Trust Forum Asia

Action to Impact

IDEA TITLE: Fair Employment Agency Singapore expansion

NGO/ORGANISATION NAME: Fair Employment Agency

SUBMISSION BY: Scott Stiles, General Manager

NGO/ORGANISATION WEBSITE / OVERVEIW OF THE NGO’s FOCUS AREA

Fair Employment Agency (FEA) seeks to transform the international labor migration process for domestic workers to make it fair and equitable for both workers and their employers. The current migration model - where agents serve as middlemen between workers and employers - is at best unscrupulous and often corrupt. Workers are regularly charged illegal placement fees, which they often finance under usurious conditions. Employers are not treated much better by the agency system. With workers paying to be placed in jobs, agents have an incentive to place the wrong worker with an employer; the more workers an employer has, the more money the agency makes.

www.fairagency.org

OUTLINE OF THE PROPOSED ACTION

We believe agencies are necessary to protect the interests of workers and employers, but the model needs a complete overhaul. By establishing an ethical and replicable business model, FEA seeks to transform the system from the inside out, becoming the largest agency in Hong Kong by 2019.

In 2015, our first full year of operations, we placed 399 Philippines workers and returned an estimated 100 years of salary to them. Workers and employers were “matched” based on job requirements and job skills, personalities and family environments. Revenues generated by placements covered 85% of our operating costs. In 2016, we will double outreach and expand services to Indonesian workers.

For the agency system to be transformed at scale, FEA’s model needs to be replicated in countries across Asia and the Middle East. While Hong Kong is our primary focus, we have our eye on expansion in 2017 and beyond, with Singapore as a first target.

COMMITMENTS REQUESTED
Marketing and Branding Needs
·  Expert advice in the area of marketing and branding. Our business growth to date has been driven by word-of-mouth created by our dynamic sales team. To grow at the exponential rates projected, we need a thoughtful, targeted marketing and branding strategy.
·  Companies to participate in the Fair Hiring Pledge in Hong Kong. The Pledge is a platform for companies to take a stand against human trafficking in the homes of their employees. We will collaborate with CSR teams to educate their employees on the issues involving debt bondage of domestic workers.
Expansion
·  $25,000 to make the FAIR App available and applicable to Singapore. FEA’s sister entity, Fair Employment Foundation, has developed FAIR (Fair Accessible Information Resource), a mobile-based app that provides information to both employers and employees in Hong Kong. We want to make this available to the Singapore market ahead of our agency expansion there.
·  Legal Help such as business registration, licensing, trademarking and accrediting Fair Employment Agency in Singapore.
·  Capacity building resources to execute Singaporean expansion in 2017. This could include seed funding, temporary office space, and corporate partnerships that will help build our Singaporean business.