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.

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.

Bangladesh's Minister for Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, Nurul Islam, is satisfied with the working environment of the Bangladeshi workers currently employed in Seychelles in various sectors such as construction, tourism and agriculture.

This follows an official visit by the minister during the weekend when he also visited the O'Nivo construction company at Providence and also Bangladeshi workers on a construction site at Ile Perseverance.

Minister Islam was accompanied by the Seychelles' Minister for Employment, Immigration and Civil Status Myriam Telemaque, the principal secretary for employment Jules Baker and other officials of the ministry.

There are around 2,200 Bangladeshi workers currently employed in various sectors from agriculture, tourism and construction in Seychelles and they are working tirelessly to grow the economy of Seychelles and at the same time provide to their families back home.

Speaking to the media after their visit, Minister Islam pointed out that he is satisfied how the Bangladeshi workers are being treated.

"The purpose of my visit is to oversee the working condition of the Bangladeshi workers at O'Nivo Construction company. I am really satisfied with their working environment and salaries. The workers are well treated, and really enjoy working in such a beautiful country. Obviously we will have to monitor their condition so that Seychelles can have more Bangladeshi workers," he said.

Minister Telemaque added that Bangladeshi workers are well treated in the country.

"We are really happy with the condition of the workers, and we will work hard to keep improving their daily stay in our country. The Bangladeshi minister also compared the working condition of the Bangladeshi workers here with other countries and we agreed that expatriate workers should be well treated," said Minister Telemaque.

One of the workers, Hassan Mahamudul, who is employed with O'Nivo Construction company, told the media that he enjoys working in Seychelles.

"Every two years I get a ticket to go back to Bangladesh for free. I am really pleased with my working condition and could not ask for more. I really appreciate that the Bangladeshi minister took the time to visit us," he said.

Owned by Hao Liu, O'Nivo Construction Company employs around 30 workers.

Before the site visit, the Bangladeshi delegation paid a courtesy call on Minister Telemaque at her office at the Independence House Annex, Victoria.

Minister Islam was originally expected in the country of Thursday night and was to hold meetings with Minister Telemaque last Friday, but his programme had to be altered as he had to stay much longer in Mauritius as Air Seychelles had stopped flying there for a short while because cyclone Berguitta left a trail of destruction across the island after battering it with the strength of a hurricane.

Third Human Resource Forum for the year 2017

The Ministry of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status held the third Human Resource Forum for the year 2017 on Thursday the 9th of November at the STC Conference room. As established, the Human Resource Forum is a platform for consultation and sharing of knowledge and best practices between Human Resource Managers and Directors from the private sector as a means of strengthening the partnership between the Ministry and the Private sector.

Two main presentations were made at the forum meeting. The first one featured the Occupational Health, Safety and Standard Awareness service provider, Mrs Tina Hoareau on the consultancy and training services on offer at S&S Consultancy. She enlightened the forum of the necessity for safety measures and the various services her consultancy can provide. The members of the forum had the opportunity to present their questions on the presentation.

The Forum was chaired by the Principal Secretary for the Employment Department Mr. Jules Baker and was attended by companies from different industries such as Construction, Hotels, Financial organisation and private businesses.

The second presentation was on the Seychelles Tourism Academy Training Forecast by the Senior Coordinator External Relations/Press Attache Mrs Murla Gabriel. This presentation spurred up an interactive discussion among the members of the forum from the hotels and tourism industry on their needs and requirements from the academy as well as their concerns of the curriculum content and how it affects their company. Also the academy was made aware of the needs the establishments present had.

The two presentations at the forum attracted interactive dialogue between members present on the issues raised both in terms of opportunities and challenges faced by the industry. They also recommended that similar presentations be welcome for subsequent meetings.

The next Forum is scheduled to take place in March 2018 and the venue remains the STC Conference Room.

85 youths get work skills through training schemes

Eighty-five young people have received their certificates after going through a skills development programme aimed at boosting their chances of securing employment.

The employment training programmes, which consist of both soft skills and on the job training, focus on different areas of employment, notably where there is shortage of labour in the country for example in the tourism industry, construction among others.

Every year three million is spent on the skills development programme to ensure that the participants acquire the necessary soft skills before they are placed in an organisation.

