SINGAPORE: A new scheme was launched on Friday (Oct 20) to guide employers in managing workplace grievances more effectively.
Called the Tripartite Standard for Grievance Handling, it specifies a set of verifiable and actionable employment practices.
For instance, it recommends that companies set up proper channels for employees to raise unhappiness such as feelings of unfairness over wage cuts, dismissals and retrenchments, so that bosses can investigate and respond.
Supervisors must be trained to manage feedback and grievances from staff, and work with the union if the company is unionised. Companies will also have to specify the appropriate authority to hear the appeal and a set a timeframe for action to be taken.
The scheme is voluntary and more than 220 employers across various sectors have pledged to adopt these standards. Collectively, they employ about 245,000 employees.
Companies that sign on will have their names listed on the website of the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices, and will also get to use the "Tripartite Standards" logo in their job advertisements and marketing material.
Launching the standard at the Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability in Jurong East, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say said: "We can make our workplaces even more progressive and harmonious, our workforce more engaged and productive, and businesses more innovative and competitive as we strive for better growth in our future economy."
What the tripartite partners strive to do, is to keep strengthening our dispute management mechanisms so that more of such disputes can be resolved in a cheaper, better and faster manner for both employers and employees."
PROGRESS IN HELPING WORKERS CAUGHT UP IN SALARY DISPUTES
Mr Lim also revealed that nine in 10 workers with salary claim disputes managed to recover their salaries in full under the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) scheme since it was set up in April.
One in five of 4,600 employees and employers who have registered salary claims with TADM over the past six months are professionals, managers and executives (PMEs).
“We are now able to support and serve employees of all categories, especially those PMEs who are not covered under the employment act, so in other words, even the PMEs with higher salaries of S$4,500, they are now able to bring their dispute to us.”
Previously, these PMEs could only recover unpaid salaries through the civil courts, but with TADM and the Employment Claims Tribunal (ECT) in operation since April, those with larger pay cheques will not have to file their claims with the civil courts - which was a lengthier and costlier process.
Mr Lim said the scheme has also helped lower-wage workers on the legal support, job search and financial assistance front.
“Another area which we feel we have done well is for the lower-wage workers. Besides helping them recover their salary, many of them need additional help in terms of legal advice. And in some cases, we are also able to help them with providing financial assistance, all these through the partners we have under TADM," he added.
The Tripartite Standard on Grievance Handling is the third standard to be launched. The other two covered employment conditions for term-contract employees and flexible-work arrangements.
Meanwhile, other standards are also being developed and they cover areas such as recruitment practices, procurement of services and retrenchment processes.
Read more at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...ard-launched-to-help-employers-manage-9328756
