Key 2020 labour policies for HR leaders in Thailand to note

Last Tuesday, Labour Minister M R Chatumongol Sonakul engaged in a seminar where he presented the ministry's 2020 policies to executives and government agencies under the ministry, from both the central and regional areas.

At the seminar, Minister Chatumongol said urgent policies have to be implemented in order to see "concrete results" in three areas:

• Accelerating workforce transformation;
• Promoting the import of foreign workers to tackle labour shortages in the business sector (in agreement with the worker's origin country); and
• Increasing the income levels of first-time workers to ensure they have sufficient funds.

In addition to this, Minister Chatumongol highlighted 10 key policies to be "continuously implemented". These range across a number of areas from work safety and developing the local workforce, to using more electronic communication and establishing cooperation between the public and private sector.

The full set of the 10 key policies highlighted by Minister Chatumongol by listed below:

1. Preparing workers for the older workforce by promoting employment and developing professional skill sets that will be suitable for the elderly.
2. Providing "decent work" that will be valuable for people of all ages, whether it's a general group or special group of workers.
3. Promoting and developing the potential of Thai workers, for them to be able to "work abroad with dignity" in line with labour market demand outside of Thailand.
4. Developing social security systems and benefits, which include promoting health protection in order to ensure a better quality of life for workers.
5. Driving "Safety Thailand" with legal measures, creating a sustainable safety culture.
6. Expanding network integration to promote, protect, and develop skills that would pave way for a career. income, social security, and work safety for independent workers.
7. Increasing efficiency through preventing and resolving issues with forced labour, human trafficking, and child labour.
8. Developing regulatory models, and establishing "cooperative management mechanisms" between the private sector and government agencies under the MOL, to raise a "more convenient, quicker, and fair" public service.
9. Increasing the work potential of labour volunteers as well as graduates, so they can become a regional support for driving the public service.
10. Using electronic channels to provide more access to a range of services, in order to raise service levels.

In introducing these policies, Minister Chatumongol urged participants of the seminar to join forces in driving their organisation to success, by laying a "solid foundation" for a concrete workforce. Ultimately, such a workforce will play a key role in developing Thailand to "escape the middle-income trap", in line with the government's vision.

Photo / iStock