Being criticised as ‘asking for free labour’, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has defended its call for partners in developing a mobile app for foreign workers on Tuesday (Jul 4), Channel News Asia reports.
Through a statement posted on MOM’s official Facebook page, MOM clarified that the partnership is meant to be a “collaborative model to achieve win-win outcomes” in developing the mobile app. The app is sought to be one of ministry’s efforts to help foreign workers in Singapore gain better understanding about Singapore’s employment laws, social norms, and their employment right.
To build and develop the app, MOM has conducted the call for partners in January. However, the ministry saw the need to release the statement after Facebook user named Pat Law criticising the ministry’s strategy as “asking for free labour” on Tuesday. By Wednesday evening, her post has garnered about 300 shares.
See: Singapore’s OCBC Bank is the First to Launch Comprehensive HR Mobile App to Meet Employee Needs
Based on posting related to the call for partners in the ministry’s website, it is stated that the partner will be responsible to bear the cost of developing the app. However, as compensation, the partner will gain access to all content provided by MOM on the app for free. Furthermore, the ministry will also provide the app developers with insights from a usability study based on a prototype app.
The ministry underlined that the partners will have full flexibility to continue providing a suite of other services that can be monetised, including retail services, advertorials and promotions. Additionally, the rights, Foreground, and Background IP of the mobile app, will be owned by the partners, not by MOM.
Director of GenyTek David Leong, which has worked on the app development, stated that partnering with MOM will give a great value for the project. He commented that MOM brand possess the credibility that is needed to produce a good app that workers will want to use.
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