They received their certificates last Thursday during a ceremony at the International Conference Centre Seychelles (ICCS) in the presence of the Minister for Employment, Immigration and Civil Status Myriam Telemaque, the principal secretary (PS) for employment Jules Baker, the PS for youth and sports department Fabian Palmyre, the chief executive of the Agency for National Human Resource Development (ANHRD) Nadia Lauricourt, certificates recipients and parents along with other guests.

In his speech for the occasion, PS Baker said that such training is a learning process and is recognised to be very essential for the growth of the economy as well as increasing employment opportunities for job seekers.

"Youth unemployment remains one of the most challenging policy issues in the world today, because in many countries young people are still finding it difficult to secure a job and find one according to his or her own competencies and interest. The youth of Seychelles is also facing a similar challenge although we have recently observed an improvement regarding this situation. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the youth unemployment was 16.8 per cent in 2014 and in the second quarter of 2017 youth unemployment decreased to 11.8 per cent," he said.

He added that the government of Seychelles provides a lot so that the youths can have a better future.

"The progress made towards the position of the youths on the labour market today is due to various factors. The continued investment of the government of Seychelles in our youths, through various labour market policies and different schemes such as the skills development programme, has played a pivotal role. The participants are also provided with a training allowance, free bus and day care allowance to young mothers on the programme. This is an investment which increases the chances of participants remaining on the programme until the end and obtain the necessary skills and work experience for a future job," he said.

Orely Mothé, a student who has successfully completed the programme, stated that the training scheme provided her with all the necessary skills to tackle each challenge in her path.

"Currently I am working as an office assistant at ANHRD, the training provided me with better communication skills, ITC skills which will enable me to have a better future. It also gave me the motivation to go back to school, and in the future have my own small business," she said.

For the year 2016 to 2017, a total of 85 participants -28 boys and 57 girls -completed their training. The majority of the participants were trained in hospitality and customer service.

During the ceremony all the partners also received a token of appreciation from Minister Telemaque.

Those partners such as Kempinski, Hilton, Savoy, Laxmanbhai, Seychelles Breweries, Ephelia, Le Méridien Fisherman's Cove, Seychelles Postal Services, Abhaye Valabhji, Sunglower Daycare, Seychelles Tourism Board, Boat House and Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority, have all gone the extra mile to ensure that the scheme is a success and contributes towards the future of the nation.

The ceremony also saw a video presentation on the success stories of the trainees where they expressed their appreciation of the programme as well as their achievement.

The Minister for Employment, Immigration and Civil Status, Miriam Telemaque, visited the Constance Ephelia Hotel and Resorts, as part of her ongoing program to synchronise the partnership between the ministry and the private establishments.

The Minister was accompanied by the Principal Secretary for Employment Department, Mr. Jules Baker, the Special Advisor for Employment Ms. Veronique Bresson, the Director General for Labour Relations Mr. Steve Monnaie and other officials from her ministry.

The delegation was led on a tour of the hotels facilities where they got the chance to interact with the workers in each department, of which most expressed their general satisfaction with their working conditions. Several issues related to service charge, salary package, and career progression were however raised.

During the debriefing with the management of the hotel, Minister Telemaque commended the establishment for maintaining a status amongst the hotels with more local workers than non-Seychellois and recognized the efforts made to improve the employees' work life balance by providing infrastructures like a kindergarten.

It was recommended that the management of the hotel considers the issues raised by the workers and that they review the remuneration packages that entail different pay grades to better compensate between work experience and education level. The General Manager, Mr. Stephenne Duchenne, said that it remains the spirit and core values of the Ephelia Group to find different ways and better incentives to retain staffs and create a learning environment to enable both personal development and on the job training.

The meeting closed with the Minister giving the assurance to Mr. Duchene, Mr. Orvilke, and the staffs of Ephelia of her ministry's support and to continue the dialogue to find solutions to the challenges raised to improve employee performance and employer relations.

The issues raised will be followed up in three months' time by labour inspectors.

'Business as normal' at Air Seychelles

The department of employment will be working in close collaboration with Air Seychelles Ltd to improve on the working conditions of the airline's staff.

