Forum: Comprehensive approach to formulating Workplace Fairness Legislation

We refer to Ms Sugidha Nithiananthan’s commentary “

Better data enables stronger solutions for workplace discrimination

” (Nov 7).

We agree that data is fundamental for policymaking. In formulating the scope of the upcoming Workplace Fairness Legislation (WFL), the tripartite partners drew not only on data from the Ministry of Manpower Fair Employment Practices (FEP) survey, but also real-world complaints and extensive consultations with key stakeholders, including employers, employees, and human resources professionals.

The FEP survey is a key resource for identifying overall workplace discrimination trends. We surveyed a random selection of 5,000 respondents, to ensure representative findings and to avoid the risk of self-selection bias. Comparisons between the FEP survey and other surveys, such as the Aware-Milieu survey, need to be done carefully due to differences in scale and methodologies. 

The FEP survey captures the main forms of discrimination, including marital and pregnancy status, that were included in the total but not shown in the report as separate categories because the number of observations was too small for meaningful analysis. Further breakdowns on other forms of discrimination or specific population segments similarly would not yield reliable estimates. 

The FEP survey highlights the need for stronger safeguards to encourage reporting of incidents of workplace discrimination and harassment. To address this, the WFL will require employers to set up grievance-handling processes, keep the identity of persons who report workplace discrimination or harassment confidential, and prohibit retaliation against them. These measures will let employers better manage grievances and assure employees it is safe to come forward.   

We thank Aware for being one of the partners of the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices. We encourage Aware to continue to refer cases of alleged workplace discrimination and harassment to the alliance for follow-up.  

Ang Boon Heng
Director, Manpower Research and Statistics Department
Ministry of Manpower