With Vensure Global you can expand your global workforce to Singapore with ease. We help you find, hire, and pay employees accurately and compliantly, ensuring full alignment with local labor laws, payroll regulations, and employer requirements.
With Vensure Global you can expand your global workforce to Singapore with ease. We help you find, hire, and pay employees accurately and compliantly, ensuring full alignment with local labor laws, payroll regulations, and employer requirements.
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Thinking about hiring in Singapore? This guide covers the key employment laws, payroll rules, required benefits, and compliance considerations for employers. Explore everything you need to hire and manage talent in Singapore with confidence.
Singapore does not have a universal national minimum wage. Instead, it uses a sector-specific Progressive Wage Model (PWM) and a mandatory Local Qualifying Salary (LQS) of at least S$1,600 per month for firms hiring foreign workers. PWM applies to industries like cleaning, security, and retail, setting wage floors based on skill and experience.
Overtime payment must be compensated at 1.5 times the basic hourly rate with a maximum of 12 hours worked on any one day and 72 hours in a month.
Standard workweek is capped at 44 hours per week
Employees must not work more than 6 consecutive hours without a break.
Exception: If the nature of the work requires continuous operation for up to 8 hours, a meal break of at least 45 minutes must be provided.
Unpaid Breaks: Breaks (including meal breaks) are not counted as working hours and are typically unpaid, unless otherwise stated in the employment contract.
Employers must obtain consent from candidates before conducting background checks.
Employers must verify the authenticity of documents provided by new hires and comply with reporting requirements:
Collecting Required Documentation:
During the onboarding process, employers need to collect various documents from new hires to ensure compliance and proper record-keeping:
Providing Employee Rights and Obligations:
Employers must inform new hires about their rights and obligations under Singaporean law:
Healthcare services in Singapore are regulated under the Healthcare Services Act (HCSA):
The minimum retirement age is 63 years, and it will be raised to 64 years from July 2026.
At this time, Vensure does not have social security details available.
Employers must provide employees with written KETs within 14 days of starting work. These terms include details such as job title, main duties, salary, working hours, and leave entitlements
Probationary periods will be agreed in the employment contract and is only applicable to employees who have not worked for the employer before. Three to six months is a common period to use as probation.
Understanding Visa Categories
Application Process
Independent contractors in Singapore are governed by different regulations compared to employees:
Employees covered by the Employment Act who have completed at least three months of service are entitled to be paid annual leave. In their first year, they receive a minimum of 7 days, with an additional day for each subsequent year of service.
However, it is common for employers to offer between 14 and 20 days of annual leave after the first year.
In the event of the death of an immediate family member, although this is not a statutory entitlement, many Singaporean employers allow employees two or three days of paid leave.
A pregnant employee who has been employed for at least three months before the due date and whose child is a Singaporean citizen is entitled to 16 weeks of paid maternity leave. This leave is divided into two periods: up to 8 weeks can be taken before the expected due date (but no less than 28 days), with the remaining weeks taken after the baby’s birth.
If the child is not a Singaporean citizen, the maternity leave period is reduced to 12 weeks.
For the first and second child, the employer pays for the first eight weeks at the regular gross salary. The additional eight weeks can be reimbursed by the government, capped at SGD 10,000($7,751.28 USD) per 4 weeks, or a total of SGD 20,000 ($15,502.55 USD) per child.
From the birth of the third child onwards, all 16 weeks of maternity leave are reimbursed directly by the government, capped at SGD 10,000 ($7,751.28 USD) per 4 weeks, or a total of SGD 20,000 ($15,502.55 USD) per child.
The father or partner is entitled to 2 weeks of paid paternity leave after the baby is born, provided they have completed three months of service. This leave must be taken within 16 weeks after the baby’s birth and is funded by the Government-Paid Paternity Leave (GPPL), capped at SGD 2,500 ($1,937.82 USD) per week, or a total of SGD 5,000 ($3,875.64 USD).
Adoptive fathers are also eligible for government-paid paternity leave if they meet the eligibility criteria.
Eligible fathers can apply for Shared Parental Leave, allowing them to share up to 4 weeks of their wife’s 16 weeks of maternity leave. The payment is reimbursed by the government, capped at SGD 2,500 ($1,937.82 USD) per week.
Each parent with at least 3 months of service is eligible for 6 days of childcare leave per year until the year the child turns 7 years old, regardless of the number of children they have. Childcare leave is capped at 42 days for each parent.
Employees must use their yearly childcare leave entitlement by the end of the year, as it cannot be carried forward to the next year.
The leave is paid as follows:
Employees are also eligible for 2 days of extended childcare leave per year if their youngest child, who is a Singapore citizen, is between 7 and 12 years old (inclusive). These days are reimbursed by the government, capped at SGD 500($387.56 USD) per day.
After completing six months of service, employees are entitled to paid sick leave at their regular gross salary. They receive 14 days per year if no hospitalization is required, or 60 days per year if hospitalization is necessary, which includes 14 days of outpatient care.
Before reaching six months of employment, the entitlement to paid sick leave varies based on the length of service:
Employees must inform their employer within 48 hours of any inability to work and provide a medical certificate upon returning to work for any period of sickness.
Either the employer or the employee can end the employment relationship by providing the legally required notice, as long as it is not for an illegal reason such as discrimination against a protected group, and it adheres to the employment contract.
Employees who leave should be paid for any outstanding holiday entitlement, provided the termination is not due to misconduct. The employer must obtain an appropriate tax clearance from IRAS before making the final payment.
If the employer terminates the contract or the employee resigns and works the full notice period, payment should be made on the last day of employment or within three days if this is not possible.
If an employee resigns without notice and does not work during the notice period, payment should be made within seven days of the last day of employment.
During the probation period, employment can be terminated by either the employer or the employee with five days of notice
Employment contracts and collective agreements include “retrenchment benefit” payments, which are provided upon termination after an employee has completed two years of service. Typically, these benefits amount to 2–4 weeks’ pay for each year of employment.
The SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support Scheme provides unemployment benefits for retrenched workers. This offers tiered payouts to eligible Singaporeans and permanent residents who earn up to S$5,000 ($3,873.49 USD) per month.
To qualify, individuals must:
This marks a significant shift in Singapore’s approach to unemployment support, aiming to help lower- and middle-income workers bounce back from job losses.
The Workplace Fairness Act 2025, to strengthen protections against workplace discrimination and promote fair employment practices. The Act does not cover sexual orientation, gender identity, or criminal history. The acts prohibit discrimination in employment decisions (e.g., hiring, promotion, dismissal) based on:
Excludes certain categories such as seafarers, domestic workers, and other prescribed employee groups.
Small businesses with fewer than 25 employees are exempted for five years from the law’s effective date.
Adherence to the Workplace Safety and Health Act is required to maintain proper safety standards to protect employees.
The Work Injury Compensation Act allows employees to claim compensation for work-related injuries or diseases without needing to prove employer negligence.
The information included in this section are provided for reference as samples of official documents derived from government agencies, law firms, or other entities. This content is not and may not be construed to be legal advice or to be a legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances, or to be a comprehensive or all-inclusive compilation of facts potentially relevant to country, federal, state, or local laws. Any data referenced here is for informational purposes only. It is strongly recommended that any data you view, be carefully reviewed as well as any applicable changes in federal, state, and local laws, regulations, guidance, and guidelines set forth by the governing agencies, which may change at any time and in such instances will render some content in the above information void or inaccurate. Users should not rely on this content for editing and customization exclusively but should consult an attorney for legal guidance for proper and compliant drafting. You are solely responsible for compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.