May 25, 2015

baby photo Employee benefits are a growing concern for human resource (HR) administrators. South East Asia (SEA) lags behind the global average in terms of providing employee benefits. However, when it comes to maternity leave, the situation has been improving.

According to the International Labour Organization’s report: Maternity and paternity at work: Law and practice across the world, there has been a shift towards increasing maternity leave periods that go further than the 14 – week standard suggested by ILO. However the coverage is neither sufficient nor long enough for mothers before they have to get back to work.

SEA ranks in the middle to lower half in terms of length of maternity leave. On average, around 12 to 13 weeks are given as leave.

Singapore: the Ministry of Manpower lays down conditions for eligibility of maternity leave. This leave can be paid by the employer or can be reimbursed by the government. The length of the leave depends on certain conditions. A maximum of 16 weeks is allowed if the following criteria are met:

The child will be a Singapore citizen
The mother is legally married to the father of the child
The mother has worked in the same establishment for a minimum of 3 months.

The last condition is mandatory for eligibility. MoM also takes into account the number of children the mother has to judge eligibility and coverage.

Malaysia: The 1955 Employment Act gives mothers 60 days (8 weeks) of maternity leave as long as the employee has worked in the company for 90 days prior to taking leave. The employer needs to pay the employee in full during leave. There are certain concessions for civil servants. Malaysia does not provide maternity leave for the sixth child and following children. Because of the short leave provided, mothers often work up to the due date in order to spend time with their child during leave.

Indonesia: Three months (or 12 weeks) of paid leave are given to mothers. At least 1.5 months of this leave must be taken after the birth of the child.

The Philippines: Article 133(a) of the Labour Code states that an employee who has worked in the establishment for at least 6 months is entitled paid leave 2 weeks before the due date and 4 weeks after delivery. The employer is required to pay for only the first four children.

Under SSS law, a woman member of the SSS is entitles to maternity benefits. While the employer must pay these benefits to the employers, it can be reimbursed by the SSS. In order to abail the Maternity Benefits, the employee must pay at least 3 monthly contributions within the year before the semester of childbirth.

Thailand: An employee is entitled to 90 days (or 12 weeks) of maternity leave. However, the employer must pay a maximum of 45 days. The remaining 45 days are paid from the Social Welfare Fund. In order to avail payment from the Social Welfare Fund, the employer is expected to make contributions to the Fund for at least 7 months before pregnancy.

Here we have a list of countries and the maternity leave that they offer:

Duration	Countries
< 12 weeks	· Hong Kong · Malaysia · Papua New Guinea · Philippines · Taiwan
12 – 13 weeks	· Cambodia · China · DPRK · East Timor · Indonesia · Laos · Myanmar · South Korea · Thailand
14-17 weeks	· Brunei · Japan · Singapore
> 17 weeks	· Mongolia · Vietnam

Source of Cash Benefits: Historically, Asia has seen a higher percentage of the maternity leave being paid by the employer. However, the trend is moving towards cash benefits coming from mixed sources: from the employer and social security services. To put this in perspective, Europe, a region that has led the way for right of the employee, has always provided cash benefits from social security.

Paternity Leave: Rights offered to fathers are fairly limited. Countries offer just a couple of days of paternity leave as a shared provision between parents. Usually this leave is taken by the mother. Sometimes this leave is not paid. Approximately 28% of countries in Asia provide paternity leave.

Image by squareup.com

The mobile point of sale system seems to be the buzzword circling around today’s retail industry. But the real question is if the mobile POS system is going to take over the traditional hardware?

We have notice recently that there is a movement towards the mobile POS option, however most retailers still find comfort with the traditional hardwired POS system for their business. Probably for this simple reason- business owners find the traditional machine more familiar to manage, secure and it comes with all the bells and whistles (eg, bar code scanner, receipt printer) at one price.

But do small businesses need to invest a large sum of money to get an all-in-one POS system from the get go? Or would it be wiser to have software that grows with your business, and add to the hardware as they need it?

Let’s think about the concerns of a business owner when choosing the right POS system.

The most common concern shared by most owners is that the traditional hardware gives them the sense of security and familiarity. The POS machine itself is built to withstand the daily grind of business. The POS is plug-in to a power point and does not require charging. The mobile POS system option can only last up to 3-4 hours on the phone or tablet, after which an hour downtime to charge. For a restaurant, this arrangement might not be suitable because POS system must be up and running from start to finish.

Next, a report by the Federal Reserve reveals that security concerns is another main reason why traditional POS system triumphs over mobile systems. Identity theft has been the top complaint on the Federal Trade Commission’s list of complaints for 13 years in a row. This shows that when it comes to credit card transactions, owners have more trust in POS systems than the mobile systems.

Additionally, the mobile system depends completely on the signal strength from wireless provider or a Wi-Fi connection which isn’t as reliable and secure compared to a hardwired connection. While some owners are skeptical about mobile POS not having security to protect cardholders data, business owners can be assured that mobile apps like Square adhere to the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).

Another worry with mobile devices being small, it can be easily misplaced or stolen. Comparable to the bulky POS system- it is definitely harder to run out the door with that.

But, owners might not need to choose after all.

Although POS systems might be the better option for retail businesses, it doesn’t mean that the mobile software should be disregarded. The smart business owner would see these 2 systems as mutually exclusive and use both methods to provide better service and enhance customer experience. One does not need to replace the other.

Take for example, a restaurant having their waitresses carry personal tablets to ring up food orders at the table within seconds, that information is also automatically reflected on the main POS system. By cancelling out the time they would usually take to key every order at the machine- this saves time on service and improves workflow. The customer can then physically pay for their meal using the traditional POS system at the cashier once they are done.

Retail outlets in Singapore are doing just that! Taking customer experience to another level through an integrated POS system. Restaurants like Sakae Sushi improves efficiency and flow by installing iPad Minis at the table for customers to ring up orders on their own, without waiting for a waitress. The central POS system at the cashiers handles all the payments after customers are ready to pay for their meal.

iPad Mini for food orders at Sakae Sushi

Central POS system at Sakae Sushi

Saving costs with technology. The integrated POS system at your restaurant or retail outlet, would mean that business will need less employees to wait on customers. Service has become self-sufficient.

Last words. It makes sense for business owners to combine the familiarity and security of traditional POS system with the added features from the mobile system to enhance efficiency and customer experience. Although it is important to consider when integrating software into your service; and depending on the nature of the business, reducing the number of staff in place of machines could also mean you will lose the human touch in your service.

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Daily Archives: May 25, 2015

Where does South East Asia rank on Maternity Leave?

What is the future of POS for retail?