Seychelles at forefront in Decent Work Country Programme
On Tuesday 21st October 2014, Ms Veronique Bresson, Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development met with Ms. Nombana Razafinisoa, a programme officer with the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Ms. Razafinisoa was on an official mission in the country as part of Seychelles’ decent work country programme (DWCP) and was here to plan activities within the implementation of the DWCP for the 2014-2015 part of the programme. She also used the occasion to discuss with the Minister of Labour and Human Resource Development, as well as with social partners, on the implementation of the DWCP and other ILO technical cooperation activities in Seychelles.
The Decent Work Country Programme itself is a mechanism through which the ILO supports the efforts of tripartite constituents to find effective and long-lasting solutions to commonly identified challenges in socio economic development.
The development plans of Seychelles have always been a challenge for employment and supply of labour imposed by demographic conditions of our country. Nonetheless, quality employment and unemployment marginalisation is however well within our reach. The Government is set to attain this important milestone in the remaining years of our nation’s development.
It is for this reason that the Government has welcomed the Decent Work Country Programme initiative as it will facilitates the preparation of a coherent and focused programme that promotes decent work throughout the economy. It also consolidates labour and employment achievements to which the ILO has been an indispensable contributor.
During the meeting, Ms. Bresson gave Ms. Razafinisoa of the nation’s progress and achievements under the programme, giving the example of the new National Employment Policy launched in April 2014. Ms. Razafinisoa said she was impressed with Seychelles’ progress in the programme so far. The programme itself began in 2011 and will run until 2015. Ms. Razafinisoa said that the idea is that the following year will be focused on seeing how Seychelles can better accomplish the goals of the DWCP.
Ms. Bresson said that the Minister was thankful to the ILO for helping get Seychelles this far.
Among the issues discussed in the meeting was the matter of statistics gathering, which, she confessed, is still a challenge in Seychelles, but that, again, under the programme, the ILO approved a mission only last month to help prepare action plans to provide technical assistance in the Labour Market Information System. The ILO is also assisting the Ministry in conducting the Productivity Study, Youth Employment Study, a review of the Occupational Safety and Health Decree and Policy, and review of the HIV/AIDS workplace policy.
“The public expects action,” Ms. Bresson said. “And the Ministry is eager to deliver on the challenge. Employment continues to evolve and we need to keep up with what is happening in the world.”
This meeting was followed by another on Thursday 23rd October wherein Ms. Razafinisoa reiterated the objective of her mission as an opportunity for the International Labour Organisation (ILO) office to discuss and plan with the tripartite constituents the projects that the country requires over this biennium (2014-2015) for the effective implementation of Seychelles’ DWCP.
It was noted that Seychelles remains at the forefront in the implementation of the DWCP in comparison to its counterparts in the Indian Ocean and is among the top three countries in Africa. In view that the programme is sustained by both the political will and commitment of the applicable partners. The team in Seychelles is also proactive and maintains a strong collaboration with the ILO Country Office based in Antananarivo, Madagascar. In this regard, the Antananarivo office considered the possibility of organising a workshop in order to facilitate an exchange of best practices among the countries under its purview.
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Employment, Immigration and Civil Status Myriam Telemaque led a delegation on a working visit to the Savoy Resort & Spa yesterday.
The objective of the visit was to interact with staff, get to know their views, challenges as well as benefits being offered in their workplace.
Secondly the visit was aimed at ensuring a better understanding of the on ground operations of the workplaces and to see whether they are abiding by employment regulations.
Speaking of the visit, Employment principal secretary Jules Baker said that Savoy being a new hotel of only four years old faces challenges when it comes to staff and human resources management as staff have indicated some deficiencies in the area of communications and a proper management structure for reporting and feedback.
"Savoy is a very nice hotel and the staff are happy to work here but there are HR issues that need to be dealt with in the immediate, medium and long-term as they feel that decisions are being taken without the staff being informed," Mr Baker said.
He explained that this is a common problem in some of the establishments visited and appealed to all workplaces to establish better communication procedures between management, human resources and staff members.
"This will help establish a structure where the employees will feel comfortable to bring forward their difficulties, views, suggestions and recommendations as we have seen in many instances where employees with a lot of work experience do not have the leeway to contribute towards the development of the organisation," Mr Baker said.
Yesterday was Minister Telemaque's third visit for this year which forms part of a series of visits which she started last year after being appointed as minister.
