THE government has signalled that it intends to extend the Fair Consideration Framework beyond just hiring, to include post-employment practices by companies, such as their decisions on staff promotions, retrenchments, and retirements. As Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin pointed out in Parliament on Monday, the aim is to ensure that Singaporean professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) are fairly considered, not only at the job entry stage but throughout their careers. To this end, the MOM will monitor companies' human resource (HR) practices, and watch for those that breach certain thresholds relating to the proportion of Singaporean PMEs in their employ, among other benchmarks.

Overall, the move is well intended and has many merits, at least on paper. Over time, it could help achieve the goal of ensuring a "Singaporean core" in workplaces. It can boost skill development and the upgrading of Singaporean workers, as companies will have to work harder to ensure that such workers are capable of not only filling jobs but performing them to the standard required. It may also be popular with voters. However, in practice, the move could prove challenging. Extending government scrutiny to the actual operations of companies in hundreds of different industries can be not only difficult, but also risky. If done in an intrusive, heavy-handed manner, it can compromise operational effectiveness and lead to higher costs for business and a loss of competitiveness. It can also hamper business expansion and reduce the attractiveness of Singapore as a business destination, translating eventually into lower economic growth, less cutting edge innovation, and fewer opportunities for Singaporeans - which would be the opposite of what was intended.

Getting the implementation right will therefore be key, which is also what a number of HR professionals pointed out when asked for their reactions to the proposed measures. Certain points of caution are worth flagging. To cite just three: first, not all companies' HR practices can be easily compared, even with other companies in the same industry - they may occupy different niches, serve different markets and face different constraints. Second, as a number of CEOs have pointed out, companies have special needs. For example, some may be using Singapore as a regional base and may need to bring in talent from the region for staff development and to foster exchanges of ideas and knowledge. Third, as also noted by CEOs, Singapore is a multinational business hub and as such, there will be companies that need an international workforce - which is less true of many other countries, whose policies on HR practices may therefore not be an appropriate guide for Singapore.