Improving worker welfare

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: As a business leader, would you support moves to uplift lower-wage workers even if the measures result in higher costs for your organisation?

Pavlos Spyropoulos Chief Executive Officer Lloyd's Asia

Ensuring that our people are remunerated sufficiently to meet their most basic needs is a priority for all employers. The Singapore government is clearly giving serious consideration to what the appropriate public policy should be but businesses can also play a more proactive role in doing right by their staff and instituting their own living wage policies. One notable example which exists in the UK - of which Lloyd's is a part - is the Living Wage Foundation. This institution helps to accredit over 6,000 businesses who pay their staff the foundation's independently-calculated and recommended ''real living wage'', above and beyond a government-mandated minimum.