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Are Our GLCs Employing Foreigners First?
September 27th, 2010 | Author: Your Correspondent
<---http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/09/27/are-our-glcs-employing-foreigners-first/
Lately, I have read widely from many socio-political blogs that our government-linked companies (GLCs) are hiring foreigners first instead of considering our local workers for such positions. So far, there is no official rebut on this allegation from any government officer yet.
I do not have any statistics to verify the number of foreigners currently working in our GLCs as such information is still unavailable from the Ministry of Manpower website. As our GLCs contribute at least 60% of the total GDP in Singapore, the manpower strength they employ must be massive. Big GLC boys such as Singtel, DBS, Keppel Group, ST Group among others must have at least 50,000 workers on its payroll if not more – making them the second largest employer in Singapore. The government’s civil service remains the largest employer of mostly local Singaporeans at the job front.
So what is the reasonable ratio for GLCs when it comes to hiring foreign workers especially for jobs that most regular Singaporeans can perform? Employers now has no quota when it comes to hiring foreign professionals as the Employer Pass (EP) work permit allows a company to employ as many foreigners as he wants so long he is paid a salary of at least $2500 a month. This EP work permit has actually deter many locals from being hired as employers continue to favour younger more skilful foreigners for the job. One out of three workers in Singapore now is a foreigner.
GLCs Not Only for Rank and File Jobs
To be fair, GLCs have all along employ foreigners to run their rank and file operation as local Singaporeans have shun away from such dirty low-end jobs. For example, the Keppel Shipyard is manned by at least 70% foreign workers as the work can be back breaking and hazardous. Such work is limited by the S-Pass quota system which only allows employers to employ a certain number of foreigners when they have locals on their payroll.
Nevertheless, the shipyard has being grooming some foreigners to be engineers and foremen as they rose from the ranks. Such jobs surely can be performed by our older PMETs who may be struggling to find employment after being retrenched during the previous economic crisis.
No wonder our PMETs felt displaced and some have even resorted to emigrating to escape the discrimination right at their own door step. Sadly, many who have left, have no choice but to venture abroad to look for work as they remained jobless for many years in their own country. It is also ironical that their skill sets and experience are more sought after abroad than at home. The only sad part is that they have to live apart from their family members whereas our foreign talents can come and work here bringing their family members along.
The foreign talent policy has been evolving for some time with a stronger focus and reiteration by then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in his 1997, 1998 and 2001 National Day rally speeches. He said that the government did not restrict foreigners to recruitment only for top rung prestigious positions but welcomed middle-level management, skilled workers and technicians too (Business Times, 25 August 1997 and Straits Times, 31 August 1997).
The push then was for a first-ever cosmopolitan city that is attractive to both foreigners and the local citizens. There would be equal opportunities for foreigners wanting to make Singapore their home. There was also this ambitious obsession by then-PM Goh Chok Tong in 1991 to achieve a Swiss-standard lifestyle for all Singaporeans within a decade.
GLCs Openly Advertising for Vacancies Abroad
Nevertheless, what irked many netizens is that GLCs have now resorted to blatantly advertising their positions in foreign newspapers without giving due consideration to our local citizens . A government-linked company, Keppel Offshore and Marine, for example, recruited Malaysians to work as managers and engineers, prompting a blogger to ask: “We produce over 1,000 engineers yearly, is there still a shortage?” It is unsure whether Keppel has advertised for such vacancies in our local papers before turning to foreign sources to staff its positions.
One can only speculate that cost could be the chief factor here when GLCs decide to employ foreigners first over their local counterparts. GLCs are increasing under fire for not being productive and profitable enough when many manage just to survive especially during the previous financial crisis. We all know too well that there is not one local GLC that has managed to transform itself into a giant conglomerate like South Korea’s Samsung or Taiwan’s Acer.
GLCs are now run solely on a commercial basis, with a focus on bottom-line performance. They have not been used for social or employment-generation purposes. They compete with private firms and multinational companies and, in some cases, with each other. Many of them have been partially privatized and are listed on the local stock exchange (source: www.allbusiness.com).
To reiterate this point of GLCs trying to keep its bottom line in check, a friend working in DBS told me that staff of IT division was retrenched with a golden handshake few years ago and they were subsequently replaced with Indian programmers at the cost of $2500 a head – just nice for the coveted Employment Pass permit.
