A hiring notice pasted outside a local neighbourhood store caught the eye of some recently, due to an unusual criterion.

Written mostly in Chinese, the notice seemed ordinary and innocuous enough — other than the part where the store announced it only wants to hire married people.

Mothership spoke to the store owner to find out more.

'Youngsters' too 'immature'

The heartland store owner clarified at the outset that she has nothing against “non-married people”.

So, what’s the reason she’s only looking for married people?

She thought “youngsters” nowadays are “immature”.

“Especially [those born in] the 2000s,” she said. “They just couldn’t stop using their phones during work.”

She explained that working at a grocery store is not hectic as there are always pockets of time to just wait for a customer to walk in.

“I don’t 'micro [manage]' my employees. I’m fine with them using their phones during work. But is it too much to ask them to at least stand up and help guide the customers when they walk in looking for things?”

Had 'young employees' in the past

After hiring multiple younger employees, the owner became disappointed in “young people” and decided to look for more “mature” hires instead.

However, most of the applications she gets are still younger people. That’s when she decided to put the “married” requirement in the notice.

“I thought that once someone is married, no matter how young or old, you would be more responsible with your job as you learn you have to shoulder responsibilities.”

The store owner said she was also quite baffled about what's happening to "youngsters" now, as when she started a decade-and-a-half ago, her employees were all "youngsters" then, and many of them stuck with her until now.

Gender and nationality requirements

There are other criteria listed within the job notice.

For example, the hiring notice stated that it is looking for “female cashiers” and “male merchandise assistants”. It also stated it is looking for “Singaporeans” and “P.R.”.

The store owner explained that it’s not gender discrimination but simply because there are heavy goods to be carried and males are generally stronger.

On the choice of nationality, she said the hiring notice is outdated, and she is now also looking for Malaysians.

She said: “I find they are quite reliable.”

Employment discrimination?

When asked if she knew the notice might get her into trouble for “employment discrimination”, she said she had no idea.

“We’re just a small local store,” she said. “We just didn’t want to waste people’s time.”

The bilingual owner said she also doesn’t discriminate against race or educational qualifications.

“I will hire them as long as they are willing to learn,” she explained.

According to the Ministry of Manpower's website, hiring guidelines are stated in the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices formulated by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP).

While the guidelines currently only ask for employers to "avoid" putting marital status and age requirements in hiring advertisements, such "employment discrimination" would be enshrined in the law soon, as legislation on "workplace fairness" is slated to be tendered to parliament in 2024.

Increasingly difficult to run a local store

The store owner also said it’s getting increasingly difficult to run a local store.

The double whammy?

It is difficult to hire and keep prices low.

She said it’s harder to find good employees now that many people would rather work as private-hire drivers instead, so they can “do whatever they want” and also “don’t have a boss”.

She said she also has to keep up with the salary rates of competitors. If not, she wouldn’t be able to find anyone to hire.

However, despite rising costs, she said she also couldn't raise prices, as for stores like hers, price increases are too obvious to the local community.

“We can only try our best to cope by sourcing cheaper alternatives for goods,” she said.

Top image via Mothership & Canva