4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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The implementation plan involved four key areas of work:
(1) TAFEP Board
The composition of the TAFEP Board was designed for tripartite representation with a two co-chair system. The Board’s main role is to discuss and forge consensus on policy issues pertaining to how discrimination issues should be dealt with. It also gives guidance to the TAFEP Secretariat in developing and implementing communication and outreach strategies.
The tripartite representation on the Board enabled greater buy-in from the employers, union and the government on decisions made by the Board and programmes implemented by TAFEP.
The Board is co-chaired by a senior representative each from the employers’ federation and the union, which facilitated close consultation and cooperation between employers and workers on the complex and sensitive employment discrimination-related issues. The two co-chairs are able to effectively represent their respective stakeholders’ interests whilst addressing their respective sensitivities to ensure that the TAFEP Board is able to make decisions on issues swiftly and efficiently
(2) TAFEP Secretariat
The TAFEP Secretariat was designed to facilitate a speedy response to tackle employment discrimination. The Secretariat is headed by a General Manager who has executive powers to manage the day to day operations of the TAFEP Centre. To tap on the expertise of the tripartite partners, the staff of the Centre included seconded officers from the tripartite partners. TAFEP’s staff strength grew steadily from less than 10 officers in 2007 to over 20 staff currently.
TAFEP comprises 4 sections with well-defined functions to ensure effective and efficient implementation of policy decisions as well as development and execution of communication and outreach plans. The Promotions Section runs campaigns to raise awareness of and education employers and workers on fair employment practices. The Advisory Services Section manages enquiries, feedback and complaints concerning workplace discrimination. The Implementation Section conducts research, develops programmes and tools, run workshops and reach out to employers to enable them to adopt fair employment practices. The Corporate Services Section supports the work of these Sections by providing HR, finance and administrative support.
(3) Physical TAFEP Centre
To improve access to TAFEP’s services, TAFEP set up its physical Centre in November 2007. This enables employers and workers who need advice on fair employment practices to call or visit the Centre, and extends TAFEP’s reach to those who may not be comfortable with technology such as email and the Internet. The Centre’s facilities include a training room which makes it cost-effective to run courses for employers and workers at no or low costs. This allows SME employers and their workers to enjoy the benefits of training courses at affordable rates.
(4) Developing Fair Employment Guidelines
To provide guidance to employers and workers on what constitutes fair employment, the TAFEP Board and Secretariat developed the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices. This set of guidelines provides the basis on which the tripartite partners engage and advise employers and workers on what is considered discrimination or not.
The Guidelines make it easy for employers and workers to understand the concept of fair employment by setting out as Hire on Merit as the key principle in the Guidelines. This allows intuitive understanding that employers should select and recruit workers on job-related factors such as qualifications, skills and experience, and factors such as gender, age, race, religion, family status and disability should not be used for determining a candidate’s suitability for the job.
The Guidelines also provide useful operational advice for employers; these include advice on how to conduct job interviews fairly, as well as to handle dismissals, retrenchments and staff grievances objectively and sensitively.
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5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The setting up of TAFEP is a tripartite initiative, involving the government, the employers and the union. The TAFEP Board comprises members from these three partners. The Co-Chairs of the Board come from SNEF and NTUC. The TAFEP Secretariat which is responsible for the day to day operations of the TAFEP Centre also comprises seconded officers from the three partners, as well as direct hires.
In running its programmes, TAFEP actively collaborates with many partners to enhance its efficiency and effectiveness. These include leading employers, industry and business associations, HR and Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) practitioners, interest groups and NGOs.
Through the TAFEP Exemplary Award, TAFEP forms a network of forward-looking employers to champion change and share insights with other employers at seminars. TAFEP recognises that change can be led by industry groups, business associations and chambers to set best standards. TAFEP works with them to help their members adopt fair practices through collaborating on workshops and sharing sessions.
TAFEP has worked with private HR agencies for existing HR awards to include Fair Employment Practices as a criterion. Awards such as HR Awards, CSR award and the international AARP award see TAFEP’s representation in their judging panel.
Leveraging on its tripartite nature, TAFEP works with NTUC to promote progressive employment practices to enable women to return to the workforce. We jointly organised a “Best Companies for Mums” Contest to recognise employers who have put in place policies and practices that look after the needs of their women employees who have children.
TAFEP collaborates with interest groups and NGOs (e.g. Society for the Physically Disabled) to organise workshops for employers, and counterparts in UK and Hong Kong to learn and share insights. These collaborations saw the publication of several research pieces on various issues related to fair and inclusive practices.
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6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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All three tripartite partners contributed human resources to the setting up of TAFEP by seconding their staff to the organisation. There are currently a total of eight seconded staff. The rest are TAFEP direct hires. In addition, SNEF provides some HR and financial support in the appointment of staff and processing of payments for vendors.
All three partners contribute funding to finance the operation of TAFEP, with the bulk of the resources coming from the government. NTUC helps to secure the Centre’s premises and facilities at any other union buildings at a reasonable rent.
The contributions from the partners are detailed in a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the three parties.
