From May, settling-in programme for new maids

Today Online, Mar 13, 2010

SINGAPORE - With 28 per cent of maid employers last year terminating
the contracts of their new help within three months, new measures will
take effect by mid-year to better match employers and maids, as well
as help new ones adjust better.

Last year, accreditation bodies received 154 complaints against
employment agencies for poor job matching or inaccurate biodata.

The level of biodata detail provided varied across agencies and not
always with all the information employers need, noted Mr Hawazi Daipi,
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Manpower.

The Ministry of Manpower will be working with the Association of
Employment Agencies (Singapore) and CaseTrust to create a standard
biodata template.

To be ready by June, it would, for example, require agencies to
"indicate if and how they attempted to verify" claims about the
foreign domestic worker's skills and experience.

Come May, employers can also send their new maids for a "Settling-In
Programme" that "includes lessons on Singapore's culture, norms,
financial management and stress management", said Mr Hawazi.

Courses will be held on weekends at some community centres. Employers
keen on signing their maids up can log on next month to the website of
the Foreign Domestic Worker Association for Skills Training (Fast), at
www.fast.org.sg.

During the four-month pilot run, the course fees will be absorbed by
Fast. Participants will be expected to complete all four half-day
modules, said the non-profit organisation.

Last year, the ministry received 1,280 complaints from employers,
foreign workers and members of the public about employment agency
malpractices - 80 per cent more than the year before.

To strengthen the management of foreign workers here, for a start, it
will be made an offence to knowingly engage an unlicensed employment
agency.

"We intend to break the collusions involving kickbacks between
employment agencies and errant employers," explained Minister of State
for Manpower Lee Yi Shyan.

The ministry is also increasing penalties for some offences.
Currently, the maximum penalty for operating an employment agency
without a licence is $5,000 - a sum that "pales in comparison to the
fees that some foreign workers pay to come to Singapore", said Mr Lee,
who revealed that more changes to the regulatory framework will be
made this year.