New tripartite standard on age-friendly workplace practices announced

Jointly developed by Singapore's tripartite partners - Ministry of Manpower (MOM), National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), and Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), the tripartite standard on age-friendly workplace practices was launched today.

This was at the Conference for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices 2018, organised by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP), attended by Human Resources. Over 500 business leaders and HR professionals were in attendance.

The new standard aims to support employers to become age-inclusive through these specifications:

• Age is not a selection criterion when advertising for, shortlisting or selecting job candidates.
• A member of the senior management is appointed to champion age-friendly workplace practices.
• Older employees are trained to perform their jobs effectively.
• Workplace health programmes for older employees are implemented.
• Jobs and workplaces are designed to be age-friendly.
• Older employees who are not at the maximum of their salary ranges and have satisfactory work performance are given annual increments, if other employees are also given these.
• Employees are engaged on re-employment issues at least six months prior to reaching the retirement age of 62, and for any subsequent extension of the re-employment contract.
• Employees are offered re-employment contracts at least three months before they are to be re-employed, with a duration of at least one year.

Together with the tripartite partners, TAFEP will work with employers to help them adopt this standard. Besides being listed on TAFEP’s website, adopters can use the TS logomark for recruitment and marketing efforts.

Robert Yap, president of SNEF, said: "This (standard) would allow their employees and job seekers to see that the company is committed to making their workplaces fair and age-inclusive. It would also help the company to better attract and retain their talent."

Guest-of-honour, Second Minister for Manpower, Josephine Teo also welcomed the latest batch of Human Capital Partners (HCPartners).

A total of 87 new employers, have joined the Human Capital Partnership (HCP) programme, bringing the total number of HCPartners to 221. About half of the latest batch of companies are SMEs, the largest proportion joining thus far.

The number of HCPartners has grown by about three times since the HCP Programme was launched in February 2017. In total, they employ over 190,000 locals, which constitute more than 8% of Singapore's total local workforce.

The following is a selected list of the 87 new employers signed up as HCPartners:

1. AXA Insurance
2. Bangkok Bank
3. Courts Group
4. Cycle & Carriage Industries
5. Greenpac
6. Kuok Group
7. Marina Bay Hotel
8. Pezzo
9. Rohde & Schwarz Asia
10. Transit Link

The other initiative unveiled was the Fair and Progressive Employment Index, developed by TAFEP and the National University of Singapore.

The Fair & Progressive Employment Index (FPE Index) is a free, online self-assessment tool which allows employers to benchmark their practices against their industry peers, or other organisations in Singapore. The foundation is based on three main dimensions – leadership, systems, communication.

It takes employers on a learning journey, starting with an assessment to determine the current stage of the organisation and guide them to attain their goals. To date, 204 organisations from various industries have used the self-assessment survey in the FPE Index, with about 65% of the respondents from SMEs.

Participating organisations will be provided with a detailed analysis of their scores, after taking the self-assessment, with a report containing recommendations.

Also at the conference was the announcement of TAFEP’s annual progress report, whereby in 2017, over 5,240 employers have signed the Employers’ Pledge of Fair Employment practices, up from 4,860 the year before. In addition, TAFEP has trained over 8,350 HR practitioners, line managers and senior managers in TAFEP workshops since 2007.

In November this year, TAFEP will recognise and celebrate companies that have made fair, responsible, and progressive employment practices a part of their organisation culture, through the new Tripartite Alliance Award. Over 200 nominations for the award have been received.

Photos / TAFEP