This statement was made by the Minister for Employment, Immigration and Civil Status, Myriam Télémaque, after a series of ministerial visits she and her delegation undertook at Air Seychelles on September 21 and 22, 2017.

This forms part of her ministry's plan to conduct visits at different work places so as to interact with employees and better gauge their conditions of employment.

Due to the large scale of Air Seychelles which currently employs over 800 people, the visits spanned over two days and included tours at the company's Victoria sales offices, its Praslin terminal operations as well as operations at and near the international airport.

Minister Télémaque's visit revealed a lot of concerns from Air Seychelles staff, who were more than ready to list down their list of grievances to the minister and her team.

On the subject of redundancies, Air Seychelles confirmed to the ministerial delegation that there are currently no plans to make any employees redundant.

"What we have suggested to the management of Air Seychelles is to at least talk to their employees. Give them a timeframe as to when they will discuss on the issue of redundancy so as to remove doubts that they could lose their jobs," Minister Télémaque stated.

In an interview with the press, Mr Kinnear stated that the speculation on redundancies at Air Seychelles are unfounded.

"This is business as normal. I expect everyone to turn up and do a full day's hard work as I would expect on any day of the week," he said.

As to other speculations that Etihad is not injecting money into Air Seychelles and the latter will soon have to end its merger with the UAE carrier in light of challenges faced by Alitalia and Air Berlin, Mr Kinnear replied: "Etihad remains a fully committed stakeholder. The management contract has been renewed for the second five-year contract period as communicated earlier in the year. What is going on elsewhere in the world, with other European stakeholders does not in any way reflect on the Etihad-Air Seychelles relationship."

Air Berlin and Alitalia, two of Etihad's high profile investments, both filed for insolvency earlier this year.

Concerning salary increase, Mr Kinnear had this to say: "Some staff have had salary increases, some departments have had salary increases. We have got an ongoing range of vacancies going on every week and every month for staff to apply for promotions."

"I'm a big believer in internal promotion. I like to see people apply for a job that is a higher grid, they earn more salaries out of it, take up more responsibilities and develop their skills sets as well," explained Mr Kinnear.

He also stated that staff cannot remain in one job for an infinite period and expect to receive salary increments for the same type of work they have been doing for 10, 20 or even 30 years.

"In that way you are not rewarding for performance or productivity" but rather for longevity, which according to Mr Kinnear is no way to run a business.

Air Seychelles staff therefore have to distinguish themselves among their peers and perform to their utmost capacity to receive performance-related increments.

However, the airline's management will be exploring options for their low-salaried, shift-based employees.

When asked about the way forward now that these issues have been brought to their attention, Mr Kinnear guaranteed his staff that every single item raised during the debriefing session will be reviewed by the company.

"Sometimes comments are misinterpreted, sometimes they are made out of context and sometimes they are very valid. There will be a mix of things that will need addressing and there will be a mix of things that may have been borne out of confusion or misinterpretation. We now have to work with the staff and managers, and communicate to the staff to help understand what actions are to be taken," added Mr Kinnear.

The department of employment is expected to hand over an official report to the management of Air Seychelles and conduct a follow-up visit early next year.

The accompanying photographs show the minister and her team interacting with staff as well as a debriefing session with the airline's chief executive and his managerial team.

A half-day Infrastructure for Radiation Safety seminar for identified stakeholders took place on Monday.

Organised by the Ministry of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA), the workshop was held in the conference room of the Independence House Annex, Victoria.

It falls under the follow-up mission under the new project Regulatory Infrastructure Development Project for Africa. It grouped representatives from relevant organisations, agencies, government departments involved in safety for workers and the public; in the protection of the environment; applications of radiation in medicine, industry and research;  emergency preparedness and response; management of radioactive waste (including government policy making and the strategy for the implementation of policy); safety in relation to water use and the consumption of food; land use, planning and construction; safety in the transport of dangerous goods, including nuclear material and radioactive material; customs; agriculture ... just to name a few.

These topics were showcased in various presentations for example on the applications of nuclear and radiation technology: IAEA; the setting up of a regulatory infrastructure for radiation safety: IAEA and on the current status of the legal and regulatory framework for radiation safety in the Seychelles.

