New employment guidelines aim to end discrimination
JOB application forms asking for a person's age, gender, race or even photograph are soon going to raise eyebrows.
New employment guidelines, announced yesterday, have made them taboo.
They were among a new set of do's and don'ts a national committee has produced for employers to follow when recruiting, rewarding and retrenching employees.
The eight-member panel was formed last year to stamp out discrimination at workplaces.
Called the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices, its members represent the unions, employers and Government.
To put the guidelines into practice, a new Tripartite Centre for Fair Employment will be set up by year's end to educate and consult workers and employers keen to adopt such practices.
The co-chairman of the alliance, labour MP Halimah Yacob, said it was timely to give bosses 'practical and clear' tips on how to be fair employers amid a booming economy.
With 450,000 new jobs expected over the next five years, she said some people wonder if it was necessary as jobseekers will have an easier time finding or keeping jobs.
But she continues to hear complaints from older jobseekers about bosses who reject them because of their age.
Pregnant women, too, complain about being dismissed because bosses do not want to pay for their maternity benefits.
The Manpower Ministry received at least 180 employment-related discrimination cases in the last three years.
Madam Halimah hopes the new guidelines, which are more comprehensive than previous ones, will reduce the number of such cases.
One employer already taking heed is the Singapore office of Dutch bank ABN Amro, which does not require job applicants to state their age when applying for a job.
So far, more than 400 employers, including 59 government agencies, have pledged to be fair employers and follow the guidelines.
But will more employers do so without legislation to give teeth to the guidelines?
Developed countries, such as the United States and Australia, have anti-discrimination laws, but Madam Halimah says Singapore believes persuasion rather than coercion is a 'more sustainable approach'.
'If there is legislation, we could just throw the book at companies, but we also know that it is only a matter of time before companies start thinking of ways to circumvent the law,' she said.
She is not aware of any other country that issues such guidelines.
Her co-chairman, Mr Bob Tan, vice-president of the Singapore National Employers' Federation, argued that it makes business sense to treat employees fairly.
This is especially so in a tight labour market where job seekers, faced with more choices, would turn their back on companies that are biased.
'Where employers make biased judgements rather than evaluate an individual based on merit, they place themselves in the position of being lied to, or losing out on potentially good employees,' he said.
Ms Delphinia Tam, 31, agrees. Her pregnancy did not deter The Event Company from hiring her.
The local event organiser lets her work from home and she goes into its office only twice a week.
'They were very positive and welcoming. That was a very big factor in why I joined them,' said Ms Tam, who is five and a half months' pregnant.
