While the civil service, statutory boards and government-linked companies largely have a system in place to compensate fresh graduates starting their first jobs after serving the mandatory two years of national service, not all companies in the private sector consciously mitigate the pay differential between them and those who are not required to serve NS, such as Singaporean women and foreigners.

These operationally ready national servicemen have already sacrificed much to be trained to defend the nation while being paid below market rate.

Without any consideration to bridge the gap, they can only hope to be fast-tracked and get pay adjustments quickly to match those who were able to begin their careers earlier.

Legislation may not be the ideal approach, though it is an option that should be considered in the long term.

To preserve our business-friendly environment, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Manpower should look at ways to engage companies in the private sector and perhaps come up with a tripartite guideline that the industry can follow to ensure NSmen are treated fairly in recognition of their service.

Meanwhile, perhaps human resource leaders in the private sector should already take the initiative to implement an "NS premium" when they hire such fresh graduates.

Yeow Chun Fey