The seminar was facilitated by Ahmad Al Khatibelt, head of a delegation of a team from IAEA, who will be in the country until tomorrow. Local facilitator is Steve Monnaie, director general for Labour Relations.

Present were Myriam Thelemaque, Minister for Employment, Immigration and Civil Status and principal secretary for employment, Jules Baker.

Further to an advisory mission conducted in Seychelles in June 2012, the IAEA was conducting a follow up mission under the new project, the Regulatory Infrastructure Development Project (RIDP), with the aim of updating information on the current national regulatory Infrastructure for Radiation Safety in the Seychelles. It is also to agree with the relevant stakeholders on a work plan and assistance needed to achieve the pre-required safety infrastructure so that Seychelles will be in a position to fully utilise the various nuclear and radiation applications provided by the IAEA.

Employment ministry calls for closer working dialogue with private sector

Employment, Immigration and Civil Status Minister, Myriam Telemaque has called for a closer working dialogue between workplaces and the Ministry with the aim of enhancing partnership with that sector of our economy.

Minister Telemaque launched the call during her visit to the Global Supplies Centre, based at the Free Trade Zone within the grounds of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) at Boise de Rose and that specializes in the importation and wholesale distribution of goods and other products sold to hotels, major tourism establishments and local retailers.

Accompanied by a delegation of senior officers from her Ministry as part of her on-going programme to enhance partnership with the private sector, Minister Telemaque was taken on a conducted tour of the premises and also met with the company's management and staff.

Issues raised by the staff focused on their monthly salaries, overtime, multi-tasking in their daily jobs, time-off requests to attend to their personal matters. The general observation after talking to the staff is that the company has been experiencing high staff turnover that have resulted on their heavy reliance on foreign workers.

In her meeting, Minister Telemaque explained that Ministry responsible for employment was taking a new approach to have a closer working dialogue and improve industrial relations within the private sector through consensual and understanding working relations for the betterment of workplaces.

"Today, my delegation and I have witnessed that you all work in a conducive and satisfactory working environment. The possibility for it to be further improved exist but that will come with both the management and staff coming together as a team and prepared to work closely with the Ministry responsible for employment," Minister Telemaque said.

She recommended with full assurance that her Ministry will provide its assistance to the management of Global Supplies Centre to work on an action plan in order to have in place a proper and effective human resource structure that will timely address issues that staff may have and determine a comprehensive localization of posts.

"My Ministry's vision is to ensure that there is good work relations between the employer and employee for the betterment of the company as the workforce contributes towards its commercial success" Minister Telemaque re-iterated.

As part of her planned Ministerial Visits, the Minister of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status, Mrs Myriam Telemaque visited local beverage company, Seychelles Breweries last Friday.

The Minister was accompanied on her visit by the Principal Secretary for Employment, Mr Jules Baker, the Special Advisor for Employment Ms Veronique Bresson, the Director General for Industrial Relations Mr Steve Monnaie and Director General for Labour Migration Ms Cecile Hoareau.

The visit was an opportunity for the ministerial delegation to meet with the executive team of one of the manufacturing employer in Seychelles. Seychelles Breweries has approximately 150 employees.

Prior to engaging with the staff of Seychelles Breweries, the Minister and her entourage were given an overview of what Seychelles Breweries is all about and its role in the Seychelles' economy.

In the presentation, Minister Telemaque was briefed on the company's workforce and what are the different programmes in place to develop the capacity of the brewery's employees. The company informed the Minister of the Graduate's programme which had just been recently re- launched with the objective of building future leaders for the country.

After the presentation, the Minister visited the different departments within the brewery and had the opportunity to interact with the employees to understand whether they had any employment issues also to learn of the challenges they face and acknowledge the contribution they are making to the development of the country's economy. The Minister was also updated on the actions taken to tackle the previous issue of ammonia in the factory.

At the end of the visit, Minister Telemaque said that she was satisfied with what she has seen at the brewery in terms of the working environment of the employees. She said that the staff she had spoken to did not have any major issues and were generally satisfied with their working conditions. The few concerns raised, however, were discussed with the management after the visit and they agreed to address those concerns in the shortest possible delay.