The TA Award, conferred by the tripartite partners (namely MOM, NTUC and SNEF) celebrates organisations who excel in building fair and progressive workplaces and keep employees at the heart of their progress. Progressive employment practices are HR strategies, policies, programmes and practices that create and sustain an inclusive workplace. We recognise that when our employees find fulfilment in meaningful jobs and quality workplaces, they will also contribute more effectively to business results.

The TA Award is managed by TAFEP on behalf of tripartite partners.

There are 4 categories in the TA Award, namely, Fair and Progressive Employment Practices, Work-Life Excellence, Age Inclusive Practices and Responsible Best Sourcing.

Under each category, organisations can nominate individuals for the Leadership and/or Workplace Advocate Awards. The Leadership Award recognises senior management (Directors and above) who have made exceptional contributions in the respective award category areas, and their deep commitment and outstanding leadership to create an inclusive workplace. The Workplace Advocate Award recognises middle management and supervisors who have been effective contributors and change agents in the respective award category areas, and have successfully operationalised and enabled their organisation’s strategies, plans and initiatives in this area.

The TA Award presents an invaluable opportunity for employers to be recognised as one of the best organisations to work for in Singapore.

The judges comprise representatives from the tripartite partner agencies, TAFEP, academics and industry experts.

Yes, the TA Award is open to all Singapore-based organisations, except the TAL and the tripartite partners (MOM, NTUC and SNEF).

First, you will need to be nominated by an employee or the union. In the case of Responsible Best Sourcing, you may be nominated by a service provider or your extended workforce working with you.

1. Signed the TAFEP Employers’ Pledge of Fair Employment Practices^.
2. Adopted the required Tripartite Standards (denoted with *).
   • Tripartite Standard on the Employment of Term Contract Employees*
   • Tripartite Standard on Flexible Work Arrangements*
   • Tripartite Standard on Grievance Handling*
   • Tripartite Standard on Recruitment Practices*
   • Tripartite Standard on Age-friendly Workplace Practices**
   • Tripartite Standard on Procurement of Services from Media Freelancers***
   • Tripartite Standard on Contracting with Self-employed Persons****
   • Tripartite Standard on Unpaid Leave for Unexpected Care Needs
     

     ** Required for “Age Inclusive Practices” category in addition to those denoted with *

     *** Required for “Responsible Best Sourcing” category for organisations that procure services from media freelancers in addition to those denoted with *.

     **** Required for “Responsible Best Sourcing” category for organisations that procure services from self-employed persons in addition to those denoted with *.

3. Completed the Fair & Progressive Employment Index (FPE Index).

In addition, nominated employers must ensure that they abide by the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices as the TA Award recognises exemplary organisations that have effectively implemented fair, responsible and progressive employment practices.

Organisations should also check the pre-requisites of each category when choosing to participate in that category.

^ Organisations that have not already signed the Employers’ Pledge of Fair Employment Practices will be automatically included as Pledge Signers when they adopt the Tripartite Standards.

The Tripartite Standards are a series of good employment practices that are important for all employers to implement at their workplaces.

There are many benefits to having these good employment practices, such as:

• Meeting the needs of employees ‒ employees feel valued and are more motivated, leading to increased innovation and productivity.
• Improving employee retention, saving more money, time and resources.
• Accessing a wider talent pool.

The adoption of the Tripartite Standards shows that the organisation has good practices, and cares about the employees and their welfare.

Adopters of Tripartite Standards can display the Tripartite Standards logo, which helps them stand out as good employers and jobseekers and employees can easily identify them as preferred employers.

Employers must adopt the required Tripartite Standards by the submission deadline (Friday, 8 November 2019) to be considered for the TA Award.

Yes, organisations may participate in more than one category.

Organisations have to complete a submission form for each category they are participating in.

Should organisations subsequently be shortlisted for Phase II, they would need to undergo a site visit for each respective award category for which they have been shortlisted.

You may consider taking part in the other award categories to benchmark your organisation’s practices against those of the other participating organisations.

There is no limit to the number of winners as the number of awards given out will depend on the number and quality of submissions.

Recipients of the TA Award are recognised as employers of choice with fair, responsible and progressive practices.

The winner(s) will:

• Be presented with an award trophy;
• Receive a report on the results of the Employee Opinion Survey for each shortlisted award category, which will allow the organisation to better understand their employees’ sentiments in these areas;
• Enjoy extensive media coverage and offered the opportunity to be featured in publications and newsletters;
• Be allowed to use the award logo for the next four (4) years for recruitment and publicity purposes; and
• Be invited to network with thought leaders and business leaders to share their exemplary practices.

Nominations for the TA Award open on Monday, 9 September 2019 and close on Friday, 18 October 2019. Nominated employers will be notified by TAFEP and will be invited to participate in the award.

Submissions close on Friday, 8 November 2019. Incomplete submissions and submissions received after Friday, 8 November 2019 will be disqualified.

The completed submission form(s) along with a pdf copy of the FPE Index results and relevant supporting documents must be sent to TAFEP via email at award@tafep.sg

Nominations can be made by filling out the online nomination form.

Please note that employers’ eligibility for the TA Award is not determined by the number of nominations. Repeat or multiple nominations by employees, unions, service providers or members of the extended workforce for the same employer will be treated as one nomination.

No, there are no fees involved in the participation of the TA Award.

The assessment process comprises two phases. In Phase I, the judges will conduct an assessment to shortlist employers who will proceed on to the Phase II site visits.

Nominated employers who wish to participate in the TA Award must complete the FPE Index and submit a pdf copy of their results together with the submission form(s). The FPE Index provide assessors with insights into the organisation’s values and culture. It also provides the organisation with national and industry-level benchmarks against the participating organisations. To complete the FPE Index, please visit fairprogressive.sg.