It is estimated that DBS has hired at least a few hundred Indian programmers by now and many would have become PRs or even citizens.
One can go down to DBS Tampines and witnessed the high number of Indian executives in ties working there. There is even a café below the tower that sells authentic Indian food catering to this foreign group of workers.
Local IT specialists have also find it increasingly difficult to find work especially in GLCs as such high-tech work is being dominated by foreigners. Local graduates have also shun from taking IT courses at the local universities as they know that they can’t really compete with foreign programmers on salary alone.
To make matters worse, foreigners sometimes are hire to handle recruitment at the GLCs and they will not hesitate to employ their own countrymen over our locals. We all knew too well by now of the infamous Bread Talk incident whereby the foreign manager preferred to hire his own kind rather than local Singaporeans.
A transitioning.org reader, who was recently hired, also told me that he is the only local working in his department. Everyone in his department: administrative staff, engineers, purchasers and even his boss are all foreigners. The company he works for is a GLC.
Conclusion
Naturally, Singaporeans will feel particularly sored if a GLC is hiring foreigners first without giving local Singaporeans the opportunity to be considered for such jobs. It is akin to your family members opening the home for a stranger to stay with them but denying you the opportunity when you make that request.
The GLC is seen as owned by the country and Singaporeans will feel that they have a stake in the company. Most Singaporeans have shares in Singtel and will expect such corporations to hire our local workers instead of turning to foreigners first to fill vacancies.
A comment made by smc_6767, in one of the Asiaone forum article, best summarised the feelings felt by most Singaporeans as they face extreme challenges getting re-employment even in their own state-sponsored GLCs:
The place I work in get their staffs directly from foreign countries and don’t even bother to advertize in the newspapers so fellow Singaporeans can have a shot at the job vacancies.
Even my friend who is a HR is doing the same thing for her company. They look for possible candidates overseas instead of trying to find them here.
It upsets me that even the government companies are recruiting directly from overseas.
PAP boasts that more jobs are created but unemployment rates also rise. Maybe this is why. I feel sad for my fellow Singaporeans.”
Unless the government is able to ensure that there is better protection for jobs meant for our locals, my fear is that there will be continued animosity against foreign workers who are seen thriving in our midst.
Gilbert Goh
September 27th, 2010 | Author: Your Correspondent
<---http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/09/27/are-our-glcs-employing-foreigners-first/
Lately, I have read widely from many socio-political blogs that our government-linked companies (GLCs) are hiring foreigners first instead of considering our local workers for such positions. So far, there is no official rebut on this allegation from any government officer yet.
I do not have any statistics to verify the number of foreigners currently working in our GLCs as such information is still unavailable from the Ministry of Manpower website. As our GLCs contribute at least 60% of the total GDP in Singapore, the manpower strength they employ must be massive. Big GLC boys such as Singtel, DBS, Keppel Group, ST Group among others must have at least 50,000 workers on its payroll if not more – making them the second largest employer in Singapore. The government’s civil service remains the largest employer of mostly local Singaporeans at the job front.
So what is the reasonable ratio for GLCs when it comes to hiring foreign workers especially for jobs that most regular Singaporeans can perform? Employers now has no quota when it comes to hiring foreign professionals as the Employer Pass (EP) work permit allows a company to employ as many foreigners as he wants so long he is paid a salary of at least $2500 a month. This EP work permit has actually deter many locals from being hired as employers continue to favour younger more skilful foreigners for the job. One out of three workers in Singapore now is a foreigner.
GLCs Not Only for Rank and File Jobs
To be fair, GLCs have all along employ foreigners to run their rank and file operation as local Singaporeans have shun away from such dirty low-end jobs. For example, the Keppel Shipyard is manned by at least 70% foreign workers as the work can be back breaking and hazardous. Such work is limited by the S-Pass quota system which only allows employers to employ a certain number of foreigners when they have locals on their payroll.
Nevertheless, the shipyard has being grooming some foreigners to be engineers and foremen as they rose from the ranks. Such jobs surely can be performed by our older PMETs who may be struggling to find employment after being retrenched during the previous economic crisis.
No wonder our PMETs felt displaced and some have even resorted to emigrating to escape the discrimination right at their own door step. Sadly, many who have left, have no choice but to venture abroad to look for work as they remained jobless for many years in their own country. It is also ironical that their skill sets and experience are more sought after abroad than at home. The only sad part is that they have to live apart from their family members whereas our foreign talents can come and work here bringing their family members along.
