HAVING the right manpower mix is critical to the success of a business. By their very nature, however, SMEs have fewer resources and face stiff competition from bigger players when it comes to recruiting the right talent.
To address this, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has introduced e-services that SMEs can tap into to enhance and expedite recruitment.
E-services do away with pages and pages of hard copy forms that employers have to fill in, as well as the need to queue for an hour to submit an application, wait a week for an acknowledgement letter and a month for the application outcome.
By harnessing technology, transacting with MOM has become easier and more convenient. Indeed, more businesses in Singapore are riding the e-services wave and taking advantage of the benefits that MOM's e-services provide.
Companies recruiting foreigners on Employment Passes (EP) or S Passes can leverage two key e-services from MOM:
The online EP Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) lets applicants know the likelihood of obtaining an EP or S Pass. Companies can run a potential candidate's details through SAT to determine the chances of success before deciding whether to submit a formal application. This gives businesses greater certainty of success, not to mention saving them time and resources.
The Employment Pass Online (EPOL) service is a one-stop portal for companies to perform such transactions as application and renewal of all work passes, enquire about the status of applications and print application outcome letters.
Why e-services?
A growing number of companies have switched from manual EP and S Pass application to EPOL because of the benefits and the greater convenience it offers.
Unlike hard copy applications that require four to five weeks to document and process, the outcome for EPOL applications can be known within seven working days. This is among the fastest processing times in the world.
By using EPOL, users can simplify mundane tasks like filling out applications. Basic information on the employer and applicant is retained, saving the user time and trouble from keying in old information.
Unlike hard copy applications where there is a risk of having the application delayed or rejected due to incomplete information, EPOL's auto alert prompts the user to ensure all necessary information is entered.
Once the EPOL transaction is completed, users get an immediate acknowledgement. They can also check the transaction status and the outcome of the application online.
If successful, they can instantly print out the In-Principle Approval (IPA) letter instead of waiting for it to be delivered through snail- mail.
Users can even reprint the IPA online if they have misplaced it, instead of calling the MOM Call Centre or the ministry to provide a duplicate letter.
All of this translates to greater speed, reliability and convenience, which means time and resources saved for the SMEs.
