According to the latest poll by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), incidents of discrimination against employees in the workplace dropped significantly last year compared to 2018. The report also shows that in workplace discrimination, the most people are discriminated because of their age, most of whom are over 40 years old, followed by being discriminated against because of pregnancy.
According to the results of the MOM Survey on Fair Employment Practices conducted every three years, 8% of local resident employees surveyed said they had experienced workplace discrimination in 2021, up from the previous round of 2018. The survey reported a low of 24%.
The Ministry of Manpower also said in the report that there will be fewer incidents of workplace discrimination in 2021 than in 2018, reflecting the efforts of the Ministry of Manpower and the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) to correct stereotypes and promote fair employment. Code of effort.
In addition, the tight labor market in 2021 may also make employers focus on candidates with the right skills and less on preferences for specific types of workers.
The latest survey also found that 4.6% of employees said they were discriminated against because of their age, and they were mainly employees over 40 years old.
Second, in the case of discrimination, 3.7% of employees said they were discriminated against because of pregnancy. Personal mental health was the third most common cause of discrimination, with 3.2% of employees reporting that they were discriminated against.
The report said the majority of incidents of discrimination were related to career development, salary and promotion.
Job seekers most often discriminated against based on age
The report also showed a decrease in discrimination against job applicants. In 2021, 25% of job seekers said they had been discriminated against when looking for a job, a figure that was significantly lower than 43% in 2018.
Age discrimination tops the list, as in 2018, among job seeker discrimination incidents. Among the discrimination incidents of job seekers participating in the survey in 2021, 18.9% said they were discriminated against by age; secondly, 6.9% of job seekers said they were discriminated against because they were mothers. Racial discrimination came in third, with 6.3% of people saying they were discriminated against when applying for jobs because of their race.
Additionally, 54 percent of employees surveyed reported that employers have formal procedures in place to manage discrimination in the workplace, an increase of nearly five percentage points from 2018.
80% of discriminated employees choose to remain silent
Twenty percent of employees who experience workplace discrimination seek support, the vast majority from the company or union. However, 80% of employees did not report or seek help when faced with an unfair experience, mainly because they feared being marginalized at work or embarrassing their work relationship, and secondly because they felt that the problem was not serious enough to report.
In addition, the report also shows that comparing the poll results of European countries, the level of workplace discrimination in Singapore is similar to the average level of EU countries, which is lower than that of France, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland, but higher than that of Germany, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Italy.