With more retrenchments expected in the coming months, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is reviewing its guidelines for employers on how to handle excess manpower.
This includes informing MOM well before a company sends out termination letters so that the Workforce Development Agency can find alternative jobs for affected employees.
Employers can also send workers for NTUC-subsidised skills training courses to better prepare retrenched staff for transition to a new job.
The new guidelines will include more details about flexible wage systems and a shorter work week or temporary layoff schemes that companies can adopt to trim costs, rather than lay off workers.
Employers will also be encouraged to work with their workers' unions to solicit support for any retrenchment plans.
A revised version is expected in the next few weeks, said Acting Minister for Manpower Gan Kim Yong, on the sidelines of a Chinese Development Assistance Council event yesterday.
He said the new guidelines will 'send a clear message to employers on the need to leverage on the tripartite framework' between the Government, employers and workers' unions, so that any retrenchment can be conducted in a 'responsible manner'.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and NTUC chief Lim
Swee Say, who was at the event, agreed with Mr Gan that retrenchment should be conducted in a 'socially responsible' manner.
On Friday, he chastised the way DBS Bank axed 900 of its staff without first consulting its union.
Still, Mr Lim emphasised that workers must understand that 'losing your job in Singapore is not a no-hope situation'. Citing labour demand in the childcare and service sectors as examples, he said the slowdown over the next two to three years should be viewed 'as an opportunity to upgrade ourselves rather than as a crisis'.
'Over the last three years, we've been running very fast, but there are also areas in our foundation that we have overlooked. Now is the time to focus on these areas.'
He also encouraged those at risk of retrenchment to adapt to career conversion by attending training courses to pick up expertise in fields outside their current ones.
'Don't focus only on looking for the same job and the same pay,' he said.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on November 16, 2008.
