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A rising tide lifts all boats

COVID-19: Building resilient workforce and emerging stronger in the new world

As businesses continue to fight unprecedented risk and challenges ushered in by COVID-19, the Singapore Government is leaving no stone unturned to support its people and businesses.

Aside from the various economic stimulus packages announced recently, the government has been effectively ensuring social responsibility measures at workplaces, encouraging companies to embrace new ways of working as well as providing advisory support around key obligations to better manage the crisis.

This paper summaries the key reliefs and enhanced support extended by the Government that businesses may tap on. These measures coupled with the Government’s existing support initiatives potentially form the pillars of a medium to longer-term manpower strategy for your company.

It may be timely for businesses to evaluate their employment practices and build in new ways of working to evolve in tandem with the new world that calls for new skills – locally and globally.

Drivers of the support Government Initiatives

● Preserving cash flow

● Retaining employees

● Managing manpower mobility

Enhanced Jobs Support Scheme

LOA / SHN Support Programme

Foreign Worker Levy support

Work Permit temporary scheme

● An upskilled and agile workforce

● Business adaptability and sustainability

Workforce Training Support

Lean Enterprise Development

Advanced Digital Solutions

Overview of the Government’s support initiatives to date:

27 April 2020

At a glance: Singapore’s Stimulus packages to fight COVID-19

COVID-19: Building resilience in Singapore workforce | 2

Government Initiatives:

What is it? What does it mean for employers?

What is the qualifying period

Enhanced jobs support scheme

An enhanced scheme intended to keep as many Singapore employees in employment as possible

Short term cash support with intent to allow employers to retain jobs

Total of four payouts in April, May, July, and October 2020

Temporary Manpower Scheme

Firms in all sectors can hire existing work permit holders (those in Singapore) with agreement from their current employers

Additional flexibility to access / transfer manpower through ease of transfer process

From 1 April 2020 to 31 August 2020

LOA/SHN programme

To assist businesses affected by the Leave of Absence (LOA) or Stay Home Notice (SHN) requirements upon employees’ return from certain affected areas. Eligible employers will receive S$100 daily per affected worker for the required duration of LOA or SHN granted to the worker. This amounts to $1,400 per affected employee.

Allows employers to reduce the financial impact of having some employees on an LOA or SHN.

Support applicable only to work permit holders that began their LOA/SHN before 1 April 2020

Levy rebate & Waiver

To increase support for businesses and ease labour costs, two rounds of levy rebates have been announced for each S Pass or Work Permit holder in a company’s employment.

Business employers are not required to make any payments for the waived levies.

Additional monetary support to ease cost of doing business

One-off rebate of S$750 in April & May 2020, for each S Pass or Work Permit holder in employment as at 29 February 2020 and 1 May 2020.

Levy waiver for 2 months (March & April 2020).

Work-life Grant (WLG)

Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA) Incentive, and Job Sharing Incentive.

Aid employers in sustaining remote working practices, and encourage long-term digitalisation and agility in the workforce in the long term

On-going

Workfare Training Support Scheme

Helping older lower-wage workers upgrade their skills through training. From July 2020, this will be replaced with the Workfare Skills Support (WSS) Scheme

Creates a workforce that is relevant and fit for future needs through upskilling

On-going

Advanced Digital Solutions

Help enterprises deepen their digital capabilities to strengthen BCP and build resilience. Enterprise Singapore will provide up to 80% funding support for enterprise to adopt advanced digital solutions.

Aids and encourages businesses to develop long-term digital solutions and remain sustainable and relevant

On-going

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Enhanced Jobs Support Scheme (JSS)

The Jobs Support Scheme has been further enhanced to help employers retain their local employees (Singaporean & Singapore PRs) and co-fund their wages. Employers will receive three main JSS payouts in April, July, and October 2020 and an additional payout in May 2020 to provide cashflow support for firms during the ‘circuit breaker’ period.

Criteria

The enhanced JSS covers all eligible employers who made contributions to Central Provident Fund (CPF) for their local employees (Singaporean & Singapore PRs). As the payouts will be automatically credited, employers do not need to make an application. You can do a projection of the payout using the e-calculator. Note to refer to the correct Tier to determine your eligibility for higher JSS payout. Employers who put local employees on mandatory no pay leave or retrench them will not be entitled to JSS.

For more details on JSS eligibility:https://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/Schemes/Businesses/Jobs-Support-Scheme--JSS-/

Additional Wage Credit Scheme

The Government will help to co-fund increases in gross monthly wage of at least S$50 given to a Singaporean employee in 2020. The co-funding ratios for wage increases in 2019 and 2020 will be raised to 20% and 15% respectively. The qualifying gross wage ceiling is also raised to $5,000 for both years.

