SINGAPORE: One local says he was “baffled” after spotting a job advertisement for a Food and Beverage Worker that required applicants to be able to speak Chinese. He questioned why requirements like that, along with an age range and nationality preference, were still showing up in job listings in 2026.
On Tuesday (Jul 28), he took to Reddit’s r/SMRTRabak forum and shared a screenshot of the job listing.
According to the advertisement, the temporary Food and Beverage Worker role pays S$15 an hour. Under the requirements, applicants must be between 20 and 32 years old, have a friendly and positive attitude, possess good communication skills, be able to work in a fast-paced environment, be a team player, be “preferably local or Malaysian,” be available to work weekends and public holidays, and be able to speak Chinese.
In the caption, he wrote, “Just came across this job ad on the Staffie platform where F&B establishments can hire gig workers for temporary work. I was baffled to see some of the requirements, such as ‘preferably local,’ ‘can speak Chinese,’ ‘20-32 years old.’ It’s 2026, and it’s just sad to see how backwards the hiring practices in some companies are. Does Singapore not have any anti-discrimination laws in place that prohibit companies from posting such job ads?”
“I don’t see how that is discrimination”
In the discussion thread, many Reddit users felt the post author was blowing the issue out of proportion. They argued that for an F&B role where staff spend most of the day serving customers, being able to speak Chinese could simply be a practical business requirement rather than discrimination.
One commenter said, “Customer-facing means needing to communicate with customers. PRC aside, there are still older-gen Chinese that can’t speak English, so it’s reasonable for it to be a requirement if they are part of the target audience.”
Another commented, “I don’t see how that is discrimination. If you are Malay or Indian and can speak Chinese, you also can join mah. They didn’t specifically mention any race. I have seen an ad looking for Tamil-speaking people, as the job mainly deals with customers from India.”
A third added, “You got a problem with preferring local?? Also, this is for a gig, right? Gig isn’t the place for you to whine when you’re not the target audience. Grow up and move on.”
Others, however, sided with the post author and felt the wording of the advertisement raised valid concerns.
One wrote, “It’s absurd. We are hiring technicians right now. We specifically mention that we do not need Chinglish speakers, and we get good applicants.”
Another said, “Sometimes that is how they say they only want to hire Chinese without explicitly stating it.”
In other news, an employee has questioned whether there’s any point in staying with his company after his workload doubled in under a year without so much as a pay rise. Singapore.
In a Reddit post, the man shared that he accepted the role after being told during the hiring process that he would handle only one major project and one minor project.
Read more: ‘My workload doubled with no pay rise’: Employee wonders if he should just leave
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