With One Pass, it’s less about giving firms access to talent, but more about attracting them

WHETHER as part of tax breaks or eased rules, pandemic packages or Budget bonanzas, any sufficiently targeted measure will elicit a common reaction: “This does not help me.” That refrain is likely to be heard too, in response to the new Overseas Networks and Expertise (One) Pass for top foreign talent.

For a start, this pass – announced on Monday (Aug 29) – may not help employers who are struggling to bring in the talent they need. After all, not many firms worry about getting approval for workers on monthly salaries of S$30,000 or more. The much-bemoaned talent crunch takes place across salary levels, including much lower ones.

Besides, any individual who qualifies for a One Pass could certainly qualify for other existing passes. As the Manpower Ministry itself noted, the One Pass is for talent comparable to the top 5 per cent of Employment Pass holders – and thus unhelpful to anyone seeking to employ “regular” talent.

Complaints about the new pass’ irrelevance to such employers would thus be correct, but perhaps misplaced. The One Pass is less about giving companies access to talent and more about attracting talent – some of whom may become employers in their own right – to Singapore.

Some employers will still benefit, as pass holders will be able to concurrently work for multiple companies, on top of starting or operating their own. But apart from the pass holders themselves, the ultimate beneficiary envisioned seems to simply be “Singapore”.

There may be specific companies set up and certain new jobs created, but the overall impact is likely to be hard to quantify, in contrast to schemes where one can point to a concrete number of employers aided or jobs created.

The question is not whether the One Pass will solve Singapore’s talent woes in general, but whether it will be sufficiently attractive for its purposes.

One aspect is its duration. The One Pass’ 5-year validity is comparable to the UK’s Global Talent Visa and more generous than tech-specific schemes in France and Hong Kong (indeed, Singapore’s own Tech.Pass has a 2-year validity). But it lacks the reassurance of Australia’s Global Talent Visa Program, which is a permanent visa scheme.

Of course, a permanent visa scheme could look dangerously like a blank cheque, not least in the eyes of Singapore’s famously cautious authorities. The rejoinder might be that the need for 5-year renewals will only dissuade applicants who did not intend to contribute consistently – and whom Singapore might thus not want anyway.

Another aspect is flexibility. By allowing holders to both work for multiple companies and run their own, the One Pass compares favourably to tighter-scoped schemes that are only for employees. Nor are applicants required to have a local nominator, as is the case for Australia’s scheme.

In material terms, Singapore’s new talent pass can probably hold its own against international competition, even if it does not break new ground. Will it actively draw talent here? Again, that might not necessarily be the right question.

The appearance of the One Pass scheme might put Singapore on the radar of highly-mobile global talent. It might influence the decisions of those who were already choosing between Singapore and other destinations. But rather than being an attraction in itself, the One Pass is perhaps best seen as an enabling move.

After all, it is not an incentive programme that offers perks or rewards. It is not even a gateway to permanent residency, unlike some other countries’ schemes. The “reward” is the chance to work and live in Singapore – it is the country itself, its environment and opportunities, that must ultimately do the attracting.

The One Pass itself helps to build this environment: directly, by bringing in the type of talent that can help the city flourish, and indirectly with its signalling value. It is a necessary – and arguably even overdue – move to show that Singapore is as open as it claims.

High-calibre talent can already enter Singapore today, but under passes that – outside the field of tech – restrict them to being only either employee or entrepreneur. The One Pass welcomes them not just by signalling that they are exactly who Singapore is looking for, but enabling them to contribute as fully as possible.