Private sector learns more about new redundancy scheme Sets   |20 June 2020

Mr Morel addressing the gathering (Photo: Jude Morel)

Employees and stakeholders in the private sector yesterday took part in a meeting, coordinated by the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry, to learn more about the Seychelles Employee Transition Scheme, its structure and how it will discharge its mandate.

A temporary scheme to help workers who will lose their job as from July 1 up to December 2020, the Seychelles Employee Transition Scheme (Sets) is an emergency support mechanism put in place by the government to work alongside the Financial Assistance for Job Retention (FA4JR).

The number of Seychelles workers likely to lose their jobs in the private sector as from July 1 has been estimated to linger around 4,000 due to right-sizing in companies and potential businesses closing down because of the economic impact of COVID-19.

Twenty percent of small and medium enterprises are expected to fold.

Sets expects to gather these people who are made redundant – as well as the self-employed and business persons whose companies have shut down – under its umbrella to facilitate retraining, up-skilling, and temporary work placement services.

The scheme will not be available to persons who were made redundant prior to July 1 and persons who enter employment in the period between July 1, 2020 and December 1, 2020.

It is to be incorporated as a state-owned company under the patronage of the Ministry of Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning and not the Ministry of Employment and Human Resource Development as most would have thought.

According to statistics from the last quarter of 2019, the private sector employs the most workers in the country with 37,409 employees compared to 10,513 persons working in the government and 7,882 in parastatals.

Nonetheless, Seychellois workers represent 48% of employees (17,985) in the private sector while expatriate workers make up 52% with 19,424.

Guy Morel, project manager for Sets, provided a detailed presentation on the scheme and was ready to answer the attendees’ questions, which were many.

Several persons expressed their confusion as to why Sets would be incorporated as a state company rather than a governmental organisation or department, or even as a foundation, as one lady suggested.

Mr Morel explained that the setting up of Sets as a company was easier, given the time constraint, compared to establishing a whole new government department which would entail various procedures involving the National Assembly.

“We felt that using the companies’ ordinance would be the fastest route to incorporate a legal entity to tackle this problem. The problem with if Sets was to become an association, is that it would pass up the right to decide on the National Assembly and the sponsor has very little control,” explained Mr Morel.

“Incorporating it as an SOE, with the state being the shareholder – the government being just a custodian – then we can get this entity up and running in the next few days. Sections 3 and 4 of the ordinance is very clear; it is possible to do that even though our mandate is not for profit.”

Some asked why Sets is needed at all since there are already programmes in place such as the Unemployment Relief Scheme (URS), My First Job, Skills Development and the newly introduced university graduate internship programme.

In response, Mr Morel said that all of these programmes have their specific target demographic and Sets targeted demographic would only consist of persons made redundant between July 1 and December 2020.

Given that the persons who join Sets will be paid their basic salary, without any fringe benefits and allowances, to be paid by FA4JR, several employers argued that FA4JR should continue to help companies pay their employees until December, in order for them not to be made redundant in the first place.

One person even queried whether Sets contravenes the terms and conditions which the budget for employment relief was approved for by the National Assembly.

Mr Morel stressed that it did not, since FA4JR would still be doling out salary payments while Sets would operate with minimal resources.

Sets will be conducting further meetings with other stakeholders as it prepares for its official launch on July 1.

Elsie Pointe