At an awards ceremony attended by Human Resources last night, the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) revealed the winners of the inaugural Tripartite Alliance Award to 24 organisations and 8 individuals.

In her speech, Minister for Manpower, Josephine Teo, said: "As the saying goes, 'take care of your employees and they will take care of your business". By investing in the human capital of each employee, these employers have fostered a work culture that encourages continual learning and leadership development."

She noted "the winners have differentiated themselves by creating inclusive workplaces where employees can contribute their best," and shared the three common characteristics from winning companies - adopting a people-centric culture, investing time to listen to staff, and embracing digital transformation.

Conferred by the tripartite partners (Ministry of Manpower, National Trades Union Congress, and Singapore National Employers Federation), the awards recognises exemplary organisations that have effectively implemented fair, responsible and progressive employment practices, while keeping employees at the heart of their progress.

Stephen Lee, chairman, Tripartite Alliance, pointed out: "The Tripartite Alliance Award requires all participants to first be nominated by their employees or union representatives. Being nominated is a noteworthy achievement by itself. This shows that the employers' efforts at improving the welfare of their employees are recognised and valued."

Stephen Lee, chairman, Tripartite Alliance - opening speech at the Tripartite Alliance Award

A total of 152 organisations were nominated for the Tripartite Alliance Awards this year. From there, 41 were shortlisted as finalists, and 24 emerged as winners. Notably, half of the winners were small and medium enterprises, showing that organisational size is no barrier to fair and progressive employment practices.

In addition to that, three organisations were conferred the Pinnacle Award for their holistic people strategies and practices which went above and beyond the scope of the Tripartite Alliance Award.

Mary Liew, president, National Trades Union Congress, said: "Working for an employer who treats our workers fairly, being committed to their growth and success, is crucial for both our workers and businesses. As employment and business models become more fluid in our future economy, we have to do more to safeguard and advance our workers’ interests."

Here's the full list of winners.

Tripartite Alliance Award 2018 (organisations) [in alphabetical order]

Admiralty Primary School

• Work-Life Excellence

Aerospace Component Engineering Services

• Age Inclusive Practices

Aviva

• Fair and Progressive Employment Practices
• Work-Life Excellence

Cyient Singapore Private 

• Fair and Progressive Employment Practices

DBS Bank

• Fair and Progressive Employment Practices

DLE M&E 

• Work-Life Excellence

Emergenetics Caelan and Sage

• Work-Life Excellence

Federal Express (Singapore)

• Fair and Progressive Employment Practices

Focus on the Family Singapore

• Work-Life Excellence

Informatics Education

• Work-Life Excellence

Institute of Technical Education

• Fair and Progressive Employment Practices

Mandarin Oriental, Singapore

• Age Inclusive Practices
• Fair and Progressive Employment Practices

MatchMove Pay

• Fair and Progressive Employment Practices

Maybank

• Age Inclusive Practices
• Fair and Progressive Employment Practices
• Work-Life Excellence

Ministry Holdings

• Fair and Progressive Employment Practices

OCBC Bank

• Fair and Progressive Employment Practices
• Work-Life Excellence

Rajah & Tann Singapore

• Work-Life Excellence

ROHEI Corporation

• Work-Life Excellence

Sheraton Towers Singapore Hotel

• Work-Life Excellence

State Courts, Singapore

• Work-Life Excellence

The American Club

• Age Inclusive Practices

Unity Technologies Singapore

• Fair and Progressive Employment Practices

West Spring Primary School

• Work-Life Excellence

Zhenghua Primary School

• Work-Life Excellence

Tripartite Alliance Award 2018 (individuals) [in alphabetical order]

Chia Mia Chiang, president, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts

• Special Mention Award (Transformational Leader in Action)

Esan Sivalingam, CEO / co-founder, Hoods Inc. Productions

• Special Mention Award (Advocate of Fairness in the Media Industry)

Jacinta Lim, principal, West Spring Primary School

• Leadership Award (Work-Life Excellence)

Joanna Koh-Hoe, chief executive officer, Focus on the Family Singapore

• Leadership Award (Work-Life Excellence)

Nishit Majmudar, chief executive officer, Aviva

• Leadership Award (Fair and Progressive Employment Practices)

Rita Raj Lal, principal, Zhenghua Primary School

• Special Mention Award (Champion of Work-Life Harmony)

Tan Chor Sen, executive vice president, global enterprise banking – International, OCBC Bank

• Leadership Award (Fair and Progressive Employment Practices)

Teo Sze Ling, vice president - global enterprise banking - EmB business compliance, OCBC Bank

• Workplace Advocate Award (Work-Life Excellence)

Pinnacle Award winners

DBS Bank

Maybank

The American Club

Group photo of winners of the Pinnacle Award with Minister Josephine Teo.

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The Tripartite Alliance Award builds upon two previous awards presented by TAFEP — the TAFEP Exemplary Employer Award and the Work-Life Excellence Award — to provide a more holistic assessment of an organisation's employment practices.

In addition, all participating organisations in the Award have to be adopters of the Tripartite Standards, and signed TAFEP's Employers' Pledge of Fair Employment Practices. There is high expectation for these organisations to have strong fundamentals across all key aspects of employment and be fully committed to the implementation of fair and progressive practices.

Photos / provided