Minister Idith Alexander on Friday visited the Sainte Anne Resort & Spa as part of this year’s plan of action to strengthen collaboration with workplace organisations on labour and employment issues.

Ms Alexander has the portfolio for Labour and Human Resources Development and has started a series of visits to work places with the aim of familiarising her new administration with heads of organisations while strengthening existed partnership for better understanding of issues and challenges being encountered.

She was accompanied by principal secretary Veronique Bresson and other high officials in the ministry.

They held talks with the hotels’ senior management which focused on Seychellois staff’s development.

The delegation visited most sections of the hotel and talked to staff who reported positive changes and great satisfaction with their working environment.

Compared to a visit made to the hotel last year after many complaints from Seychellois workers against some expatriate staff of the hotel, the minister expressed great satisfaction on the improvement of working conditions which has resulted on decreased staff turnover and zero complaints to the ministry since the start of this year.

“I am well satisfied with the setting up of a new training department within the hotel which will no doubt help to increase staff knowledge and give further skills according to its specific needs through tailor-made programmes both local and regional, which could be adopted by other large tourism establishments,” said Ms Alexander

She commented on the need for large hotels to upgrade Seychellois workers to middle management positions after proper training and gained experience, as is the case at Sainte Anne Resort & Spa where 35% of management positions are being occupied by Seychellois.

The resort now has 70% local and 30% expatriate staff – a complete reverse of the 2011 statistics.

Ms Alexander called on all organisations not to perceive the labour department as a watchdog, but rather a partner to enhance human resource development and capacity building in the country.

As part of its activities for the Productivity Awareness Week (May 14 – 18, 2012), the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development is promoting a culture of productive employment amongst our population.

But what does Productivity means?
Productivity is simply defined as the efficient use of resources, labour and materials for the production of goods and services. In other words, it is about doing more in less time and increased performance in the hours worked.

Simple tips for you to enjoy your current job:
• Get yourself motivated to face the day: a positive attitude will make the day more pleasant and productive

• Keep your work in perspective: you can only do the best you can in each situation. Look beyond yourself and your work and consider the bigger picture

• Plan your time: prioritise your to-do list, do the important and urgent things first

• Concentrate on the task at hand: do not let yourself be distracted by worrying about all the other things to be done or losing energy over undesirable situations. Stay in the moment

• Clarify anytime you are not sure or when you are faced with conflicting demands: the more clear and upfront you are with your employer and other colleagues, the better it will be for you in the long term

• Review your day before you leave for home: look at what worked well and what could be improved the next day.

What can I do as an employer to improve Productivity?

• Train, motivate and discipline workers

• Build teamwork

• Develop performance incentives

• Make full use of technology

• Modernise equipments

• Review practices and procedures

• Economise on raw materials

• Sell products or services at competitive prices

Contributed by the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development

The youth employment crisis was the focus of an address by the Minister for Labour and Human Resource Development Idith Alexander at the 101st conference of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) being held in Geneva, Switzerland.

The conference this year, being held from May 30 to June 14, is focusing on the activities of the ILO during the past two years which sought to address the impact of the daunting challenges of the global economic crisis on employment.

Other specific items being discussed are youth employment crisis; social protection floor and fundamental principles and rights at work.

In her address to the conference on Friday, Minister Alexander put strong emphasis on the youth employment crisis which has been recognised as a global challenge by the ILO.

Minister Alexander stressed that “ILO constituents need to create conducive conditions for decent work to be realised”.

She urged “ministries of Labour to be pro-active and remain committed to the needs of workers and jobseekers especially during the economic crisis” and she called on “international organisations to initiate sustainable approaches that remain relevant in times of crisis”.

The minister added that as a result of the “global  youth employment crisis, feasibility policies and comprehensive solutions must be developed to renew confidence of our young people in our strategies”.

From a national perspective, the minister equally acknowledged that “youths form the majority of jobseekers due to the difficulty to secure decent work, strict requirements by employers and the high expectations of the young people”.

