SINGAPORE — While employers and employment agencies welcome the new measures unveiled on Sunday (Oct 6) to help employers and their helpers build better relations, they say that the devil is in the details when it comes to implementation.

One employment agency has expressed concern that a move compelling agencies to offer employers partial refunds of service fees, if a helper terminates her contract early, could be abused by hirers.

The agency also suggested that details be worked out on the circumstances under which employers can obtain a refund.

And one employer believes the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) could have gone further in making information of maids available, by including the contact information of their previous employers.

The MOM on Sunday announced several measures to be rolled out over the next two years to help employers find a better match with foreign domestic workers.

Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Manpower and Education, Ms Low Yen Ling, said that the aim of these measures is to help employers find helpers who are an “asset” to their households instead of being caught in a “recurrent hiring cycle”. She was speaking to the media at an event organised by the Centre for Domestic Employees to foster better relations between employers and their helpers.

POTENTIAL ABUSE OF PARTIAL REFUND BY EMPLOYERS

From October 2021, all employment agencies will have to provide an option for a refund of at least 50 per cent of the service fee charged to employers when a maid’s employment ends within the first six months.

While employment agencies that TODAY spoke to declined to reveal their service fees, Mr Mark Chin, the director for sales and marketing at Homekeeper, said that the fees could range from S$1,000 to S$2,000, including third-party costs such as the application fee for a helper’s work permit and transportation fee.

Employers whom TODAY spoke to also cited paying service fees within that range when going through employment agencies.

Describing the partial refund measure as “pro-employer”, Mr Brian Tan, the director of employment agency Nation, said that it could potentially be abused by employers as it would reduce their incentive to work on their relationship with their helpers.

“There could be an assumption that employment agencies don’t want a good match, but industries do want a good match from the beginning as it has an impact on things like our business and reputational cost,” said Mr Tan, 38.

He added that the industry should work with the ministry to put in place details to decide the circumstances under which employers can obtain a refund. For instance, a refund might only be granted if employers and workers have already turned to mediation services to fix their relationship first.

However, employers whom TODAY spoke to disagreed that such a system would be abused.

Ms Vhaney, who goes by only one name, pointed out that employers stood to lose 50 per cent of the fees that they had paid even if they choose to accept a refund. Moreover, most employers are not keen to go through the hassle of having to hire another helper and re-train her, added the 57-year-old senior staff nurse.

Employer and mother of two infants, Ms Lee Pei Ling, 34, said that the move would incentivise employment agencies to offer better matches.

“From an employer’s perspective, it’s definitely a bonus and it would help motivate agencies to put in more effort to help find the right fit because they want to prevent future employers from saying that some domestic workers do not fit the bill,” said the content strategist at The British Broadcasting Corporation.

MORE INFORMATION ON HELPER’S PREVIOUS WORK EXPERIENCE WELCOMED

Both employers and employment agencies across the board welcomed the move by MOM to collect more information on a helper’s previous work experience from next October.

Under the new measures, they will have access to information such as the type of residence and the size of the household a maid previously worked in, reasons her previous employer ended her contract and her key job scope. This information will be available on MOM’s online work permit system for foreign domestic workers.

Mr Chin of Homekeeper employment agency said that the move would help agencies and employers make “more informed choices” about their hires. He hopes that the online system will provide a space for former employers to key in a short description of their helper’s background.

Citing an example of helpers who could be caring for only one person in a household of five, Mr Chin said that this would more accurately capture the job scope of a helper.

Other employers felt that the new measure would allow them to verify a potential helper’s account of why she had left her previous job.

However, some, such as Ms Kris Foo, 52, felt that the ministry could go a step further by providing the contact of previous employers.

“Then you can judge better and see if either the helper or former employer is withholding information, or they could reveal something else to you,” said Ms Foo, a self-employed design consultant.