In many parts of the world, social and political unrest have arisen from technological disruptions to businesses and the workplace, and from the threat of rising trade protectionism. Workers face income insecurity, the effects of economic inequality, and are unsure of what the future holds.
Here, in early 2019, the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) convened a high-level committee comprising business and community leaders as well as academics to consider how to ensure that Singapore workers are not swept by the same forces of disruption, that could be exacerbated by local trends such as the ageing population.
In November 2019, SBF launched its report titled Sustainable Employment – Achieving Purposeful Business Success Together with six recommendations that address the employment needs of the elderly, the less well-off and those vulnerable to job disruption.
At the heart of the calls to action lies the concept of Sustainable Employment. This is the commitment to provide fair compensation and ethical employment practices to workers throughout the business value-chain; to invest in their long-term skills and career development; and to bring innovation to business processes that expand and generate meaningful work especially for low-wage, low-skilled workers.
As part of this initiative, SBF launched a Sustainable Employment Pledge for businesses to declare their support for such practices and create a critical mass of companies to transform the landscape. Information on that can be found here.
IPS would like to invite you to attend a breakfast dialogue with the chairperson of the SBF initiative, Ms Goh Swee Chen, formerly Chairman of the Shell Companies in Singapore, who will tell you more about the initiative and the concept of sustainable employment.
She will be joined by the President of REDAS, Mr Chia Ngiang Hong, who will share about plans for a lighthouse project in the property sector to illustrate the sort of innovation in business practices that other industries can also design and implement for themselves to achieve business success while strengthening Singapore’s social compact.
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• Report on the IPS Corporate Associates Breakfast Dialogue on Sustainable Employment