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 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.

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.

On Friday the 18th of August 2017, a Ministerial visit was made to the Casino Liberte at Anse Petit, Baie Lazare by the Minister of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status Mrs. Miriam Telemaque along with a delegation which comprised of Special Adviser, Director General Labour Relations and Director General Employment Programmes.

The management of the establishment welcomed the Minister and her delegation with warm introductions. The Marketing Executive Mrs Irina Kravchenko Ettienne led a tour through the premises of the various sections and offices. During this tour the Minister and her team met with workers on duty which provided the opportunity the opportunity to interact with them.

The objectives of the Ministerial visits are to understand the challenges faced by the private enterprises, to share best practices in managerial methods, to recognise areas for improvement as well as appreciate effort and to synchronize the partnership between the Ministry and the private establishments.

After the tour of the premises, a meeting was held between the Ministerial delegation and the management of the Casino. This meeting is the normal procedure of such visits whereby concerns and observations made are discussed in order to bring about solutions.

As the end of the year approaches, the Minister for Labour and Human Resource Development, Ms Idith Alexander’s tour of private sector businesses and institutions has been going well. On Friday 17^th October, she conducted her 26^th visit of the year which was to the International School Seychelles.

The Minister, accompanied by officials from her Ministry was greeted by the Principal of the School, Mr Karl Wilkinson and Chairperson of the Board of Governors, Mrs Laura Valabhji. The Ministerial delegation was taken on a tour of the school, during which they were introduced to various members of the staff and student body.

The visit covered all forms, from kindergarten to Sixth Form. At each of the locations visited, the Minister interacted with staff members, most of whom expressed satisfaction with their present conditions.

At the end of the visit, a meeting was held between members of the International School staff and the Minister’s delegation. The main issue discussed were contracts of employment and remuneration packages. Mrs Valabhji assured the Minister that the school has already laid out a new salary structure, which will entail different grades of pay based on various factors such as prior work experience, education level, etc.

According to Mrs Valabhji, this new structure will be communicated to the staff shortly. This was well-received by the Minister, who emphasised that communication is an important factor within workplaces.

As with previous visits on her tour, the Minister brought to Mr. Wilkinson’s and Mrs. Valabhji’s attention the scholarship financing programme that the Ministry of Labour is working on in union with ANHRD. Mr. Wilkinson and Mrs. Valabhji expressed intrigue with the idea.

The Minister re-emphasised her desire for increased co-operation between the government and the private sector and the meeting closed with her assurance to Mrs. Valabhji, Mr Wilkinson, and the staff of her Ministry’s support and assistance.

Mrs. Valabhji, Mr. Wilkinson, and the teachers in attendance expressed their sincere gratitude for the Minister’s time and attention on these matters and voiced their interest in closer ties with the Ministry of Labour.