INITIATIVES FOR ENHANCED WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
The Singapore Government has implemented the re-employment legislation in 2012 to enable more people to continue working beyond the current statutory retirement age of 62, up to 65 in the first instance and later, up to 67. Re-employment is not the same as raising the retirement age as it requires employers to offer jobs to employees reaching the retirement age, but does not need to be for the same job position or on the same salary and terms.The legislation requires employers to offer re-employment to employees with satisfactory performance and who are medically fit, to continue working beyond the age of 62, till age 65. If employers are unable to find suitable jobs for eligible employees, they should offer the departing employees a one-off Employment Assistance Payment to help them for a period of time while they look for another job.
CDL has a current re-employment practice of extending employment to employees who have reached retirement age, but are still able to contribute to CDL, at full pay since 2005. In fact, CDL formalised our re- mployment policy with effect 1 July 2011, six months ahead of government legislation.
At the age of 62, employees who meet CDL’s re-employment criteria (i.e. satisfactory performance and medically fit, with availability of a suitable role) and are re-employed into the same job, which would be converted to a yearly contract term with no change in existing benefits and salary, are also eligible for all bonus payouts.
WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY
All departments are to adhere to the principles of the EHS Policy. Workplace Safety and Health risk assessment and awareness briefings are conducted for employees regularly. The Risk Register is reviewed annually to monitor the Company’s performance.In addition to comprehensive insurance coverage and flexible working hour arrangements, CDL established an Environment, Health and Safety Committee that helps monitor and advise on the Company’s Occupational Health and Safety Programme. 6.9% of CDL’s employees at HQ are in the committee.
Total Wellness: To promote total wellness, employees are given free annual basic health screenings during working hours while their family members can participate in the health screening programme at a discounted price.
Physical Health: Apart from monthly fruit days where employees receive a fruit each month, CDL organises various sports and wellness programmes to encourage employees to have an active and healthy lifestyle. Other incentives include partnership with a fitness centre to enable employees and their family members to enjoy attractive corporate membership rates.
Mental Health: Since 2008, CDL has made the Employee Assistance Programme available to assist employees on work-related issues, interpersonal relations, family, etc. It provides confidential help, with the initial consultation fees borne by the Company.
CDL’s influence has inspired our builders and consultants to establish their own EHS management systems and more than 50% of them have obtained the ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 standards. All main builders of CDL projects are required to attain both certificates.
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
CDL conducts annual training needs analysis at the individual and corporate levels to determine the types of training interventions that could be conducted to address the Company’s learning gaps. Taking into account CDL’s strategic directives, a company-wide learning plan is then implemented. This is to ensure that all employees are equipped with skillsets that are aligned with the Company’s objectives.Each employee is required to set aside at least four days for training per year. In 2011, average training hours per employee in 2011 was 34.3 hours. 3,287 hours have been dedicated to CSR and environment-related training in 2011.
REWARD AND FAIR REMUNERATION
CDL constantly seeks to offer fair and competitive remuneration packages based on the potential and capabilities of our employees. Remuneration package for an employee is given based on merit and job worth. Employees are eligible for overtime compensation in accordance with the Employment Act.The Company has adopted the internal parity and market alignment approach at the same time without comprising the right people in the right jobs. Salary benchmarking exercises are conducted on a regular basis to ensure that compensation is competitive.
CDL’s annual Excellent Staff Award rewards outstanding employees under the following categories. Financial and non-financial rewards are given to the recipients.
- Excellent Community Work
- Excellent Sports Performance
- Excellent Corporate Activities
- Excellent Service (Internal/External)
- Excellent Commitment
- Excellent Innovation & Creativity
EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATION
CDL has policies and procedures in place to manage employee grievances, if any, to ensure the matter is heard in a fair and impartial manner. Disciplinary action is guided by a set of Code of Conduct and, there is a Whistle-blowing Policy that deals with the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints regarding the Company’s accounting, financial reporting, internal controls and auditing matters, as well as protection of the confidential or anonymous reporting by employees regarding legitimate concerns.Through Townhall sessions, dialogue sessions with senior management, and internal platforms such as “eVoiceBox” (an electronic suggestion portal for employees to provide feedback), CDL ensures that employees’ views are always heard. Through the dissemination of City News, City Dynamix and Staff Circular, employees are informed of the latest updates about the Company.
Employee Assistance Programme provides short-term, non-judgmental and confidential assistance to all CDL employees in the form of telephonic, face-to-face or electronically delivered consultations by accredited professional counsellors in the areas of work, interpersonal relations, marriage and family, etc.
The Company’s intranet portal which houses information such as employment terms, benefits and practices, Code of Business and Ethical Conduct is also available to all employees.