She noted that “when expectations of young people are not met instantly, youths become discouraged to work and settle for employment opportunities that are not necessarily of their interest. As a consequence, this creates mobility of young workers and eventually – unemployment”.

Minister Alexander informed the conference that the government of Seychelles recognises that a “young productive workforce is important towards the growth of its economy.

“Seychelles invests a considerable budget every year to implement skills development programmes to train unskilled and inexperienced young male and female jobseekers to facilitate employment among the youths,” she said.

Additionally, “the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development is bridging the ‘experience gap’ through close partnership with employers to develop incentive packages to attract and recruit young jobseekers. New school-to-work strategies will also be initiated in secondary and post secondary schools to better prepare our young people for the world of work,” she added.

Minister Alexander took the opportunity to thank the outgoing director general of the ILO, Juan Somavia, for his support to Seychelles during his term of office and she congratulated Guy Ryder for his appointment as the new director general.

The annual International Labour conference also creates opportunities for Seychelles to strengthen its technical cooperation activities with the ILO. More technical and financial assistance to Seychelles is forthcoming from the organisation, of which the ministry will communicate further information after the conference.

Other members of the Seychelles delegation attending the ILO conference are Jules Baker, director general of Employment Promotion Division; Susan Morel, director Policy Planning and Research; Antoine Robinson representing the workers’ union and Michelle Labrosse representing the employers’ federation.

The Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development (MLHRD) in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) organised a workshop for the Review of the Seychelles Decent Work Country Programme on Tuesday 23^rd July 2013 followed by a Training based on Result Based Management of the DWCP from 24^th to 25^th July, 2013.

The review workshop and Result Based Management training focused on evaluating the performance of the activities undertaken so far under the programme, whilst assessing its progress, challenges and relevance with applicable recommendations on the way forward for its effective implementation. This is further to the consultancy undertaken by Mr. William Zarine on the review of the current DWCP of Seychelles.

A new committee is working to improve Seychelles employment laws and working conditions under a decent work concept initiated by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 2004.

Since then, many member states have developed programmes at national level to make easier processes to improve their country’s working conditions.

The project to be implemented is called the Seychelles Decent Work Country Programme, which was signed in November 2011 by the then Minister for Education, Employment and Human Resources Macsuzy Mondon and the Regional Director for Africa Charles Dan.

The committee had its first meeting recently at the Independence House. 
For their five-year mandate, the committee will aim to build capacity of Seychellois workers in various sectors through technical agreements with the ILO. A national project is due to be implemented to modernise employment laws in Seychelles, mechanism in place to deal with these issues and how to apply these laws in a just manner for the benefit of all workers.

Funding for the project will be jointly done by the Seychelles government and the ILO, with the former injecting 60% of total costs expected to be around R5 million, and the ILO 40%.

The committee’s chairperson and project manager Jules Baker said they intend to work on the quality of employment in Seychelles, where for example, salaries are in accordance with the work done.

“We will ensure that, for example, men and women who do the same kind of job do not get a different salary, they should on the contrary get the same pay if they do the same amount of work or work of equal value,” he said.

“We will also work on social dialogue, where we will hold consultations on national level to further our talks with stakeholders.”

Mr Baker said the project is important to Seychelles and that the committee members were appointed by the minister herself and he asked the members to take ownership of the project and its implementation.

Mrs Mondon said the programme is about promoting rights at work, employment opportunities and social dialogue and work has started since last year.

“The programme is there to reach out to workers, job seekers, young people and the public in general and I’m happy the committee is meeting, since work has started on the programme,” she said.

“The project identified three priorities, which are to review existing legislation, strengthening the dispute/resolution system, promote quality employment, reduce unemployment especially among women and youth and promote effective tri-partism and social dialogue,” she said.

“We face many challenges in the labour market today and through this programme these challenges will be addressed and the result will be decent work for each and everyone in the country and the committee is tasked with monitoring and evaluating per the objectives set.”

There will also be training sessions held by the ILO to ensure the programme is well managed and sessions and modalities are already under negotiations with the ILO.