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7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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High Awareness of TAFEP
A survey conducted in 2012 showed a high awareness of TAFEP at 72%, as compared to only 46% in 2010. This means that employers and workers know the existence of TAFEP and that they can turn to TAFEP for advice and assistance.
Strong Commitment from Employers
TAFEP encourages employers to pledge to be a fair employer. By signing the pledge, it is a commitment and an indication that they want to be a fair employer. For pledge signers, TAFEP provides a host of support services to enable them to be fair employers. We visit the company and give them customised advice on how they can improve on their HR policies and practices. We also make available our conferences and workshops to them on a complimentary basis or highly subsidised rates. We have seen the number of pledge signers increased more than ten-fold from 200 in 2006 to more than 2,500 in 2013.
The strong support of employers is also shown from increasing interest in the TAFEP Exemplary Award. Started in 2010, the Award recognises exemplary organisations that have effectively implemented fair, responsible and inclusive employment practices. By recognising and showcasing these exemplary employers, TAFEP hopes to inspire other organisations to also adopt good employment practices. We have seen an increasing number of submissions for the Award. For the 2014 Awards, we received more than 130 nominations for the award as compared to 78 when it first started.
Greater Buy-in from employers
Another significant achievement is that the percentage of discriminatory job ads has dropped from 20% in 2006 to less than 1% in 2013. TAFEP works closely with media owners, job portals and employment agencies to bring about this achievement. TAFEP briefed these partners on the Fair employment Guidelines. They play an important role in supporting TAFEP’s work by advising their clients on the Guidelines and avoid putting out job ads that are discriminatory.
Increased Capability Development
TAFEP has also used seminars/workshops to educate employers so that they will adopt good employment practices. To enhance access to TAFEP’s services, various workshops are made available to employers at no cost or low cost. These include lectures on the Fair Employment Guidelines, the Employment Act, Fair Recruitment and Selection, Grievance Handling and Effective Management of Mature Employees. In 2012, around 4,7000 participants attended 71 seminars/workshops organised by TAFEP.
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8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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Campaign Effectiveness Survey
We conduct a campaign effectiveness survey once in two years to determine if our campaign has achieved its objectives. In 2010, the awareness of TAFEP was 46%. In 2012, it rose significantly to 72%. We have set a target of achieving 75% awareness of TAFEP in 2014. The results of the survey are studied and used to review and further fine-tune our campaign.
Feedback for Conferences and Workshops
Feedback is gathered from all participants of our conferences and workshops to ensure that the training we offer is of good quality. In 2013, the target we set is 85% satisfaction rate. As at Oct 2013, we have achieved a high satisfaction rate of 98%. The qualitative feedback we have received is also very positive, with participants expressing that they have found our workshops useful and benefitted from them.
Monitoring of Quality of Service Delivery to Customers
Providing high-quality service delivery is another of TAFEP’s achievements. We have consistently met or surpassed our targets to provide timely and effective responses to our customers. As per our the target for 2013 to respond to all feedback within 3 working days and to all complaints within 5 working days, we have done so in close to 100% of the cases. In addition, we have surpassed our target to complete management of 85% of complaints within 1 month and 100% within 3 months, with 90% and 100% for these two indicators respectively as at Oct 2013.
Number of New Pledge Firms
We also monitor and target to bring in an addition of 200 pledge signers each year. This is to ensure that we would continue to broaden the base of employers who practise good employment practices. As at October 2013, we have more than 2,500 employers who have signed the pledge. Between April to October 2013, we have managed to garner 380 new pledge employers.
Drop in the number of discriminatory job ads
Another important indicator we track is the percentage of discriminatory job ads. This has dropped from 20% in 2006 to less than 1% in 2013. TAFEP works closely with media owners, job portals and employment agencies to bring about this achievement. TAFEP briefed these partners on the Fair employment Guidelines. They play an important role in supporting TAFEP’s work by advising their clients on the Guidelines and avoid putting out job ads that are discriminatory.
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9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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A key challenge was in reaching tripartite consensus on what constitutes fair employment practices, before we could begin to develop a set of guidelines that to advise employers and workers. There were many intense discussions among the tripartite partners on the issue before the Guidelines were eventually developed and finalised. TAFEP managed to overcome this challenge through the good tripartite relationship and trust built up over the years. Though each stakeholder has its own interests, they also recognised the common goal and advantage of creating fair workplaces in Singapore.
Setting up the TAFEP Secretariat and the TAFEP Centre required considerable resources and extended negotiations amongst the tripartite partners on their respective roles and contributions. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed among the three partners, under which the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) contributes 3 seconded officers, while the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) contribute 2 each. All three provide funding for the Centre’s operations, with the bulk coming from MOM. In addition, SNEF provides some corporate services for HR and finance. NTUC facilitates the securing of the Centre’s premises and facilities at any union building at a reasonable rent.
Managing expectations of the public was another key challenge. TAFEP’s role is to raise awareness of and educate employers and workers on fair employment practices. The aim is to address discrimination issues related to age, gender, race, religion, family status and disability. While we are not able to guarantee job seekers a job, we sometimes do encounter job seekers who expect us to help them secure a job. In such instances, we would work with other employment facilitation agencies and refer the job seekers to them for further assistance.
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