CAREER MANAGEMENT
CDL has a well-structured performance appraisal system where open performance appraisal exercises take place on an annual basis. The Company has introduced the Balanced Scorecard as a tool to establish performance indicators, set the expectations for all employees, and to measure performance against agreed upon objectives.Apart from work-related objectives, Managers are expected to perform the role of a “People Manager” to all their reporting employees. Heads of Department, in particular, are required to include HR-related items such as retention rate, employee engagement score and employee training hours into their own balanced scorecards, which directly impact their performance evaluations.
Moving forward, CDL will be instituting a mid-year review to ensure that supervisors provide constant feedback and coaching to our employees. The Company also plans to embark on a mentoring programme for identified employees where senior management will be appointed as their mentors. Mentors will understand mentee’s career aspirations and offer coaching, counselling and networking opportunities to enhance mentee's career development and success.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Local regulations enable companies to implement Human Rights practices implicitly. In addition to CDL’s existing practices and the Corporate Statement on Human Rights, CDL fully complies with the following legislations focusing on welfare and rights of our employees.(1) Employment Act
The Employment Act provides the statutory requirements that must be adhered to when hiring employees in Singapore. CDL not only adheres strictly to the Employment Act, but provides our employees with benefits exceeding the requirements and also extend those benefits to managerial and executive employees, who are not covered under the Act. One example is provision of annual leave benefits that are better than that stated in the Act. Other benefits include provision of comprehensive insurance coverage for employees.
(2) CPF Scheme and Retirement
The Central Provident Fund (CPF) is a comprehensive social security savings plan which aims to provide working Singaporeans/Permanent Residents with a sense of security and confidence in their old age. CDL assists employees to make monthly contributions which are deductible from their monthly gross salaries into their CPF accounts as required by law.
CDL, as the employer, also makes monthly CPF contribution for all employees (Singapore Citizens and Singapore Permanent Residents) at the rates set out at the CPF Act.
CPF contribution is a percentage of the monthly salary and varies according to the employee’s age. These savings earn a minimum risk-free interest of 2.5% guaranteed by the Government while a portion of the savings will earn a guaranteed minimum of 4% interest.
The overall scope and benefits of the CPF encompass the following:
Retirement
Plan to ensure sufficient savings to
see CPF members through retirement.
Healthcare
Plan to ensure sufficient savings to
meet members’ medical needs in
old age.
Home Ownership
Plan to ensure a property that is fully
paid-up when members retire.
Family Protection
Several schemes and insurance plans
such as Dependents’ Protection
Scheme, Home Protection Scheme, catastrophic medical insurance
scheme and even severe disability
insurance scheme to protect CPF
members and their families.
Asset Enhancement
CPF members have the choice to
decide for themselves how to invest
their CPF savings, and what risks to accept, to ensure their financial well-being
after retirement.
(3) Pro-Baby Legislation
In support of the Government’s initiatives towards encouraging a higher birth rate in Singapore, CDL has adopted measures in line with the Government’s pro-baby legislations, which were passed and made effective from 31 October 2008. The revisions were made to enhance pro-baby benefits such as extended maternity leave, childcare and infant care leave.
As per the legislation, paid maternity leave stands at 16 weeks for mothers with Singapore Citizen births. Employees with Singapore Citizen children will be entitled to six days of paid childcare leave per year if they have at least one child under the age of seven years. Employees with Singapore Citizen children may apply for up to six days of unpaid infant care leave per year to care for their child of two years or below of age.
CDL’s lactation room was created in late 2006 to facilitate our female employees’ transition from their maternity leave back to the workforce. The room was subsequently renovated to create additional space to meet the increased demand from two employees in 2006 to eight in 2010. In 2011, 15 eligible female CDL employees extended their maternity benefits and 12 are still employed by CDL as at May 2012. Paternity leave is not legislated in Singapore but CDL extends one day of paternity leave to eligible male employees.
(4) Child and Forced Labour
To date, Singapore has ratified 20 International Labour Organization (ILOs) Conventions, including five Core Conventions. They cover the four key areas of employment standards: child labour; forced labour; collective bargaining and equal remuneration.
Singapore has legislations in place such as the Singapore Employment Act, Retirement Act, Workplace Safety & Health Act, Factories Act, etc that imposes legal restrictions to mitigate risks and incidents of child labour and forced labour. For example, the Singapore Employment Act imposes restriction on the employment of children below 13 years of age and stipulates a clear set of laws for employment of children who are between 13 to 15 years of age, their working hours and the type of work that they can be engaged in. The Commissioner for Labour must be notified if they are engaged in industrial undertakings or have obtained permission to work on their rest days.
In addition to the current Singapore legislations, CDL ensures that all employees are issued employment contracts stipulating clear employment terms and conditions.