9 in 10 companies slam current wage guidelines

33% believe that the format will incur higher wage costs.

In a survey by the Singapore Human Resources Institute, only 9% of 167 companies prefer to retain the existing National Wages Council's format, most companies feel improvements are necessary and their specific comments are: 

• include more representations & guidelines from different industry sectors - 74%
• get feedback from industry associations & focus groups more pro-actively – 66%
• broaden scope to cover business costs limits – 42%
• do away with NWC totally – 2%  

Here's more from SHRI:

Regarding NWC's wage guidelines for low wage workers, most companies (78%) are in agreemen with the current formatt; 12% are not sure and only 7% disagree.

64% of companies expect little or no impact concerning the guidelines, while 33% believe that the guidelines are likely to incur higher wages costs.

The good news is that 68% of companies plan to re-design to enrich job quality and career ladders; 57% will provide special soft skills/learning training while 44% plan to improve work culture/trust, collaboration & respect for workers and 19% will provide targeted counseling/mentoring/buddy services.