The Background Economy of Singapore
Regulations in Hiring Employees in Singapore
Brief Summary
Currency: Singapore Dollar (SGD)
Capital: Singapore
Official Languages: English, Malay, Tamil, Mandarin Chinese
The Background Economy of Singapore
Singapore is one of the most wealthiest countries in the world. The most wealthiest country in Southeast Asia with the GDP per capita of US$ 65,233 in 2018. The country has successfully managed its low unemployment rate by opening up its economic sector. Thus, as a result, Singapore has one of the world’s largest sea ports because of its strategic location for shipping lines.
Source: Banana Republic images / Shutterstock.com
Singapore’s economic sector is dominated with manufacture and service industries because of its lack of natural resources. Not like other countries in Southeast Asia region. Singapore has a lot of major industries like refined petroleum, electronics or computers, chemicals. Having the busiest seaports in the region also means it offers advance transport and logistics engineering. They contributes up to 25% of the world’s annual GDP in 2018.
Coming up close to its manufacturing industry is its financial service industry. Which has steadily growing thanks to Singapore’s stable political and pro-business environment. The country is home to over 200 banks. It is also favoured as a regional hub for many global financial services organizations to facilitate their exchange of knowledge, processes, technology, and skills between global, regional, and domestic markets.
There are also some emerging sectors of the industry that has contribute significantly to Singapore’s economy. Some of them are content development, aerospace engineering, healthcare, sustainable energy, and medical technology.
Regulations in Hiring Employees in Singapore
Remote working becoming more and more common in the current society’s cultures. Which is why it is important to understand the different laws of each country as it could also avoid any legal battles in the future. This is the complete version of Singapore’s employment laws. However, we have summarise some their employment laws to make hiring in Singapore easier. Here are some basic summary of employment laws in Singapore:
- Singapore have their own law for remote workers to ensure that employees will be treated well by creating a supportive and conducive work environment under the Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs).
- All employees who are working under a contract of service with you that earn SG$ 2,600 – SG$ 4,500 per month are covered under the Employment Acts. In different circumstances, if your employees are a domestic worker, a seafarer, or a civil servant.
- There is no minimum salary or bonus payment for your workers. However, the salary must be paid at least once a month within 7 days after the end of every salary period. Secondly, any overtime salary should also be paid within 14 days of the initial salary period.
- While it is not stated on the Employment Acts, it is a common practice to ask your employees to have 3-6 months of probation period
- Regarding the employment termination, you either paid the salary to your employees. Or, your employees could terminate the contract by giving a notice to you. It is all comes back to your contract on what has been agree upon.
Paid Leave
- Your employees are entitled to have a:
- Sick leave
- Annual leave
- Maternity leave
- Incentives & bonuses
- Relocation assistance; healthcare benefits, retirement fund contributions, housing allowance, allowance for children’s education, etc.
- As a common practice in Singapore, your employees are given an annual leave around 14 days per year, pretty above the minimum required under the Singapore Employment Act.
Overtime Regulation
It is not allowed to assign your workers for more than 12 hours a day. However, under the following circumstances you can ask your employees to work more than 12 hours a day:
- An interruption of work that was impossible to foresee.
- An accident or threat of accident.
- Work that is essential to the life of the community, national defence or security.
- Urgent work to be done to machinery or plant.
Office Hours
There is a common work culture in Singapore for the hours of works.
| If your employee work | Your contractual hours of work are |
| 5 days or less a week | Up to 9 hours per day or 44 hours a week |
| More than 5 days a week | Up to 8 hours a day or 44 hours a week |
Sick Leave
Sick leave for your employees are outline in the Employment Acts as the followings.
| If your employees has worked | Days of sick leave per year |
| At least 6 months | 14 days and 60 days of hospitalization leave. |
| 5 to 6 months | 11 days and 45 days of hospitalization leave |
| 4 to 5 months | 8 days and 30 days of hospitalization leave |
| 3 to 4 months | 5 days and 15 days of hospitalization leave |
*Your employees must provide medical certificate from an approved hospital.
