A*STAR instituteÂ’s admin director worked with her husband, brother and sister-in-law
Jose Raymond
jose@newstoday.com.sg
IT IS not uncommon to have relatives working in the same organisation, but to avoid conflicts of interest, most employers try to avoid placing them in the same department, particularly if one relative is subordinate to the other.
However, in an unusual situation at a local research institute, the husband, brother and sister-in-law of the director of administration were hired for positions that came under her purview.
The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), a research institute under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) umbrella, only has about 150 employees, and the fact that for the last 18 months or so, three close relatives of a senior member of the management team have been working in her division has raised some eyebrows among the staff.
The administration directorÂ’s husband was hired as the IBNÂ’s head of facilities, while her brother was a senior officer in the IT department and his wife was a senior officer in the administration department.
In response to TODAYÂ’s queries, A*STARÂ’s spokeswoman Michelle Khor said it is the agency that approves the appointment of executive directors and senior staff of its research institutes.
“Recruitment of other staff by each institute is based on job requirements, candidates’ experience and job fit. Consistent with the public sector practice, A*STAR recruits and selects candidates according to a set of criteria such as qualifications, experience, skills and personal qualities.”
She added that A*STAR’s guidelines “restrict the employment of staff with conflicting relationships including those with family relations”.
“Conflicting relations must be declared upfront and any such employment must be surfaced to the A*STAR Management for approval. A*STAR authorised the executive directors of research institutes to employ staff members at their discretion except senior scientists above a certain grade.”
She said IBNÂ’s executive director, Professor Jackie Ying, had informed A*STAR of the employment of the husband of the director of administration, and that the husband reported directly to Prof Ying and not to his wife.
The other two relatives, Ms Khor said, were hired at a time when the IBN “experienced rapid and significant growth” at its new premise in The Biopolis.
She said: “IBN has informed A*STAR that these two hires were meant to be temporary measures to address the manpower shortage in specific departments during the transitional period. Arrangements are being made to transfer these two staff members to other A*STAR units.”
When told of the situation at IBN, various human resource directors of government statutory boards TODAY spoke to said this was “very poor” HR practice.
One HR director said: “If it was a question of having two brilliant scientists or two fantastic economists who were husband and wife in the same statutory board, then I believe there could be an exception. But the usual practice is never to have couples or relatives, report to each other.
“There will always be questions of fairness, especially when it comes to issues like appraisals for annual bonuses. Also, there could be issues of security involved if there are too many relatives working in the same statutory board.”
As an example, Singapore Airlines does not allow a husband and wife among its cabin staff to fly together. Similarly, the Singapore Police Force will not have a couple working in the same division, especially if one is superior to the other.
Asked for its stand on the matter, the Public Service Division said: “Family relations is not a factor and we have an open recruitment policy which is based on merit and candidates are selected according to criteria like qualifications, experience, skills and personal qualities.
“However, for good HR practice and to avoid possible conflict of interests, we would avoid posting married couples or family members to a unit where one officer is subordinate to the other.”
The instituteÂ’s executive director Jackie Ying said the man in question did not
report to his wife. A*STAR instituteÂ’s admin director worked with her husband, brother and sister-in-law