The visits are aimed at establishing better contact between the employment department and the working establishments.
Last year, Minister Telemaque carried out twelve visits to various workplaces across Mahé, Praslin, La Digue and Félicité island such as Casino Liberte, Global Supplies Centre, Seychelles Ports Authority (SPA), Air Seychelles, Ile du Port Handling Services (IPHS), Constance Ephelia Hotel and Resort, Le Domaine de L'Orangeraie and Six Senses-Zil Pasyon Resort Ltd.
Mr Baker added that following such visits, there are follow up visits done by an employment technical team to physically assess what the minister and her delegation have seen and heard and then a written recommendation and deadline to rectify the problems is sent to the organisation.
"The dozen of visits we've undertaken have been very fruitful as we had a structured work plan and a set of recommendations for organisations to follow. So far some have given very good feedback on the recommendations put forward by the department while others are in the process or restructuring. I am 85% happy with the ministerial visits," Mr Baker said.
Members of the ministerial delegation on the visit to Savoy Resort and Spa also included special advisor Veronique Bresson, technical advisor Susan Morel, director general for labour relations Steve Monnaie, director for special employment programme Letimy Dookley and other senior employment officers.
Recommendations from a two -day workshop will be proposed to the employment department to contribute towards the implementation of a national framework to help improve decent work and economic growth in Seychelles.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 8 national indicators framework workshop being held at the International Conference Centre was opened yesterday and is being hosted by the Ministry of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status (MEICS) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Dr Coffi Agossou, a senior ILO labour statistics specialist is the facilitator of the workshop, the objective of which is to assess the availability and reliability of data related to the SDGs labour market indicators under ILO standards.
Dr Agossou has been providing his technical expertise as part of the review of the labour market to the employment department and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) since 2014.
The workshop was officially opened yesterday by the technical advisor of the employment department, Susan Morel who said the recommendations will address the data gaps between the requirement of SDG Goal 8 and statistics being collected by the national statistical information systems.
"The SDG Goal 8 hence presents an opportunity for us as a member state to assess progress made on the labour market and to assist policy makers in introducing the necessary measures to address development challenges, through the use of evidence-based data," Miss Morel said.
She said it will also guide the Employment Department to better align its data collection tools of its labour force surveys and employment statistics with international standards.
"Through the effectiveness of labour market policies, the success of Goal 8 will help to contribute towards the achievement of objectives in other SDG goals such as poverty reduction, gender equality among others," she said.
Dr Agossou said that during the two-day workshop, the stakeholders will be sensitised on SDG 8 national framework indicators and how to report and strengthen the technical capacity of the staff of the NBS, MEICS and other stakeholders who will be involved in this year's quarterly labour force survey (QLFS) data collection and SDG 8 report writing.
Representatives from the Ministry of Health, Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC), Ministry of Finance, Trade and Economic Planning (MFTEP), Central Bank of Seychelles and trade unions are attending the workshop.
The Minister of Employment Mrs. Myriam Telemaque reviews the state of affairs of the L'Union Estate on La Digue for a more cooperative and structured working environment.
The estate falls under the country's agricultural industry and it produces a wide range of plants from vegetables to spices as well as livestock. Situated on La Digue, it also presents a tourist attraction for the spacious environment and farm land. The estate employs a number of 82 workers of which 67 are local and 15 are non-Seychellois.
Previously visited on the 2nd of March 2017, the estate had some issues identified prior to that visit of which some were addressed.
The Minister during this visit was accompanied by a delegation on a tour of the estate observing the plant and livestock areas. She discussed with the workers at their work station and visited others at different stations encouraging them to work together and asking pertinent questions in regards to their challenges and opinion of their work. Generally the workers uttered satisfactory comments about the estate and how they enjoyed their jobs though there were crucial concerns raised on a number of topics such as inadequate level of support by management coupled with inequity in treatment of staff and insufficient staff welfare.
The estate employs an encouraging number of long service staff; having worked with the farm for an impressive number of years are that the ministry has pressed should be consolidated.
After the tour of the premises, the Minister held a meeting with the CEO of the estate and the Human Resource Manager during which the concerns raised were discussed emphasising the need for collaborative effort from both the workers and the management. The Human Resource Manager proposed a number of programmes she intends to consider which included a salary structure, team building activities, in-house training and a better staff welfare. This will create provision for a more structured operation, presenting a clearer pathway in the administration, fairness in treatment and a general improvement in job satisfaction.
