Employment, Immigration and Civil Status Minister Myriam Télémaque visits STC |09 August 2018

Emphasises positive relationship between government and private sector

Employment, Immigration and Civil Status Minister Myriam Télémaque has been upholding her ministry’s commitment to strengthen its relationship and solidify its partnership with the private and public sector through continuous visits to the establishments.

Recently, she visited all the Seychelles Trading Company (STC) outlets on Mahe, Praslin and La Digue. This comprehensive visit was conducted within two months – May 4, 11, and 18 as well as June 15 and 22.

Such visits provide an opportunity for the minister and officials from her ministry to interact with employees at their work stations where they are able to talk and air their views in the absence of the management team. Comments and issues raised are later considered with the management in a debriefing and in this case this was held on July 19. 

The ministry states that it is impressive to observe that the STC, which performs a series of crucial duties daily, has a significant number of long serving staff, many of whom have expressed satisfaction in their job but there were a few issues mentioned by some staff.

Some of the issues raised were general in nature while others were more specific to sections. The general concerns comprised lack of good communication especially between the different outlets, work overload due to resignation and a lack of proper salary structure to ensure fair treatment between staff undertaking similar duties. 

Following the debriefing with management, the STC has agreed to introduce certain procedures that will ensure general staff satisfaction and motivation in order to address their retention concerns so as to encourage more staff to stay with the company longer as it has been traditionally the case.

One of the two key principles is communication and the STC will now hold mandatory monthly staff meetings which will be the platform for the exchange of information and allow staff to take part and share their ideas on the daily operation of the company. Also, the company’s scheme of service and succession plan are also to be updated and discussed with the staff by the end of the year to allow staff with potential to be properly developed and rewarded as appropriate.

The minister has conveyed her satisfaction to the company which has agreed to address issues discussed with the aim of improving the general comfort and boosting the confidence of staff.

The ministry will continuously follow up on the progress and measures the company will be putting in place.

Contributed