Singapore is not yet ready for a truly inclusive workplace environment, according to Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI) CEO Alvin Goh, as employers and employees prepare for the Workplace Fairness Act to take effect by the end of 2027.
The comments, reported by The Business Times, come as organisations face growing pressure to understand and prepare for the new workplace discrimination framework.
Goh cited an SHRI survey showing that only 20 per cent of people leaders would openly speak up against workplace discrimination, while 80 per cent would remain silent rather than challenge their employer.
“Are we ready? I don’t think we are ready,” said Goh.
The finding highlights a potential gap between having workplace fairness policies in place and ensuring that employees and managers are willing to act when discriminatory practices arise.
New legal framework
The Workplace Fairness Act will establish protections against discrimination based on 11 characteristics, including age, disability and caregiving responsibilities, across key stages of employment such as recruitment, promotion and termination.
For employees to seek recourse under the legislation, the discrimination must result in an adverse employment outcome, such as being denied a job or promotion or being retrenched.
National Trades Union Congress assistant secretary-general Patrick Tay said employers and workers should develop a working understanding of the legislation before it comes into force.
“There’s still time, but time is ticking,” he said.
Tay also noted that workplace discrimination complaints remain relatively low compared with Singapore's overall workforce.
The Ministry of Manpower said the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices received an average of 296 workplace discrimination complaints annually between 2021 and 2025.
Evidence and accountability
The legislation is also expected to place greater importance on evidence when workplace discrimination claims are brought forward.
“So proof is very important,” Tay said.
The Act will include protections for whistle-blowers, which Tay described as a first for Singapore's workplace discrimination framework. He said the measure could encourage employees who experience discrimination to come forward.
Goh said SHRI has separately proposed a form of “soft protection” for HR professionals and leaders who encounter discriminatory practices.
Under the proposal, SHRI could provide independent advice to HR professionals and document when that advice was sought, potentially creating a record that could be used as evidence if a dispute reaches the Employment Claims Tribunals. The proposal remains under discussion.
HR's role
Goh said HR professionals will need to move beyond an administrative role and be prepared to challenge discriminatory practices within organisations.
“We need to have the moral courage to step up and voice out our opinion,” said Goh. “We cannot be an administrative function anymore.”
He also called on HR and business leaders to identify patterns in hiring, promotion and development rather than waiting for formal complaints.
“If a particular line manager seems to only like a particular nationality, or gender, or type of employee, or candidate from a particular university, that is a pattern, isn’t it?”
“We have all the data on hand,” he added. “Is there a pattern to all these possible discriminatory hiring practices, or promotion, or development? Look at all these. Don’t wait for things to happen.”
Tay similarly warned that individual line managers could expose organisations to risks if they were unfamiliar with the new requirements, even where HR teams and senior leaders had prepared for the legislation.
Age and nationality were identified as two of the most common grounds cited in workplace discrimination complaints. The panellists also discussed unconscious bias, AI in recruitment and the treatment of employees during retrenchments.
Retrenchment practices
The discussion also highlighted the need for employers to consider alternatives before resorting to redundancies.
“Get your senior managers and your senior leaders to take a pay cut,” said Goh, who also suggested redesigning roles to reduce costs.
Where retrenchment is unavoidable, Tay said employers should communicate plans as early as possible, giving affected workers time to prepare through career coaching, training and job-search support.
He also stressed the importance of considering employees who remain with the organisation after a workforce reduction.
Goh said, “Those who have been let go, let them go humanisingly. But those who have (been) retained, there’s this thing called survivor’s guilt... Make sure you take care of them as well.”
With the Workplace Fairness Act still more than a year away from taking effect, employers have time to review hiring, promotion, grievance and retrenchment practices. The challenge, the discussion highlighted, is ensuring that workplace fairness translates from policy into day-to-day decision-making.