Term Contract Employees to Receive Better Benefits Package Under New Voluntary Standard for Employers

August 1, 201712:58 pm690 views

A new tripartite standard launched on Monday (Jul 31) will enable term contract workers to get better employment conditions if their employers adopt the scheme.

Named the Tripartite Standard on Employment of Term Contract Employees, the policy aims to improve several area of employment conditions, such as leave benefits, training and development, as well as notice period. Specifically, the standard will be applied by organisations that employ fixed-term contract, Channel News Asia reports.

Employers that adopt the new standard for term contract employees will consider all contracted periods of 14 days or more as continuous service, with a note that the break between each period is less than a month. This accumulative length of service will be used to estimate leave entitlements and the minimum notice period for term contract employees.

For instance, a term contract employee with accumulative service length of less than 26 weeks shall not receive a notice less than one day. Meanwhile, a term contract employee with accumulative service length of more than five years shall not receive a notice less than four weeks.

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Additionally, employers who have adopted the standard will also provide these employees with training. The education aims to help them stay employable after the contract ends, as well as remain relevant and effective in the business industry.

The Tripartite Standard on Employment of Term Contract Employees is the first of five tripartite standards developed by the Ministry of Manpower, National Trades Union Congress and Singapore National Employers Federation set to be launched consecutively by the end of this year.

The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) is also working with the tripartite partners to help employers adopt the standard.

TAFEP representative stated that 296 employers have already registered to be the early adopters of the new voluntary standard.

At the launching, Second Minister for Manpower Josephine Teo said that the standard will help prospective employees choose employers that possess progressive practices in the specific areas important to them.

However, she realised that the requirements in the standards might discourage some employers from signing up. Mrs Teo also said that some employers choose not to extend their training for term contract employees because they think the investment might go to waste.

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