If you are intrigued in hiring services from Singapore. There are a lot of job posting sites on the internet and Singapore has a lot of job boards selections you can choose. Ranging from mainstream to specialized people, or from local to international. Either you’re a local company or a multinational company wanting to hire people in Singapore. Or, for your Singapore-based branch company.
Here are some best job platforms you can use to find talents in Singapore.
Job Boards in Singapore
1. 9cv9
9cv9 is a new established technology company from Vietnam that provide a career placement platform. The company’s aim is to empower and enhance their users’ employability for future career development by connecting applicants to their potential recruiter. The focus of their applicants are mostly on fresh graduates, junior job-seeker, and internship and externship for students. The platform even giving our free career advice for those who asked. The company provide a collaborative work environment in which employers strive to provide the best possible experience for job searchers. Currently, the company supports job postings from Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
2. Monster
Monster has been established for more than 20 years. The company is a global online job search engine for job seekers and companies looking for top talent. It is one of the most used job search platform in Singapore because a lot of recruitment agencies use this platform. Offering various job opportunities with millions of registered users. The platform also gives you easier access to post new jobs position on their platform. Monster provides an alerts for you when new applicants submit for new positions on your Job Ads. Not to mention, your applications that you get from Monster applicants are easy for you to segment out for faster sorting and selections.
3. MyCareersFuture
Previously known as Job Bank, MyCareersFuture is a job board platform ran by the Singapore government.
It is a job search portal that attempts to connect Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents with appropriate employment based on their abilities and competencies. Workforce Singapore collaborated with Government Technology Agency to create the platform.
Providing jobseekers a platform so they can become more aware of their capabilities. So, it can matches them to relevant opportunities based on their present skills and competences. It also identifies jobs that qualify for government assistance through WSG’s Adapt and Grow Initiative.
Jobseekers can also use the Career Toolkit on MyCareersFuture to find career-related contents. For example, career insights and career assistance feature on the website to aid them with their career planning.
4. InternSG
InternSG is a Singapore-based job board that connects students and graduates from all around the world with corporations for a chance at internship or full-time career opportunities. It’s perfect for you who are wishing to hire recent grads or students for internships. The objective of this company is to connect learning students with corporate entities through relevant internship assignments, resulting in exceptional synergy and empowerment for both parties. Another plus is that all the important information your applicant needed like the company profile, salary, and job period are all listed clearly. The only downside is that since the service is free, the portal does not screen listings for credibility or validity of your company.
5. JobsDB
JobsDB is one of Singapore’s most well-known job-search websites, with a massive database of job openings in a variety of industries. From giant banks to start-ups to SMEs, many types of businesses post job openings here. The company have an easy to navigate website to get your Job Ad out in a minute. Your applicants can search for jobs by using job titles or keywords. They even have a feature to specify the area where your office is located to provide convenience for those who applied to your company. Which is very useful considering you can avoid those jobs that will have you waking up at 5am and spending hours on public transport.
6. Glassdoor
Glassdoor was created to enhance workplace transparency. It now has a growing database of company reviews, CEO approval ratings, pay reports, interview reviews and questions, benefits reviews, office images, and more.
Unlike other employment sites, these informations are supplied by the employees of the company themselves. Which consequently know the company the best. As a result, job seekers who use Glassdoor have done their homework and are more educated about the jobs and firms they apply to and consider on joining. This is why Glassdoor is trusted by thousands of businesses of all sizes and sectors to help them find and hire great candidates at scale who stay longer.
7. Indeed Singapore
Indeed Singapore is part of Indeed, a global search engine and aggregator. Employers can post positions for free or pay per click to sponsor job advertising. Indeed also has a large resume database that might assist you in finding qualified candidates. The company links millions of people with new prospects every day.
Indeed is completely free for job seekers, and there is no need to create an account. On the other hand, signing up for an account will enable you to receive email notifications when new applicants are applied, see their resume to simplify the recruitment process, and communicate with potential employers.
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