The employment act and landscape in Singapore are quickly shifting from an industrial-based economy to a skill-based one. Where in the past, rank-and-file employees made up the bulk of the Singaporean workforce, PME category workers (professionals, managers, and executives) have now outnumbered rank-and-file staff.
When the Employment Act which is a law passed by the Singaporean government to protect the rights and interests of employees in Singapore. Now, given that the composition of the Singaporean workforce is changing, the government has seen it fit to amend parts of the Employment Act to better protect workers.
This article will be broken up into two segments; the first being where we discuss the changes that will be made in the Employment Act. In the second segment, we look into how employers can ensure that their businesses are compliant with these changes.
Recently, Singapore’s Minister of Manpower; Mr Lim Swee Say proposed that the Employment Act be amended to remove the S$4,500 salary cap for PMEs. By doing so, this would make more than 430,000 PMEs eligible for full protection under the Employment Act.
Prior to these amendments, PMEs earning more than S$4,500 were not able to enjoy the core employee benefits stipulated by the Employment Act. Thus, this meant that such employees were not able to seek redress for wrongful dismissal, public holiday and sick leave entitlements as well as the right to timely payment of salaries.
Employees can expect these changes to come into effect from as early as April 2019. All of this would mean that Singaporean companies need to ensure that their current HR software systems are compliant with these new government regulations.
Besides being able to claim redress for wrongful dismissal, PMEs earning more than S$4,500 will also be able to make overtime claims as well as being eligible for a minimum of 7 days of annual leave per annum.
This move by the government to improve the protection extended to PMEs is crucial for the development of a happier, healthier workforce.
With these amendments being made to the Employment Act HR professionals need to ensure that they have the right tools in order to be compliant with government guidelines. This is why we at IQDynamics have tailor-made our software to match the needs of businesses working in Singapore.
Our integrated HR software features a talent management module that allows employers to keep track of their employee’s performance. Work together with your managers and employees to set goals for them and perform assessments to gauge them.
Besides this, our HR software allows you to maintain detailed records of an employee’s past and previous performance. This allows you to reward employees or take disciplinary action in line with their job performance.
All of this ensures that you have adequate provisions and a paper trail in place should your organization be the defendant in an unfair dismissal suit.
All employees are entitled to an annual leave allotment and it is especially important that an employee’s leave entitlements are correctly maintained. Inaccurate recording of an employee’s leave entitlement can result in extremely unhappy employees and a mountain of paperwork for your HR department.
Fortunately, our HR software allows you to accurately keep track of your employee’s leave entitlements. With IQDynamics, employees can also submit their leave requests via our web-based portal which eliminates the need for leave forms.
Most importantly, our leave management system is continually kept up-to-date to ensure that your organization is in line with the latest government statutory requirements.
With the recent amendments made to the Employment Act, PMEs are now eligible to make claims for overtime for public holidays. Thus, in order to be compliant with the latest regulations, you need HR software that has provisions for additional working hours as well as public holidays.
To safeguard the interests of both employees and employers, accurate timekeeping is a necessity. Manual input puts a strain on both staff members and HR professionals and can lead to human errors.
In response to this requirement, our HR software is specially configured to record additional working hours accurately. You can also enjoy greater control as our HR software allows managers and HR professionals to set defined work shifts while also inputting allowance claims.
Along with this, our timesheet system is specially integrated with the IQDynamics payroll system to ensure that employees are remunerated accordingly. This also eliminates wasteful work processes and helps ensure that employees are paid in a timely manner.
While the recent changes in the Employment Act may be intimidating to many HR professionals, our easy-to-use HR software ensures that your organization conforms to government regulations.