Work grievances in focus

NOW that the number of discriminatory job advertisements has dropped drastically - from almost 20 per cent to 1 per cent - the spotlight is on "in-employment" biases.

"These could be unhappiness over benefits, salary or assignment of work, but we're focusing on discriminatory practices," said Madam Halimah Yacob, the co-chairperson for the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (Tafep).

For instance, women with young children complain that they do not get as much in bonuses or miss out on a promotion because they are unable to put in overtime. Or an older employee, who despite his skills and energy, is passed over for promotion because the manager favours youth.

"However, these problems can be solved at the company level with an effective grievance-handling mechanism in place," said Madam Halimah. "It need not escalate and be brought up to Tafep."

As such, Tafep plans to work with 50 companies this year, and especially with their supervisors and section heads, in improving grievance processes.

Human resource (HR) managers are not always at fault, said Madam Halimah. Most of the time, it is the line supervisors who have direct contact with the worker.

The alliance's focus is also a good opportunity for companies to engage their employees and address their concerns, she said.

Unionised and big companies like multinationals - rather than small and medium enterprises (SMEs) - tend to have grievance processes systems in place.

At the same time, SMEs account for the majority of employers in Singapore, said Ms Annie Yap, managing director of recruitment firm AYP Associates.

Tafep will also educate the public on how they can support fair employment practices and adopt a more holistic approach in promoting responsible employment practices.

It will develop new research and training for managing mature workers to give employers who hire older workers more support.

Employees MediaCorp spoke to welcomed the news. "Contract staff work as hard as permanent staff and deliver results but we don't get the same benefits as full-timers," saidMs Rozita Tahir.

The 38-year-old IT administrator lamented the absence of a grievance-handling system for such staff. She had approached her manager for a transfer because she could not get along with a co-worker.

She was assured of a transfer but it did not go through and she was laid off instead. Despite being told it was not due to her performance at work, Ms Rozita could not get a "satisfactory answer" for her termination.

Mr Andrew Phua also wishes for the in-employment practices at his company to be better.

The 40-year-old marketing manager of an audio equipment company has a niggling suspicion that his boss gives a younger colleague more attractive assignments. "He gets to go to Europe and America, while I travel within the region," he said. "(But) it's hard to raise this issue as the HR person is his relative and not a neutral party."

- TODAY newspaper