What is the Fair Consideration Framework

The Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) is part of the Government’s overall effort to strengthen the Singaporean core in the workforce. It sets out clear expectations for companies to consider Singaporeans fairly for job opportunities.

The FCF applies to all companies in Singapore. All companies must comply with theTripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices and have fair employment practices that are open, merit-based and non-discriminatory.

Requirement for Jobs Bank advertising

Before you submit Employment Pass (EP) applications, you must advertise the job vacancies on the Jobs Bank administered by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA).

This includes applications for EP holders who are changing employers.

The advertisement must meet the following requirements:

• Be open to Singaporeans.
• Comply with the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices.
• Run for at least 14 calendar days before you apply for the EP.

General principles for job ads

When posting a job advertisement, you or your employment agency should:

• Avoid stating a preference for nationality, age, race, religion, language, gender, marital status or family responsibilities.
• Comply with the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices.

Who is exempted

For practical reasons, you are exempted from the Jobs Bank advertising requirement in any of these cases:

• Your company has 25 or fewer employees.
• The job position is paying a fixed monthly salary of $12,000 and above.
• The job is to be filled by an intra-corporate transferee (ICTs). Under the World Trade Organisation’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (WTO GATS), ICTs refer to those holding senior positions in the organisation or have an advanced level of expertise.
• The job is necessary for short-term contingencies (i.e. period of employment in Singapore for not more than one month).

All companies are strongly encouraged to advertise their job vacancies on the Jobs Bank for access to a larger pool of Singaporean candidates, even if those jobs are eligible for advertising exemption. All companies are expected to have fair employment practices that are open, merit-based and non-discriminatory, even if the job vacancies are exempted from advertising.

Note: Any company found to have nationality-based or other discriminatory HR practices will face scrutiny from MOM and have their work pass privileges curtailed.

Scrutiny on hiring practices

MOM and other Government agencies will identify and engage companies that have scope to improve their hiring and career development practices. These companies may include those that have a disproportionately low concentration of Singaporeans at the professional, executive and managerial level compared to others in its industry, or had repeated complaints of nationality-based or other discriminatory HR practices.

If the company is under scrutiny, it needs to provide additional information to MOM, including:

• Organisation charts with nationality information.
• Recruitment processes.
• Staff grievance handling procedures.
• Framework for staff progression.
• Plans to develop local internal staff to take on higher roles or reduce reliance on EP holders.

From 1 October 2015, MOM will also require the company to submit more information when applying for an EP, to assess whether Singaporeans were considered fairly. This includes information on:

• The number of applications submitted by Singaporeans,
• Whether Singaporeans were interviewed for the vacancy,
• The firm’s current share of Singaporeans in PME positions.

Unresponsive companies may have their work pass privileges curtailed.

Find out more

You can approach TAFEP for more information, including about the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices.

TAFEP provides resources and consultation on fair and progressive employment practices, and also conducts training sessions.

You can also refer to these resources to find out more about the framework:

• Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) Questions and Answers
• Administrative Details under the Fair Consideration Framework