People who are searching for a job can now either go to their respective district administration or a regional centre which covers their district to apply for employment.

The Minister for Labour and Human Resource Development Idith Alexander yesterday visited private employment agencies as well as regional labour officers stationed in various district administrations on Mahe.

She was accompanied by her principal secretary Veronique Bresson, special advisor on community development Dan Frichot, and a number of other senior officials from her ministry.

Minister Alexander said they have placed employment officers in district administrations since August to make jobseekers’ efforts easier, help them with follow-up work on their job applications and make sure they manage to get a job.

“Employment officers’ roles are to make easier the work of those seeking employment, help them with the necessary processes, liaise with employment agencies and do follow-up work after the jobseekers get employed,” she said.

“Since the placing of employment officers at district and regional level is a new move, we are now monitoring it to ensure that the process is implemented well.”

After visiting the JobPlus agency at Oceangate House, Minister Alexander also visited HEG agency at Roche Caiman, SMS agency at Anse Aux Pins as well as regional labour officers at Bel Ombre, Anse Etoile and Mont Fleuri.

She remarked that statistics have doubled for job placements at the JobPlus agency.“Last month JobPlus helped 65 people get jobs, and this month – helped by the new measures we have put in place – they have managed to place over 140 people in employment, which are very encouraging figures,” she said.

“There are still areas for improvement though, such as communication. We need to better our ways of passing on information.”

She added that new measures also looking into include welfare cases.

“When a person comes to apply for social welfare at a district administration, the welfare officer will check if the person is in employment. If not, then the person is immediately referred to the employment officer, who will contact the various job agencies to enable the person to get a job. Others who might not necessarily qualify for a job are referred to certain schemes put in place by the government, where they can get the necessary skills to join the world of work,” she said.

The minister also asked employers to make sure that job cards are returned promptly when people get employed, as it affects their statistics collection efforts.

Jobseekers are encouraged to contact their district administrations to get dates and time that they can see employment officers to register and file their job applications.

On Friday 05th July 2019, Minister Telemaque accompanied by high officials from her Ministry conducted a workplace visit to Bliss Hotel at Glacis. Situated on the northern shores of the Mahe Island Bliss Boutique Hotel was rename to ‘’Bliss Mahe Seychelles’’ on 01st November 2018, employs 43 workers which 17 only are Seychellois.

The Ministerial delegation was welcomed by the General Manager Mrs. Mylene Morel and other management staff. They were then taken on a guided tour of the hotel where she met and spoke to the staff members working in different department. Most of the staff Minister Telemaque conversed with expressed that they are happy with their work condition with a few raising concerns in regards to human resources.

This was brought up by Minister Telemaque during the debriefing with the Management team, which on their part pointed out that they are having difficulty to recruit and retain Seychellois staff members that in effect has some repercussion on the level of productivity at the hotel.

The management team was encouraged to establish a proper Human Resources department which will deal with all issues pertaining to recruitment and staff in general. She added that this will ensure there is proper system in place that will help boost staff morale and increase job opportunities for the Seychellois.

On their part, the Management team gave their commitment to make positive changes in regards to the points discussed. Such will be followed-up with a visit by employment officers in 3 months’ time.

Mrs. Morel thanked Minister Telemaque and her delegation for the visit and assured her that they would continue to maintain a close working relationship with her Ministry.

                   The accompanying photos show some highlights of the visit

Civil Construction Company Limited-CCCL a well-known privatized company in the Seychelles, serving the construction industry since the 1st November 1998, is one of the major providers of crusher and quarry products in the Seychelles. It currently employs 104 workers.

The Minister of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status Mrs. Miriam Telemaque accompanied by high officials from her Ministry visited the workplace situated at Providence on Friday 06th September 2019.

As is customary, Minister Telemaque interacted with staff from various sections. She was pleased to note that staff members were satisfied with their working conditions with only few raising concerns. The Seychellois workers she spoke to during her tour has been with the company for many years, and one in particular was Ms. Noely Figaro who has been with the company for more than twenty years where she started off as a Labourer on 02nd May 1990 and continued under the new ownership on 01st November 1998 as an Assistant Batching Plant Operator. Demonstrating that woman can work well in an environment which is dominated by men, Ms. Figaro has been described as a person with a pleasant personality and a team player.

