Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower announced that it will impose new licence conditions on all employment agencies when they undertake recruitment work in order to strengthen fair hiring practices.
Taking effect from 1 October 2020, the new licence conditions will require the nearly 3,900 employment agencies licensed by the Ministry to comply with the fair recruitment requirements set out in the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices when recruiting on behalf of their clients.
Employment agencies must not in any way abet discriminatory hiring by their clients, for example, by withholding applications on the basis of age, race, nationality, gender and disability. Agencies must also turn down requests or instructions from clients to carry out discriminatory hiring. Employment agencies that fail to comply with licence conditions may be issued with demerit points, have their licence suspended or revoked, or face prosecution.
The Ministry also announced that it will partner with progressive employment agencies to help Singaporeans secure jobs and traineeships under the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package. It also will introduce a new Human Capital Partnership Mark for employment agencies to recognise progressive agencies that have ‘demonstrated strong commitment to fair recruitment practices and helped employers to strengthen their Singaporean core.’