By S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia |
Posted: 20 January 2010 1747 hrs
SINGAPORE: Singapore's employment market
did not see an exponential rise in complaints about unfair
employment practices in 2009, even though the country experienced a
recession last year.
The Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP) also
saw a significant drop in the number of discriminatory job
advertisements.
The message about fair employment practices is catching on since
the TAFEP was set up in 2006. The team members said they have
visited nearly 300 companies to spread the message.
Bob Tan, co-chair, Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment
Practices and vice president, Singapore National Employers
Federation said: "We are committed to helping our companies to be
seen as good employers, helping them with practices that will
enable them to attract the best talent.
"On the whole, employers are very supportive. The fact that we have
got 1200 companies who have signed the employers pledge is a good
indication of support"
Halimah Yacob, co-chair, Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment
Practices and deputy-secretary general, NTUC said: "We helped to
train the HR managers, some 7,000 of them, over two years.
"We also visit the companies, we talk to them. These are efforts
which have created a much more conducive environment for companies
to practise fair and responsible employment practices."
Surveys showed that seven in 10 employers have adopted fair and
merit-based employment practices. There has also been a significant
drop in the number of discriminatory job advertisements from 19.7
per cent in 2006 to just one per cent in 2009.
The TAFEP feels it is not just the employers who have to be
educated about fair employment practices. Co-workers also have to
be brought on board. So, one of the initiatives for 2010 is to
conduct awareness programmes for co-workers in companies.
The public must also not be left out in the awareness programmes,
said Ms Halimah.
"When we talk about the employment of older workers, sometimes it
is the customers. They say I don't want to be served by an older
worker because they are slow, maybe don't understand me well enough
so that level of tolerance and acceptance is also important and we
have been targeting employers, what about the customers," Ms
Halimah said.
Evolving mechanisms for effective grievance handling are also
important.
Ms Halimah said: "Sometimes I get complaints about women who take
maternity leave not from employers but co-workers. They say, you
know, I have to do the job, so we need to target co-workers and
create a holistic employment and target everyone."
The TAFEP has also identified the need to change mindsets of
employers about hiring mature workers, especially with an ageing
population in Singapore.
Mr Tan said: "The demographic shows that businesses must engage
older workers and I think by creating the awareness amongst the
line managers and helping them integrate older workers into their
workforce is very important one.
"TAFEP is going to conduct research on managing workers in the
workplace. This will help to share best practices across the board.
This will go a long way in engaging older workers."
And so, TAFEP plans to develop new research and training for
managing mature workers.
- CNA/sc