The responses provided to the FPE Index will be validated with your employees as part of the assessment process should you be shortlisted for Phase II.

We will accept the FPE Index completed no earlier than 1 January 2019, i.e. if you have completed the FPE Index in 2017 or 2018, you are required to update your FPE Index for 2019.

Only employers shortlisted for Phase II site visits will have to complete the questionnaire on human capital practices and submit the completed questionnaire to TAFEP prior to the site visit. This questionnaire on human capital practices has to be completed by the Business Leader and Human Resource Leader. This is to provide additional information on the organisation’s human capital practices, which will be taken into account in the award assessment.

Companies will be assessed on their management strategy in each category and how the leadership is committed to this strategy. We are also looking at the extent and consistency in the end-to-end implementation of the strategy, how this strategy has helped your organisation and workforce to make progress as employees and individuals.

Organisations should demonstrate how they value their workforce and also facilitate the progress of their workforce through their practices in different areas namely:

• Business case for implementing the strategies and practices of respective award categories
• Management commitment demonstrated toward enabling the success of implementation
• Range and extent of the various policies, programmes and communications to facilitate consistent implementation and sustainability
• Effectiveness of the strategies and programmes
• Commitment to continuous improvement

The specific criteria for each award category will vary. To know more about the different TA Award categories, please click here.

You should include relevant examples and practices that reflect the current policies, programmes and practices in the organisation. These should include efforts over the past two years as well as on-going initiatives and programmes. Information about your future plans and enhancements for the next year may also be included in your submission.

Submission of all required documents must be sent in together with the completed submission form before submissions close on Friday, 8 November 2019.

If additional documents over and above the required supporting documents are requested in the course of the assessment, you will be given up to five working days to provide them. However, you are advised to prepare all your supporting documents ahead of time to facilitate the assessment process.

Incomplete submissions and submissions received after Friday, 8 November 2019 will be disqualified.

This information will help the judging panel to better understand the value that your organisation places on continuously improving the working environment for your workforce, and provide useful information on the effort and outcomes of the various employment/people-related awards and initiatives that your organisation has embarked on.

We have taken into account the last 2 years for organisations to showcase their latest and most recent awards and initiatives.

In the TA Award, we also want to recognise individuals for their contributions in each specific award category, in particular, senior management staff or workplace leaders who have actively contribute to the award category. However, this is optional; not having a nominee will not impact the organisation’s standing in the category.

The Leadership Award recognises senior management (Directors and above) who have made exceptional contributions in the respective award category areas, and their deep commitment and outstanding leadership to create an inclusive workplace.

The nominee will be judged on the following:

• Exemplary leadership in the respective award category areas
• Commitment and contribution to the positive impact within and/or outside of the organisation

The Workplace Advocate Award recognises middle management and supervisors who have been effective contributors and change agents in the respective award category areas, and have successfully operationalised and enabled their organisation’s strategies, plans and initiatives in this area.

The nominee will be judged on the following:

• Successful transformation and enablement of the implementation of the organisation’s employment practices in the respective award category areas
• Positive impact within and/or outside of the organisation

Individuals will be assessed and shortlisted separately. The organisation must first be shortlisted for Phase II in order for the nominated individual to be eligible for the individual award.

Only organisations that have been shortlisted to proceed to Phase II will be required to host a site visit for the respective award category/ies. Site visits will be conducted by experienced consultants commissioned by TAFEP.

Site visits will be conducted from January 2020 to February 2020. The TA Award organisers will contact the shortlisted organisations to schedule the site visits on a mutually convenient date and time, as far as possible.

All shortlisted organisations who wish to proceed with the TA Award are required to adhere to the timeline and meet the requirements of the site visit.

Organisations can be finalists in more than one category of the TA Award. For finalists in multiple categories, separate focus group discussions will be conducted for each category, while the Employee Opinion Survey (EOS) and interviews with management will be consolidated. This is to ensure that the assessment process retains its robustness. All components of the site visit will be conducted in one work location/office and completed within the same day.

Each site visit is expected to take about 2 hours for one category of award, depending on the size of the organisation.

During the site visit, there will be:

1. Senior Management Interview

The senior management representative should be in a leadership role, e.g. Director and above, preferably in a non-HR role.

Your Business Leader and Human Resource Leader must complete a questionnaire on human capital practices prior to the interview. This is to provide more information on your organisation’s human capital practices, which will be taken into account in the award assessment.



2. Employee Opinion Survey (EOS) (applicable only if it is administered on-site)


3. Employee Focus Group Discussion

Random employees across the different demographics will be selected to participate in a short focus group discussion. Depending on the staff strength, between 3-10 employees will be selected.



4. Workplace Advocate/Leadership nominee Interview

The shortlisted nominee(s) for the Leadership and/or Workplace Advocate Awards, if applicable, will be interviewed on the same day.

There are two ways to administer the EOS; online administration or on-site administration during the site visit.

The number of employees involved in the survey will depend on your total staff strength and mode of survey administration, as follows:

Organisations are strongly encouraged to use the online survey to minimise logistics and to facilitate response time and analysis. This must be completed in the week of your organisation’s site visit.

Should the shortlisted organisation opt for the on-site administration of the survey, the organisation will need to provide a list of all your employees, including names, designations, departments and basic demographic information for selection. The information provided will be kept confidential and used only for the purpose of ensuring that the respondent sample accurately represents the different employee groups within your organisation.

The site visit will be conducted at only one work location/office. Your organisation will be informed of the selected employees in advance to facilitate the process of ensuring that they can participate in the surveys. If an employee fails to turn up on the actual day, your organisation is required to look for a replacement with a similar demographic profile to complete the survey during the site visit.

Please email award@tafep.sg if you have further questions about the TA Award.