During the debriefing session with the management team the Minister pointed out some areas that needed management’s attention in order for them to attract and retain more locals, a situation that they are at present grappling with. At the moment their workforce is only 20% locals. ‘The reward should be commensurate to the responsibilities and workload, not forgetting experience’, the Minister said. ‘Especially for CCCL where, due to the nature of the work, it is sometimes undertaken in quite harsh conditions’ she continued. She spoke about the long service award that could be an option as an incentive for those with many years with the company, alongside other considerations such as flexible working hours.

The Minister took the opportunity of the visit to discuss a partnership with the company to offer training for heavy vehicle operators, an area that the country is facing serious shortage. The two parties will continue discussions on how best to approach the subject-matter.

On their part the company discussed the difficulties they are experiencing with certain internal processes of the Ministry where they sometimes encounter delays that results in their operations getting affected. The Minister has given her word to look into the matter and bring about changes where found necessary.

The management team thanked the Minister and her delegation for taking time to visit the workers and welcomed the idea of working closely with the Ministry on points discussed.

Ms. Noely Figaro

The accompanying photos show some highlights of the visit

ILO regional chief satisfied with Seychelles’ policies and actions

“Seychelles is a country that is blazing the trail in terms of translating policies into concrete actions,” the International Labour Organisation (ILO) assistant director general and regional director for Africa, Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon has said.

The ILO regional chief was speaking of her visit here with the press yesterday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Prior to the press meet, Mrs Samuel-Olonjuwon met President Danny Faure at State House where he accepted to attend the centenary of the ILO next year.

Her visit has been mainly for the official adoption of the Decent Work Country Programme and for preparing for its second phase.

She also seized the opportunity to participate in the validation meeting of the National Labour Migration Policy.

During her mission here, she also met Vice-President Vincent Meriton, the Minister for Employment, Immigration and Civil Status and the Association of Seychelles Employers and the Seychelles Federation of Workers’ Union.

The ILO regional chief congratulated the country through the President for being among the only three countries within the African continent that has achieved gender parity at the highest level of government. The two others being Ethiopia and Rwanda.

“Seychelles is a country that is blazing the trail in terms of translating policies into concrete actions. It is important to acknowledge and appreciate the fact that the Seychelles is the only country in Africa that has been officially designated as a high income economy. This is no mean feat. I also congratulate Seychelles for finalising and adopting the second generation of Decent Work Country Programme,” she said.

Despite all these achievements, the ILO representative also mentioned that Seychelles needs to work on the key issues that would be addressed in the second generation.

“The key focus is to use it as a tool for the implementation of the SDG’s 2030 that the country committed to and most importantly to translate the goal of the national plan. The country has a dynamic economy and needs to learn how to address the new challenges such as effectively manage the migration of workers, issues relating to skills around the country, the capacity of trade unions and the institutional framework,” she said.

How would ILO help Seychelles in achieving the goals? “ILO has been supporting Seychelles and will continue to support the country. We are not a funding agency. The SDG provides the framework of action and we remain available to help. ILO has the technical experiences that can help in translating the goals in concrete actions,” she said.

Antoine Robinson, secretary general of the Seychelles Federation of Workers Union, noted that with the signing of the second phase of the programme, it will allow the union to form more committees at the work place.

“The employees need to be educated and this is something we will focus on. The union works for both Seychellois and foreign workers and want to invite anybody who is being victimised to approach us,” he said.

Veronique Bresson, special advisor at the Ministry of Employment, Entrepreneurship Development & Business Innovation, mentioned that “goals that were not achieved in the first phase was due to lack of human and technical resources. Now we have a new vigour to pursue the work already started. We will also make sure that the monitoring and advisory committee which gather representatives from the government, workers and employers, are active.”

Complements of Seycelles NATION.