Mark your calendar. COMPASS is coming.

What is COMPASS?

COMPASS (Complementarity Assessment Framework) is a new points-based framework that considers?individual and firm-related attributes?to evaluate an Employment Pass holistically.

TL;DR

• COMPASS will apply to all new EP applications from 1 September 2023 and to EP renewals from 1 September 2024.
• Applications must meet both the Qualifying Salary and COMPASS (40 points?are required to pass COMPASS).
• An application is scored on?four foundational criteria:

1. Salary
2. Qualifications
3. Diversity
4. Support for Local Employment.

• Bonus: an application can earn extra points under the?Bonus Criteria?if it meets the relevant qualifying conditions. Bonus criteria are Skills Shortage and Strategic Economic Priorities (SEP).
• Applications can get exempted from COMPASS if the applicant is:

1. Earning at least SGD 22,500 monthly,
2. Applying as an overseas intra-corporate transferee, or
3. Filling a role for one month or less.

Deep(er) dive: what you need to know about COMPASS.

COMPASS consists of 4 Foundational Criteria (2 individual, 2 firm-related) and 2 Bonus Criteria.

Each application is scored based on if it exceeds (20 points), meets (10 points), or does not meet expectations (0 points). The overall passing mark is 40 points.

However, each criterion has no ‘passing mark’ as long as the total mark is 40. If your organisation has less than 25 employees, you will automatically get 20 points for the firm-related component.

Foundational criteria explained

Individual attributes are specific to the individual to who the application applies.

C1. Salary: Is the fixed monthly salary as it compares to PMET salaries by sector and age. Note that this is a separate criterion from the qualifying salary. It benchmarks the individual's salary to the salary norms for the sector.

C2. Qualifications: Is the individual's qualifications considering top-tier institutions, degree-equivalent qualification versus degree-equivalent qualification.?All applications require?verification proof?from a background screening company listed on MOM's website.

Firm-related attributes

Firm-related attributes which directly relate to your company and workforce.

Firms with less than 25 employees will score 10 points for these attributes by default.

C3. Diversity: The criteria checks if the individual is part of the majority or minority share of nationalities in the organisation. The lower the percentage of the candidate’s nationality in the firm, the higher the points.

• For example, the candidate is from Country X. If 25% or more employees from your organisation are also from Country X, you will score 0 points. However, if you have under 5% from Country X, you will score 20 points for this criterion.

C4. Support for Local Employment: The company's share of local employees compared to industry peers. The higher the percentile, the higher the points.

• For example, if you have a higher share of locals compared to your peers in the same sector, you will be in the 50th percentile and above, and score 20 points.
• However, if the percentage of local employees in your organisation is above 70%, you will minimally get 10 points, regardless of your organisation's standing within your industry.

Need to be more sure of your workforce demographic profile? You can check out your firm’s profile via the Workforce Insights tool on the MyMOM Portal, which can help you gain insights and benchmarks against your industry.

Bonus criteria explained

These criteria recognise individual applications that bring in skills in shortage or support strategic economic priorities.

C5. Skills Bonus: If the individual’s job is on the?Shortage Occupation List (SOL). The bonus criteria will grant the applicant 10-20 points, depending on your Diversity score (C3). Experienced tech professionals with skills in shortage may be eligible for a?five-year EP.

C6. Strategic Economic Priorities (SEP):?To score 10 points, the firm must participate in?one of these programmes, growing Singapore’s strategic economic priorities. The bonus will only be given at the discretion of the supporting agencies. Please note that three months before the renewal of the EP holder, the company will need to score minimally 10 points for both firm-related attributes to continue to be eligible for the SEP bonus.

How can we help?

COMPASS is a transparent system that gives greater clarity and certainty for workforce planning.

The changes may seem daunting. However, the team at Cultivate are well equipped with the knowledge and skill to navigate the upcoming changes and ensure the highest possible success rate.

If you have any questions or would like support in your Employment Pass process, don't hesitate to contact us via?[email protected].