Criteria

Wage Credit will be automatically paid to eligible employers annually thus, employers do not need to make an application. Employers should ensure that CPF contributions for each month’s wages are made timely.

For more details: https://www.iras.gov.sg/IRASHome/Schemes/Businesses/Wage-Credit-Scheme--WCS-/

Work-life Grant (WLG)

WLG comprises of two components: Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA) Incentive, and Job Sharing Incentive. In essence, the incentives should be used to nurture and further workplace cultures including remote working that support better work-life harmony and put in place job-sharing and FWA measures that prevent further spread of COVID-19.

Criteria

For FWA incentive: Employers must adopt the Tripartite standards for FWA, and demonstrate that their employees have adopted FWAs for a continuous 6 months. The incentive is up to $70,000 per company for two years

For Job Sharing incentive: Companies can claim for full-time PMET employees on permanent or minimum employment contract term of 12 months, with gross monthly salary of $3,6000 before job sharing arrangement – the incentive is up to $35,000 for two years.These incentives are based on merits of application/criteria set

For more details:https://www.mom.gov.sg/employment-practices/good-work-practices/work-life-grant

Here's a detailed look at some of Singapore Government's key support schemes aimed at mitigating the financial impact of the crisis on local businesses:

In more details: Key support schemes

COVID-19: Building resilience in Singapore workforce | 3

Where to focus next

In assessing how to best utilise the Government's initiatives in your organisation, next consider:

Building an enduring workforce with skills relevant to the new world: Technology will assume even bigger significance in the new world. Companies ought to effectively tap into available schemes to re-design jobs, upskill the workforce to sustain and grow stronger amidst possible headwinds. Digitisation and new norm of working remotely will reduce paper wastage, commute, travel and hopefully will help pivoting through innovation, employee engagement and redefine success vis a vis efforts.

Reviewing employment policies and structures: Employers are encouraged to holistically review current employment practices and policies and evaluate their fit for future - are policies flexible enough to deal with emergencies, terms of employment changes, data accuracy, or responsible retrenchment? Do your health and Travel insurance coverage provide you the peace of mind that you legally deserve? How are you managing your vendors who are key supplier of manpower and do you hold them to the same “gold standard” of governance and wage trust. Your vendors’ failure in managing the various outsourced functions may expose you to greater liability

Creating Employee experience and boosting your brand: The dynamism of the evolving workforce will compel organisations to focus on the employee experience. Consider the relevance of your mobility programmes, flexible benefits plan, protection of employees from insurance policy, work health safety and evaluate what would “good” look like for employee well being and your brand.

The message from Singapore Government to all its people and businesses is clear: recharge, adapt, emerge stronger to survive and thrive in the new world. The government has pumped in multiple relief measures - from addressing cash flow, cost management, job retention right through to the employability of fresh graduates, to cushion local businesses as they navigate the uncertainty set in by the pandemic. Now it is for the employers to pick up the baton and run. Start with:

● Get your house in order: Many of the support initiatives rely on accurate, robust payroll data and compliance by organisations on CPF matters in order to receive the correct amount of subsidy. Ensure your organisation is accordingly aligned.

● Connect the dots – If you have multiple stakeholders performing various functions in connection with employment and payroll, ensure all of them are connected with correct data and information so that you comply with the regulations in order to leverage the various support schemes.

● Responsible employment practices – JSS payouts and levy rebates should be used to support employee salaries and preserve employment as far as possible. The Ministry of Manpower will investigate valid complaints and may suspend JSS or levy payouts for companies under investigation for irresponsible or unfair employment practices.

What does this mean for businesses?

COVID-19: Building resilience in Singapore workforce | 4

Quick guide to access more information:

Area of Government

Where to access more information

Funding for Workfare Training Support Scheme WSG Workfare Training Support Scheme (WTS)

Foreign Worker Levy support MOM Foreign Worker Levy Support - MOM website

Leave of Absence/Stay Home Notice Support Programme MOM Leave of Absence Support Programme

Lean Enterprise Development Scheme WSG Lean Enterprise Development (LED) Scheme

Advanced Digital Solutions IMDA Digital Solutions Package for Companies

Sakaya Johns Rani Partner, Global Mobility Services, Singaporesakaya.johns.rani@pwc.com

Irin Ou Senior Manager, SingaporeIrin.l.ou@pwc.com

© 2020 PwC International Assignment Services (Singapore) Pte Ltd. All rights reserved. In this document, “PwC” refers to PwC International Assignment Services (Singapore) Pte Ltd or, as the context requires, the PricewaterhouseCoopers global network or other member firms of the network, each of which is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details. This content is for general information purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional advisors.

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