Foreign Manpower Requests Approved for Companies Not Meeting Minimum Salary or Quota Requirements

15 Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong asked the Minister for Manpower in each of the past five years (a) how many companies have had their foreign manpower requests approved despite not meeting the minimum salary or quota requirements; (b) what criteria are used to determine when such exceptions are to be made; and (c) how does the Ministry ensure that such companies do not gain an unfair competitive advantage over other companies who have not been granted similar exceptions.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Our foreign manpower policy is designed to support a vibrant and innovative economy. Conditions for work pass applications are consistently applied. However, where economic agencies have assessed the need to provide additional support to meet specific objectives, we also need to exercise flexibility.

In deciding whether an enterprise merits such flexibility, the Ministry of Manpower relies on the assessment of economic agencies like the Economic Development Board, EnterpriseSG and the Infocomm Media Development Authority. Examples of cases where flexibility can be considered include the following.

(a) Under the Lean Enterprise Development Scheme, an enterprise implements a productivity enhancing project that would ultimately make it more manpower-lean. The employer has to hire temporary staff so that it can properly introduce a new system while being able to meet its operational needs using the existing system and manpower. However, during the transition, the additional staff would cause it to exceed the prevailing Dependency Ratio Ceiling.

(b) Under the Capability Transfer Programme, an enterprise needs the help of foreign specialists to support the implementation of improved technologies or processes and build up the local team. However, while these specialists have the required expertise, they may not meet all the conditions of work pass applications, for example, salary requirements.

(c) Early-stage startups usually structure their pay packages as a combination of salary and non-cash remuneration, such as stock options, for both local and foreign hires. The salary component alone may not be sufficient to meet the prevailing Employment Pass salary criteria. But the presence of these startups adds to our economic dynamism.

In the past five years, an average of 400 enterprises were provided with such enterprise-level flexibility at any one time, constituting 0.5% of all employers of work pass holders. To ensure a level playing field, the same considerations are consistently applied to any enterprise that is able to provide similar justifications.