Introducing Opportunity
The Youth Employment Services (YES) Center was created in 2013 with the goal of helping the youth of Cambodia find employment. Promoted and supported by Progetto Continenti, an Italian non governmental organization (NGO), the YES Center started out as a center to encourage and enable youth to find employment in the city of Siem Reap. It provides computers with internet access, studying materials and books, educational games, and training services.
This is not where YES Center’s benefit to society ends. They also provide training for staff of local companies and NGOs. Pactics is proud to have been their first client, and they have been training our staff ever since.
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Setting the Standard
Pactics abides by the global SA8000 Standard, created by Social Accountability International, and we provide training which specifically aligns with SA8000 elements. SA8000 restricts fundamental issues such as child labour, forced labour, corporal punishment or inhumane treatment, and discrimination of any kind. It also requires companies to provide a healthy and safe work environment, allow the right to join unions and bargain collectively, maintain reasonable work hours with limited, voluntary overtime, and provide a legal and sufficient living wage.
(The SA8000 Standard is an auditable certification standard established in 1997, and based off the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, UN and national law, and conventions of the International Labour Organization.)[/twocol_one][twocol_one_last]
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Pactics not only strives to conform to the SA8000 Standard in all that we do, we also want our entire staff to understand the importance of it in relation to themselves, their coworkers, and their community. This is why we asked the YES Center to help us in training our staff in alignment with the SA8000 Standard, and why we have continued to do induction training for any new employees, paired with follow-up training over the next few years.
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Training & Trust
The YES Center uses group activities and engaging exercises to ensure participants feel comfortable and involved. Because of the Cambodian education system, corporate laws, and social culture, the majority of our staff have never experienced a training like this before. For this reason, the first day of training is usually focused on increasing confidence, encouraging communication, and team building. It is common for them to start the day with a dance session, to create an atmosphere which encourages them to enjoy the training as much as they learn from it. The groups are typically composed of fifteen people, and the training lasts for five days.
The training covers information about employees’ rights in regards to child labor, health and safety regulations, renumeration, working hours, and discrimination. They learn how they should be treated, and how they should treat others. Through playing educational games, talking about their feelings and personal experiences, and participating in constructive group activities, our employees learn not only their rights as individuals, but also their significance as a member of the Pactics family.
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Continuing with Confidence
In addition, YES Center’s training also builds confidence, teaching them about each individual’s right to an opinion (along with their right to voice that opinion), the necessity of teamwork, and the work culture and communication flow of Pactics.
Six months after the induction training, we test our employees to see what they have retained and what needs to be refreshed. One of the main goals of follow-up training is to emphasize that everything that happens in the workplace is everyone’s responsibility. The training goes deeper into the concepts of discrimination and human rights, along with the proper way to treat any occurrence that seems inappropriate. “We want to give them guidance on what they should address in the workplace and how they should address it,” says Ms. Pamparato. [/twocol_one][twocol_one_last]
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We are very proud of the YES Center and the training they provide our employees. It not only improves Pactics’ work environment, it also teaches our team values which will resonate with them for the rest of their lives.
