An incentive or disincentive?

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: How do you as a business leader see the latest tightening of Employment Pass and S Pass criteria?

Yeoh Oon Jin Executive Chairman PwC Singapore

Business leaders in an open economy like Singapore would want their businesses to be anchored in the local market, yet seamlessly connected and remain competitive across the globe. Businesses have to be successful to sustain jobs in the long run. Hence they may require diverse and/or specialised skillsets that may not be available locally in the near term. Consequently, businesses must find the solution by creating a sustainable workforce that is anchored on a future-ready local talent pool. To achieve this in the long run, business leaders can look to the well-tested strategy of addressing diversity challenges (eg gender in the workplace): recognition and discourse of the issue, removing impediments to help locals succeed and making stepped progress rather than adopting abrupt affirmative policies in favour of local staff.