How Fair is Your Employment?

Disclaimer: I am writing this article from my own personal point of view and presenting this from my own personal capacity.

We look at how the aviation industry gets painfully battered down by the COVID-19 pandemic right in the midst of strong growth from multiple companies which includes organizational expansions and a strong need for various talents ranging from Pilots to Tradesmen. The market was an employee’s one with sizable offers being put across the table as the employers raced to get the best onboard with their organization. Now, it is an employer’s market with an excess of skilled, available candidates seeking to secure their next employment. It is no longer the same competitive market for career advancements or extensive packages. This excess comes because of retrenchments, furloughs, fresh graduates, etc.; all of which added up to the supply leading to a corresponding decrease in demand.

Being an agency recruiter, I saw firsthand the transition of the market changing from an employee’s market to an employer’s market all in less than a year, and with the massive retrenchments that have waged on since early of this year, it was painstakingly difficult to help the mass market resecure jobs within the industry. 

I looked at the hiring scene drifting towards fresh graduates, lower experiences, internship programs, etc - which does seem like a plausible idea in which organizations can utilize this downtime to train up their new employees for a post-COVID-19 world. Skilled workers like tradesmen remain in decent demand but understandably, the packages are in no way as attractive as the year before.

Having the market heavily skewed towards the employers will bring about change regarding certain factors of employment. This includes the terms of employment, salaries, allowances, working hours, and other peripheral concerns. It is no doubt that the employers would want to legally get the most out of their new hires through reducing or holding back on the abovementioned factors of employment. 

However, I noticed within various industries that because the market is in that of the employers, the salaries offered for contracted labor has been reduced severely. This includes a far-below-average basic pay, multiple deductions, and reduced benefits. I have also seen interns being offered zero-dollar unpaid internships with the selling point being ‘employment is bad now’ and ‘the earning point is the experience.’ Employees need to know many things about their employment before committing – for example, it is important to know the difference between basic pay and gross pay, to know your contractual working hours versus the designated working hours, and to know if you are eligible for overtime and whatnot.

I would like to stress that although a less attractive package in these times is expected, a candidate should in no way rush to settle for something that does not generate enough income to get by. Apart from that, while wanting to gain employment as quickly as possible, candidates should always ensure that everything has been well documented and discussed before commencing employment. This includes signing an employment contract before making your next move, understanding the full salary breakdown and how it works, the different deductions where applicable, as well as your rights, benefits, and limitations as an employee. Most importantly, always conduct your market research and never jump the gun to sign a contract when you are unsure.

Staying employed in such situations may be the utmost priority now but a position that you are employed for will remain with you through the years. Always check, and double-check, and ask if you are ever unsure so that you will not end up in a situation or feel like you are in unfair or unjust employment. Ensure that your employer has fair employment practices in place, and when in doubt, the Employment Act covers the most labor-related laws in Singapore.