There are nearly 340,000 migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong supporting the care needs of families here. In order to improve the livelihoods of their families back home, primarily women from the Philippines and Indonesia migrate to find better economic and work opportunities. However, the majority of them are recruited through unethical agencies that charge illegal and extortionate recruitment-related fees that force them to take out loans to pay them off. Therefore, many of them become debt-bonded with less ability to leverage for fair treatment or leave potentially dangerous employment situations.
This led us to establish Fair Employment Agency (FEA) in 2014, a nonprofit ethical recruitment agency that is also a social enterprise that is committed to never charging worker placement fees. By removing the fees, and providing a high-quality, transparent, and professional service to employers, we are creating better outcomes for both domestic workers and families in need of reliable household support. Domestic workers benefit because they start their jobs free from recruitment debt. Employers benefit because we only place workers who are a good match for their family. And Hong Kong benefits because we are setting a new standard of professionalism for all employment agencies.
Fair Employment Agency (FEA) is a social enterprise and a subsidiary under the parent organization, The Fair Employment Foundation. FEA provides job matching for employers and domestic workers based on the employers’ care needs. We also have a dedicated client care team that surveys and provides support for employers and workers post-deployment. To date, we have nearly 8,000 workers ethically. Our services include full placement service, direct hire, and contract renewal services for Filipino, Indonesian, and Thai workers.