SBF hopes policymakers would pause the raising of foreign worker levy rates for a few years, remove age-differentiated S Pass salaries, and expand interim measures to allow for more foreign worker housing. — Reuters
SINGAPORE: To meet pent-up demand from the country’s post-pandemic reopening, the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) is hoping the government will ease foreign worker measures to provide “immediate” relief for businesses starved of labour, especially small and medium enterprises.
This comes as more than half of front-line workers here say their workload has piled up, contributing to almost a third of them thinking about quitting several times a month.
These figures from experience management firm Qualtrics were collected from 194 respondents in Singapore from July to September 2022.
Responding to queries on the Qualtrics data, SBF executive director for advocacy and policy Albert Tsui said: “This is a critical time for businesses to be agile in capturing business opportunities and staying ahead of global competition, without being held back by cost and manpower pressures.”
Data from the federation, which represents 28,000 companies and trade chambers, shows that 79% of firms say wage costs are their biggest cost challenge, in contrast to 52% citing logistics and 45%, utilities, Tsui added.
The government uses a quota and levy system to regulate the size of the foreign workforce in Singapore.
SBF hopes policymakers would pause the raising of foreign worker levy rates for a few years, remove age-differentiated S Pass salaries, and expand interim measures to allow for more foreign worker housing.
This comes as minimal qualifying salaries and levy for some categories of work passes will be increased from September.
Levy for a basic-skilled worker in the service sector could range from US$450 to US$800 (RM1,982 to RM3,523) a month, with the range progressing with firms that employ a higher ratio of foreigners – up to 35% of its workforce.
Minimum qualifying salaries for S Pass foreign employees, at US$3,000 (RM13,210) a month, rise progressively from age 23, up to US$5,500 (RM24,219) at age 45 and above.
Meanwhile, rent rates for some workers’ dormitories have doubled as the construction sector picks up, as extraordinary measures such as the letting out of unoccupied public flats and allowing foreign workers to be housed on-site were discontinued after the pandemic.
Tsui said that while businesses want to answer the government’s calls to digitalise and hire locals, “in practice, there are still job functions that Singaporeans are less inclined to take on”.
“We hope that policymakers can look into alleviating immediate cost pressures faced by small and medium enterprises by easing some wage-related regulations,” he said.
Qualtrics data shows that the 57% of Singapore customer-facing workers who reported increased workload is the highest compared with five other countries it tracked – France, Germany, Britain, Australia and Japan.
Bruce Temkin, its head of the XM Institute, said workers from teams that are understaffed are twice as likely (46%) to say they mull over quitting multiple times a month.
“Front-line workers are already feeling the pressure. And this is likely to increase as the demands on them and need for front-line talent increases,” he said.
Rising demand
Adding to the squeeze from rising demand, foreign workers have simply not returned in the numbers they were before the pandemic, said Choe Peng Sum, chief executive of The Pan Pacific Hotels Group.
The accommodation and food and beverage sectors collectively employed 266,000 workers as of December last year, 19,400 more than 2021. Even then, there are 9,100 vacancies in the sectors.
“Our key labour markets are still tackling post-pandemic, economic and geopolitical challenges,” he said.
“It will take some time for these countries to recover to what they were pre-pandemic.”
To get around the constraints, the hotel group with 1,900 employees has integrated security with concierge services, centralised engineering, procurement, marketing and finance services, and let employees take initiatives to provide lateral services beyond their roles.
Reflecting a trend of streamlined hospitality services worldwide, it also removed turndown service, and started offering guests digital reservations and mobile check-ins, as well as automated work orders.
The group, which will open its 347-room Pan Pacific Orchard property in June, started recruiting during the pandemic.
It also tapped the recent five-year work pass scheme that allows foreigners earning at least US$30,000 (RM132,105) a month to start, operate and work for multiple companies.
Margaret Heng, executive director of the Singapore Hotel Association, said the hotel industry had taken measures to mitigate staff crunch with job redesign, adoption of technology and training in 2018, before the pandemic.
“Although hotels are still short of manpower, the industry is managing well,” she said.
However, she added, foreign employees do bring skill sets and expertise that complement what the local workforce has.
Jansen Gwee, founder of recruitment portal OppTy, gave the example of a hotel client that could not staff a quarter of its teams such as housekeeping and food and beverages, despite raising salary offers by as much as 25%. — The Straits Times/ANN
