SINGAPORE — The Government has identified more than 50 firms that have a disproportionately low share of Singaporean professionals, managers and executives compared to others in their industry and that may have scope to improve their hiring and career development practices, said Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin.

Giving an update to Parliament on the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) yesterday during his ministry’s Committee of Supply debate, Mr Tan said discussions have started between the Government and these firms.

“Firms with shortcomings in their HR practices will be required to implement an action plan to address these shortcomings,” he said.

“In some cases, the issue may not be a problem with their HR practices per se, but rather, a gap in the skills that are available in the local workforce.”

The minister did not name any firms, nor specify which industries they were from.

He said the Government will work closely with the industry and explore ways to support more manpower-lean business models or develop a local pipeline of workers with the relevant skills and experience.

The FCF was announced by the Manpower Ministry last September following complaints about nationality-based discrimination in hiring, especially in the banking, services and IT sectors.

From August, employers have to consider Singaporeans fairly before hiring Employment Pass holders by advertising job vacancies on a new jobs bank — administered by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) — for at least 14 days.

Mr Tan said the jobs bank will be launched in the middle of this year and the WDA is currently engaging groups of employers and potential job-seekers to test the beta version of the bank.

He said: “As with all new platforms, I don’t think it will be perfect … and users will take some time to become familiar with it, but we will continue to refine and improve the jobs bank as we gain more experience and feedback from Singaporeans and employers.”