Guidance to Listed Firms on Fair Contracting of Freelancers Outlined in Tripartite Standard

6 Ms See Jinli Jean asked the Minister for Manpower whether the Ministry will consider partnering with profession-based associations of freelancers to provide guidance to listed firms on fair contracting of freelancers as outlined by the Tripartite Standard on Contracting with Self-Employed Persons.

The Senior Minister of State for Manpower (Dr Koh Poh Koon) (for the Minister for Manpower): Sir, the Tripartite Standard on Contracting with Self-Employed Persons was introduced in March 2018, and specifies a set of fair and progressive employment practices for service contracts that all service buyers should implement. Today, more than 2,600 companies have adopted this Tripartite Standard.

The Tripartite Alliance For Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) will continue to work with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)'s Freelancers and Self-Employed Unit and explore partnerships with relevant associations to strengthen outreach to companies, including listed companies, on the Tripartite Standard and its practices.

Mr Speaker: Ms Jean See.

Ms See Jinli Jean (Nominated Member): I thank the Senior Minister of State. I have two supplementary questions. The first is shall the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and TAFEP have a growth target for the adoption of the Tripartite Standard on Contracting and Self-Employed Persons, given that the Tripartite Standard provides a baseline protection for freelancers, which is a segment that has little or no protection under employment related laws?

The second question, is what would be the steps taken, to ensure that the adopters follow through to implement the guidance in a Tripartite Standard?

Dr Koh Poh Koon: Sir, I thank the Member for her supplementary questions. On the first, whether we should be setting growth targets for adoption of the standards, it is quite difficult a priori to decide what is the target number. Ideally, of course, you want as many companies as possible. The challenge is that, in this particular landscape of service buying from freelancers, it is a very diverse landscape, because freelancers comprise of professionals and individuals in many different types of service provision. And it is quite hard, then, to specify that each of these interact with the service buyers in exactly the same way.

What we are trying to do with this set of standards is to encourage service buyers to distinguish themselves as fair buyers of services and, therefore, make themselves worthy partners of many of these freelancers as well.

We must also not forget that freelancers have agency, because as a self-employed person, they are technically their own bosses, so they have their own strategy and their own business strategy to decide how best they can engage with service buyers. And I think, in this space where it is competitive, we should allow competitive dynamics to take place, while allowing the standards to be adopted by both buyers and users of services to distinguish themselves as better partners, so that freelancers will work more preferentially with these companies.

For the second supplementary question on steps to ensure follow-through, I think that it is important that we continue to reach out to companies that are adopting these standards to help them understand what these standards are trying to achieve, what the standards entail, so that they understand the reasons behind adopting these practices and hope that both parties will abide by the contracts that they have signed, and ensure that if there are any disputes to the contract terms that have been signed, they can surface to TAFEP or Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM), whichever the agency would be. And we can take actions against companies who may have violated their contracts.

Mr Speaker: Dr Tan Wu Meng.

Dr Tan Wu Meng: I thank the Minister for his reply. I should declare that I have Clementi residents who are freelancers as well. Can I raise two supplementary questions to the Minister? The first question is, does the Ministry agree that the Public Service plays an important role in setting labour market norms and, in particular, aspirational norms and best practices?

And the second question is, does MOM have a sense of whether, at a whole-of-Government level, our agencies, our Ministries, our Statutory Boards, abide by the Tripartite Standard on Contracting with Self-Employed Persons?

And lastly, in terms of approaching tenders and contracts with listed firms, would the Ministries consider this as another best practice in looking at the awarding of contracts as well?

Dr Koh Poh Koon: Sir, the short answer to the Member's question is that, yes, the Public Service will lean forward, as far as possible, to ensure that we contract fairly with freelancers.

But I must say that through the years, since the introduction of the standards, there has been an increase in adoption across the board by many companies. For example, in 2018, when we first rolled out this standard, there were nearly about 470 companies that came on board these standards. In the year 2020, it increased to about 1,800 companies. And then, in the year 2023, it further increased to 2,600 companies.

So, I think, beyond the Public Service taking the lead, companies are indeed coming on board and adopting these standards to be better buyers of services. What we will need to do is to continue to engage with companies, continue to do outreach and especially, partner the NTUC as the ground unit that reach out to these freelancers and the companies, to help buyers and sellers of services to, in that sense, adopt these standards as a standard.