminatory hiring practices against the locals.
Under the framework, the ministry will look out for companies which may have a disproportionately low concentration of Singaporeans at the executive level compared to others in their industry or have had repeated complaints of nationality-based or other discriminatory HR practices.
These companies will be warned at first but if they continue to remain unresponsive towards improving their recruitment practices, their applications for employing foreign staff will be curtailed by the ministry.
Firms to Consider Singaporeans Fairly for Jobs
Situation not improving
Unfortunately, after 4 years of implementing the FCF, the situation did not improve. Locals continue to be discriminated by companies on and off.
For example, earlier this year (2017) in Apr, it was reported by the Indian media that Indian IT companies operating in Singapore have all been given notices that the employment visa applications for their Indian staff have been curtailed under the Fair Consideration Framework.
"This (visa problem) has been lingering for a while but since early-2016, visas are down to a trickle. All Indian companies have received communication on fair consideration, which basically means hiring local people," Nasscom, the trade association of Indian IT industry, told the Indian media.
Nasscom also complained to its government, prompting the Indian government to put on hold the review of the trade agreement between India and Singapore. The Indian government accuses the Singapore government of violating the trade pact signed between the 2 countries.
"They (Singapore government) are doing it despite the CECA (trade agreement) clearly stating that there will be no ENT ("economic needs test") or quotas on agreed services. This is a violation of the agreement," said an Indian official.
Singapore blocks visas for Indian IT professionals - Times of India
Clearly, the Indian news report indirectly confirms that discrimination against local hires is real in Singapore.
Why does Singapore require so much “foreign talent” when Singaporeans are so educated and smart?
Why does Singapore keep “importing” foreigners to do their work when they can get locals to do it?
I have read some answers here blaming the inadequacy of local graduates as the reason for employers to go outside of Singapore to hire "foreign talents" instead.
One said, "The majority of foreign talent who manage to come to Singapore are self-selected (cream of the crop); that’s why they’re here."
"I hardly saw any locals in senior positions. The only reason for this was their quality," he added.
Another person, a HR consultant, said, "I was surprised by the poor quality of local graduates. Their cookie cutter answers, weak language skills, inability to offer Creative answers, general lack of confidence was in complete contrast to their impressive resumes with high scores in standardized tests."
Well, I would like to give a different perspective so as to give Quora readers here a more balanced view of the employment situation in Singapore.
Hiring-own-kind
It's no secret that the locals in Singapore have been griping about the unfair discriminatory employment practices exhibited by some foreign employers, ever since the Singapore government allows more foreign workers into Singapore from mid-2000s. In particular, some foreign employers prefer to "hire their own kind" only from their own home countries.
There were also situations where Singaporeans were retrenched or made to resign in the name of down-sizing, only to realise later that their positions were given to foreigners, who were coincidentally from the same countries as the business heads.
Such discriminatory practices against the locals got so bad especially in the financial industry that the Deputy Prime Minister and Manpower Minister had to arrange for meetings with senior management of a number of foreign financial institutions in Singapore, telling them to hire more locals.
This was revealed in Parliament by the Manpower Minister in Mar 2013:
Committee of Supply Speech 4 by Mr Tan ChuanJin Acting Minister for Manpower 14 March 2013 545 PM Parliament
The Manpower Minister reported, "Some were quite candid – they honestly said they recognized that they had not paid enough attention to how hiring was done and that unhealthy enclaves had been formed."
One CEO told the minister that it was simply more convenient for him to mount an overseas recruitment exercise in a particular country to get all the skilled manpower he needs, than to invest in a detailed and time-consuming recruitment search for potential candidates within the local job market.
The minister also gave examples of companies posting discriminatory job advertisements wanting to only "recruit people of a certain nationality".
"I personally went through the advertisement, and could see no reason why the company had to recruit someone of that particular nationality. This is completely unacceptable. We informed the company to remove the advertisement immediately," he revealed.
Fair Consideration Framework
Later in Sep 2013, the Manpower Ministry introduced the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) so as to prevent discriminatory hiring practices against the locals.
Under the framework, the ministry will look out for companies which may have a disproportionately low concentration of Singaporeans at the executive level compared to others in their industry or have had repeated complaints of nationality-based or other discriminatory HR practices.
These companies will be warned at first but if they continue to remain unresponsive towards improving their recruitment practices, their applications for employing foreign staff will be curtailed by the ministry.
Firms to Consider Singaporeans Fairly for Jobs
Situation not improving
Unfortunately, after 4 years of implementing the FCF, the situation did not improve. Locals continue to be discriminated by companies on and off.
For example, earlier this year (2017) in Apr, it was reported by the Indian media that Indian IT companies operating in Singapore have all been given notices that the employment visa applications for their Indian staff have been curtailed under the Fair Consideration Framework.
"This (visa problem) has been lingering for a while but since early-2016, visas are down to a trickle. All Indian companies have received communication on fair consideration, which basically means hiring local people," Nasscom, the trade association of Indian IT industry, told the Indian media.
Nasscom also complained to its government, prompting the Indian government to put on hold the review of the trade agreement between India and Singapore. The Indian government accuses the Singapore government of violating the trade pact signed between the 2 countries.
"They (Singapore government) are doing it despite the CECA (trade agreement) clearly stating that there will be no ENT ("economic needs test") or quotas on agreed services. This is a violation of the agreement," said an Indian official.
Singapore blocks visas for Indian IT professionals - Times of India
Clearly, the Indian news report indirectly confirms that discrimination against local hires is real in Singapore.