The foreign talent policy has been evolving for some time with a stronger focus and reiteration by then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in his 1997, 1998 and 2001 National Day rally speeches. He said that the government did not restrict foreigners to recruitment only for top rung prestigious positions but welcomed middle-level management, skilled workers and technicians too (Business Times, 25 August 1997 and Straits Times, 31 August 1997).
The push then was for a first-ever cosmopolitan city that is attractive to both foreigners and the local citizens. There would be equal opportunities for foreigners wanting to make Singapore their home. There was also this ambitious obsession by then-PM Goh Chok Tong in 1991 to achieve a Swiss-standard lifestyle for all Singaporeans within a decade.
GLCs Openly Advertising for Vacancies Abroad
Nevertheless, what irked many netizens is that GLCs have now resorted to blatantly advertising their positions in foreign newspapers without giving due consideration to our local citizens . A government-linked company, Keppel Offshore and Marine, for example, recruited Malaysians to work as managers and engineers, prompting a blogger to ask: “We produce over 1,000 engineers yearly, is there still a shortage?” It is unsure whether Keppel has advertised for such vacancies in our local papers before turning to foreign sources to staff its positions.
One can only speculate that cost could be the chief factor here when GLCs decide to employ foreigners first over their local counterparts. GLCs are increasing under fire for not being productive and profitable enough when many manage just to survive especially during the previous financial crisis. We all know too well that there is not one local GLC that has managed to transform itself into a giant conglomerate like South Korea’s Samsung or Taiwan’s Acer.
GLCs are now run solely on a commercial basis, with a focus on bottom-line performance. They have not been used for social or employment-generation purposes. They compete with private firms and multinational companies and, in some cases, with each other. Many of them have been partially privatized and are listed on the local stock exchange (source: www.allbusiness.com).
To reiterate this point of GLCs trying to keep its bottom line in check, a friend working in DBS told me that staff of IT division was retrenched with a golden handshake few years ago and they were subsequently replaced with Indian programmers at the cost of $2500 a head – just nice for the coveted Employment Pass permit.
It is estimated that DBS has hired at least a few hundred Indian programmers by now and many would have become PRs or even citizens.
One can go down to DBS Tampines and witnessed the high number of Indian executives in ties working there. There is even a café below the tower that sells authentic Indian food catering to this foreign group of workers.
Local IT specialists have also find it increasingly difficult to find work especially in GLCs as such high-tech work is being dominated by foreigners. Local graduates have also shun from taking IT courses at the local universities as they know that they can’t really compete with foreign programmers on salary alone.
To make matters worse, foreigners sometimes are hire to handle recruitment at the GLCs and they will not hesitate to employ their own countrymen over our locals. We all knew too well by now of the infamous Bread Talk incident whereby the foreign manager preferred to hire his own kind rather than local Singaporeans.
A transitioning.org reader, who was recently hired, also told me that he is the only local working in his department. Everyone in his department: administrative staff, engineers, purchasers and even his boss are all foreigners. The company he works for is a GLC.
Conclusion
Naturally, Singaporeans will feel particularly sored if a GLC is hiring foreigners first without giving local Singaporeans the opportunity to be considered for such jobs. It is akin to your family members opening the home for a stranger to stay with them but denying you the opportunity when you make that request.
The GLC is seen as owned by the country and Singaporeans will feel that they have a stake in the company. Most Singaporeans have shares in Singtel and will expect such corporations to hire our local workers instead of turning to foreigners first to fill vacancies.
A comment made by smc_6767, in one of the Asiaone forum article, best summarised the feelings felt by most Singaporeans as they face extreme challenges getting re-employment even in their own state-sponsored GLCs:
The place I work in get their staffs directly from foreign countries and don’t even bother to advertize in the newspapers so fellow Singaporeans can have a shot at the job vacancies.
Even my friend who is a HR is doing the same thing for her company. They look for possible candidates overseas instead of trying to find them here.
It upsets me that even the government companies are recruiting directly from overseas.
PAP boasts that more jobs are created but unemployment rates also rise. Maybe this is why. I feel sad for my fellow Singaporeans.”
Unless the government is able to ensure that there is better protection for jobs meant for our locals, my fear is that there will be continued animosity against foreign workers who are seen thriving in our midst.
Gilbert Goh
