HR Policies and Procedures, Working Conditions and Terms of Employment:
As of May 2022, there are overall 94 permanent and contractual employees at project hotel where 52 workers are females. Most workers start on fixed-term contracts, ranging from 6 months to a year. Almost 90 % of staff have work permits and Dembesh hotel is working towards issuance of permits for the remaining 10%. As per ESAP item 5, Dembesh hotel will obtain relevant work permits for all hotel employees/workers. All direct employees are expected to complete the probation period and are provided with written contracts which explain their employment terms and conditions. The contracts include the job description, working hours, compensation and benefits, medical coverage, leaves, dismissals, non-discrimination and safety at work.
Currently Dembesh hotel is working on the development of an HR policy and employee handbook applicable for all staff in line with IFC PS2 requirements and local regulatory requirements. The employee handbook will be in English and Arabic and cover the HR policy and procedures for newly hired employees to receive training on during their onboarding. There will also be annual refresher training for existing staff on the HR policy and procedures. If the hotel will be franchised, Dembesh hotel’s HR policy and procedures will remain applicable. As part of the ESAP item 6, the hotel will include in the employee handbook non-discriminatory and equal opportunity hiring, anti-sexual harassment policy, freedom of association & collective bargaining, retrenchment policy and procedures; renumeration and overtime; accommodation and employee grievance mechanism. The hotel does not hire staff below the age of 18 years; and does not allow child or forced labor. This will also be formalized as part of its employee handbook (ESAP item 6).
Grievance Mechanism:
The hotel has recently developed a grievance redressal mechanism (GRM) for its employees. Currently, employees are expected to direct their grievances either to their supervisor or HR department. There is no specific process to raise gender and gender-based violence (GBV) complaints. Hence, the hotel will update the current employee grievance mechanism to meet the IFC PS2 requirements and provide a framework for GRM including provision for anonymous grievances. The grievance mechanism framework will include training of all employees on the GRM as well as a log for documentation of all grievances or concerns and the resolution in a time-bound manner. There also will be a separate route for GBV-related grievances reporting. All employees will be trained on the updated grievance mechanism. The person/department responsible for handling grievances will receive specialized training on handling of grievances (ESAP item 7).
Freedom of Association:
According to Dembesh hotel’s senior management, the hotel does not discourage formation of union, restrict freedom of association or prohibit workers from joining any union. South Sudan allows the formation and registration of trade unions. Dembesh hotel will establish and include in its HR policies and procedures an internal worker organization underscoring the right to form and to join workers’ organisations of their choosing without interference and to bargain collectively. It will also be indicated that there will be no discrimination or retaliation against workers who participate, or seek to participate, in such organisation or collective bargaining (ESAP item 6).
Accommodation:
For non-local workers, the hotel provides accommodation. Employer-provided accommodation will be included in the HR employee handbook with description of who is entitled and all conditions that apply. The policy/SOP will also include a statement on the temporary accommodation arrangements until completion of employee accommodation construction. Employees will also have the freedom to opt out of this option based on the COVID19 policy without any concern of losing their job. Dembesh hotel will conduct an audit of the project-provided staff accommodation facilities before occupancy. The audit will assess the accommodation facilities' compliance with IFC/EBRD 'Workers' accommodation: processes and standards, internationally recognized life & fire safety standards, and ensure adequate considerations have been made related to Covid-19 management and gender aspects. All potential gaps that might to be identified during the audit, will be addressed before the use of accommodation facilities (ESAP item 6).
Retrenchment:
Dembesh hotel has not implemented retrenchment during the COVID-19 pandemic and is not anticipating dismissal of hotel employees. However, as set forth in ESAP item 6, the hotel will include a retrenchment policy in line with IFC’s PS2 as part of the employee handbook. Also, for any future layoffs of permanent staff, in cases similar to the COVID19 pandemic, the policy will be used including the requirement of sharing notifications with the ministry of labour (in absence of active trade unions in the sector).
Occupational, Health and Safety (OHS):
The main construction contractor conducts hazard identification and risk assessment on occupational health and safety to identify and mitigate specific safety risks in their construction work. Dembesh hotel does not currently have a similar risk assessment for operations. Hence, the engineering department of Dembesh hotel will develop similar risk assessment and maintain a baseline risk register establishing mitigants for risks which will be incorporated into a training program for all employees of the operational hotel. This will be extended to the extension of the hotel and the employee accommodation once operational as well (ESAP1).
Based on the risk assessments for construction and operation phases, the hotel will ensure proper management of hazardous chemicals, safe operation and maintenance of HVAC systems, lift carriers, and fire protection systems including other utilities (fire pumps; fire detectors; gas detectors in kitchen; water sprinklers; wet chemical fire suppression system for kitchens; LPG gas storage, conveyancing and use); hazards associated with laundry activities; facility fumigation and chemical exposure hazards to guests/workers; safety of the swimming pool; and hazards associated with regular cleaning activities conducted at height; emergency arrangements for fire events; arrangements to ensure security of guests, welfare of workers given long shifts pattern and activities that require long hours of standing amongst other health, safety and security aspects.
OHS statistics (fatalities, incidents records) are monitored by maintenance department at the hotel and by the construction contractor and the engineering department of the hotel. As of May 2022, there were no major injuries from the start of construction. OHS statistics are currently not included in either internal or external reporting. As part of the ESAP 1, the hotel will monitor lagging and leading indicators for effective OHS performance management.
COVID19 Management:
Due to the COVID pandemic, Dembesh hotel did not encounter partial or complete closure. To ensure the safety of their staff and guests during the pandemic, preventive measures were adopted such as social distancing, hand cleaning, disinfection, and hygiene measures to be observed and precautionary measures to be taken by guests such as wearing masks were implemented. The hotel has aggregated these measures into its COVID19 Policy. Under ESAP item 6, the COVID19 policy will be updated to include staff accommodation (ESAP item 6).
Gender:
Under ESAP item 8, the hotel will include gender-specific activities and analysis in the project's social impact assessment. As needed, the hotel will (i) engage expertise to help assess the risks of sexual harassment in the workplace and gender-based violence (GBV) in affected communities and supply chains, (ii) update and implement the new anti-sexual harassment policy together with relevant disciplinary procedures in line with guidance from “Addressing Gender-Based Violence and Harassment Emerging Good Practice for the Private Sector”, (iii) document a process to show how the anti-sexual harassment (ASH) policy is implemented. and (iv) develop and implement a grievance mechanism for reporting sexual exploitation and abuse perpetrated by employees in affected communities (ESAP item 8).
The hotel will also improve implementation of HR policies by integration of GBV and sexual harassment policy, procedures and grievance mechanism into the staff induction training on HR policy. A training program will be developed to ensure that once a year refresher training will be provided covering GBV and sexual harassment policy procedures, GRM, code of conduct, for all existing staff, including security guards and mandatory onboarding training for any newly recruited staff will be conducted. The management team shall be trained separately from other employees (ESAP item 8).
Workers engaged by third parties:
For short term contracted personnel hired by hotel HR as needed such as during months of peak hotel operation. HR policies and procedures will also be applicable to them. Under ESAP item 6, the hotel will (i) develop a contractor management system, in line with PS2 requirements, including terms of employment, minimum age, non-discrimination and equal opportunity, freedom of association, worker accommodation and occupational health and safety; grievance mechanism; etc., (ii) implement procedures to demonstrate compliance with the national laws, PS 2, and the hotel’s employee handbook, and (iii) develop and implement a code of conduct for employees and contractors that prohibits GBV.
