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WORKER VOICE-DRIVEN ETHICAL RECRUITMENT

Good news - ethical recruitment down to the first mile is possible! Through partnership and innovation, Issara works with employers, recruitment agencies, civil society, and government to directly connect qualified jobseekers with good jobs that are transparently and comprehensively advertised - broker-free and fee-free. 

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The key ingredients are grievance mechanisms and ongoing support to jobseekers down to the first mile (Inclusive Labor Monitoring Action Network), a tech platform with a job marketplace for low-skilled labor (Golden Dreams), and practical business systems diagnostics and improvements, such as around recruitment agency vetting practices and service contracts. See below for more tools, proven approaches, and technical resources!

NEW! ISSARA RESPONSIBLE RECRUITMENT REVOLVING FUND & TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FACILITY

ETHICAL RECRUITMENT NETWORKS

Jan 2023.  Ethical Recruitment Networks and Transformative Technologies for Migrant Workers can effectively eliminate exploitative labor recruitment and labour trafficking, transform recruitment systems and corridors, and improve the lives of millions of workers.

 

How do they work?  How are the roles of civil society (trade unions and NGOs) and government so important? How do they take us beyond compliance, and why is that important? Read on to find out!

Feb 2025.  Employer pays…when?  Did you know that the great majority of workers in the Asian factories and farms exporting products to Europe, the United States, and Australia are still having to pay to get their jobs - despite a growing number of brands and retailers adopting Employer Pays Policies (EPP) that are meant to require their suppliers to pay all the costs of recruiting workers?

 

EPP policies aim to reduce risk of indebtedness and exploitation of workers. However, did you also know that even when workers are recruited through zero-cost EPP schemes in Asia, the majority of these workers still end up paying recruitment costs, and still sometimes become indebted? It’s true - and it’s because of the payment terms and conditions of the service contracts between the suppliers and recruitment agencies. Recruitment agencies aiming to uphold ethical commitment standards may only receive half or even no payment for the costs of recruitment until workers arrive at the workplace, or even several months after when workers complete a probationary period. This means that 50-100% of all the actual costs of migrant worker recruitment and documentation must be paid in advance by the origin-side recruitment agency. 

 

Since the vast majority of these agencies do not have sufficient cash on-hand or access to financing, they often have to pass those costs of recruitment on to workers. Sometimes workers are reimbursed by the employer directly, sometimes they are reimbursed by the recruitment agency, and sometimes they are not reimbursed. But even if they are eventually reimbursed, they and their families may have already suffered the negative consequences of indebtedness.

 

In 2024, Issara Institute launched the Issara Responsible Recruitment Revolving Fund and Technical Assistance Facility. This groundbreaking initiative provides free technical tools and short-term reimbursable grants to vetted recruitment agencies. The grants are linked to the performance of recruitment agency-supplier contracts, and are repaid back into the revolving fund once the supplier compensates the agency, effectively removing the risk of worker fees and reducing the potential for indebtedness and forced labor.  Technical Assistance further supports companies in revising and strengthening their contracts to reduce risks to workers.

 

So far, Issara has allocated $48,000 to support the ethical recruitment of 1,138 Burmese workers in Thailand through 3 qualifying recruitment agencies - Shwe Pyi Nyein, International Focus, and Golden Royal Mandalay - with a repayment rate of 100%. That's less than $43/migrant worker to help ensure broker-free, fee-free recruitment! As we seek contributions to the Revolving Fund to expand our impact, we look forward to piloting additional corridors and sharing stories that showcase the transformative effects of fair recruitment practices. 


Interested in contributing? Please contact strategicpartners@issarainstitute.org!

FUNDS ALLOCATED

US $48,000

WORKERS ASSISTED

1,138

REPAYMENT RATE

100%

COST PER WORKER TO ENSURE EPP DOWN TO THE FIRST MILE

US $42.18

UPDATED WORKER VOICE-DRIVEN ETHICAL RECRUITMENT TOOLKIT

October 2022.  First released in November 2017, the Issara Worker Voice-Driven Ethical Recruitment Toolkit has been expanded and updated through the years to meet the needs of suppliers and recruitment agencies in South and Southeast Asia.  This new October 2022 version includes a number of exciting new tools that have been deployed in the Asia region throughout the course of 2022, helping suppliers and recruiters meet the challenges of post-COVID cross-border labour recruitment into and within the ASEAN region.

Tools include:


1.  Preparing Comprehensive Job Advertisements for the Recruitment of Foreign Workers

2.  Selection Criteria & Vetting Process for Recruitment Agencies: A Tool for Employers (Suppliers)

3.  Checklist: Ethical Management Services Agreement (MSA) between Employers & Recruiters

4.  Diagnostic of Current Labour Recruitment Practices

5.  Checklist: Ethical Employment Contracts - Good Practice

6.  Guidelines: Ethical Recruitment Networks

 

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TECH THAT ACHIEVES ETHICAL RECRUITMENT DOWN TO THE FIRST MILE:
GOLDEN DREAMS JOB MARKETPLACE

Where employers or recruiters can advertise jobs for low-skilled migrant workers, transparently and free-of-charge for them and for workers.  Learn all about it from our 3-minute explainer video...over 2,000 job vacancies were posted by responsible Thai employers in just the first 2 weeks!

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UNDERSTANDING ETHICAL RECRUITMENT

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© 2025 Issara Institute, Inc.

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