SEEK strengthens fair hiring commitment with appointment of Scott Stiles

SEEK, the parent company of leading jobs platforms JobStreet and JobsDB, has strengthened its commitment to help stamp out unfair hiring practices and put an end to modern slavery across the region with the appointment of Scott Stiles as its Special Advisor of Fair Hiring in Asia (left in photo).

The Global Slavery Index estimates that there are six modern slavery victims for every 1,000 people in the Asian countries where SEEK operates in — Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. This is equivalent to 2.9 million men, women, and children living in modern slavery in the region.

Peter Bithos, CEO of Asia, SEEK (centre in photo), shared, “As an organisation that aims to improve millions of lives through better careers, we have a responsibility to ensure our marketplace is a safe, digital environment for job seekers across the region, and we take this seriously.”

“We are committed to providing trusted and valid platforms for workers to find decent jobs and for employers to hire ethically, safeguarding against the risk of modern slavery in advertising job opportunities that could be deceptive in recruiting for forced labour.

“We have been conducting an APAC-wide search to find a highly experienced individual in this space who can be fully dedicated to this issue and spearhead our efforts for some time. Bringing Scott onboard is only the beginning of our continuous, long-term effort to help end pockets of slavery in the region,” added Peter.

In his role, Scott will be responsible for identifying risks and vulnerabilities in SEEK’s processes and platforms that could be exploited by unscrupulous actors, and work with the relevant teams to address them.

He will champion initiatives that can help provide job seekers with clarity and awareness of their rights and warnings about known unfair hiring practices, particularly affecting migrant, manual, and domestic workers so that candidate interactions with SEEK’s employment platforms result in safe and fair employment outcomes.

Scott will also lead broader, strategic initiatives with partners and governments across the region to promote fair-hiring practices with the long-term aspiration to end modern slavery in all its forms.

Scott will report to Michele Manigart, Chief Strategy Officer of Asia (right in photo).

Commenting on his appointment, Michele said, “We are delighted to welcome Scott to SEEK, and we believe he will be instrumental in advancing our commitment to fair hiring in Asia. SEEK will not only benefit from his experience and deep understanding of the region’s labour rights and issues, but also from his clear passion for human rights and strong desire to make real impact in this area.”

Scott said, “I have always believed that forced labour and unfair hiring are solvable world problems. The progress we have seen in the last nine years has shown this to be true, but these are deeply ingrained issues that require regionwide market intervention over a sustained period of time. SEEK’s platforms make us uniquely well positioned to drive this change. I couldn’t be more excited to work with Michele, Peter, and the team to guide this effort.”

Scott is the co-founder and former CEO of Hong Kong-based Fair Employment Foundation (Fair). At Fair, Scott built a group of social enterprises focused on using market-based interventions to eliminate the forced labour of migrant workers across Asia.

Fair’s first business, Fair Employment Agency, has placed more than 6,000 Filipino workers in Hong Kong.

Most importantly, Fair’s disruptive approach set new standards in the market, which have been taken up industry wide.

With Scott’s appointment, the SEEK group is indeed going from strength to strength. In Malaysia, JobStreet is spearheaded by Managing Director Vic Sithasanan whom the New Straits Times described as “having taken JobStreet to the next level”.