Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) has released salary guidelines for the Republic’s community care sector, which will provide the recommended start and mid-point monthly base salary, as well as the median annual total compensation for various job roles in the sector. The guidelines seek to maintain the sector’s competitiveness in the market and offer more transparency and clarity to jobseekers and workers regarding salaries within the sector.
According to MOH, the guidelines will apply to the whole community care sector including nurses, allied health professionals, pharmacists, administrative, ancillary, and support care staff. The salary guidelines aim to help two target markets: community care organisations (CCOs) and fresh graduates. The guidelines will assist CCOs to attract and retain talent by offering competitive salaries while also improving fairness in pay structures and salaries within their respective organisations and sectors.
To elaborate, organisations with compensations that fall below the published salaries are strongly encouraged to adjust their pay packages accordingly to align more closely to the guidelines. On the other hand, organisations with compensations above the published salaries are advised to uphold their competitive position and refrain from reducing or “freezing” their salary review cycles or annual increments for staff.
The above aside, the salary guidelines also aim to help fresh graduates who are keen to pursue a career in the community care sector better understand the salary ranges for different roles.
The salary guidelines will also make clear that monthly based salaries will exclude bonuses, allowances, and other benefits may vary between organisations.
Apart from ensuring that salaries remain competitive, MOH also noted the roll-out of various initiatives to attract and retain quality healthcare manpower in the sector. First, in collaboration with CCOs, MOH and the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) are working with recruitment partners such as Workforce Singapore and the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) to raise awareness of job opportunities in the community care sector and facilitate the employment of individuals. MOH and AIC are also supporting the community care sector to upskill the workforce through the recognition of scholarships and training awards, such as the Community Care Manpower Development Award.
MOH said: “We encourage CCOs to regularly review their salary levels for both local and foreign staff to keep pace with the market, in order to retain and attract staff. “MOH will continue to monitor community care staff’s salary competitiveness against the market and review the guidelines as necessary,” it added.
