Singapore pledges to provide more support to media freelancers in bid to improve gig economy
Singapore has stepped up its efforts to provide more support for media freelancers after launching a tripartite standard on the procurement of services from media freelancers.
Singapore has stepped up its efforts to provide more support for media freelancers.
According to Channel NewsAsia, from 1 April 2018, companies will need to adopt the standard in order to qualify for media grants from the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and funding for public service broadcast content.
The standard has set out industry best practices in four key areas, which states that companies are to provide media freelancers with a written contract that states terms like the agreed deliverables, ownership of intellectual property and payment milestones. They are also expected to adhere to the payment milestones outlined in the agreed terms.
For dispute resolution, parties should resolve their disputes through negotiation and mediation. To support this, IMDA has a subsidised mediation services in partnership with the SMC, for eligible media companies and freelancers.”
Companies should also offer workplace protection insurance for media freelancers in regards to production equipment, commercial general liability and work-related accidents.
There are 11 companies and associations which have already adopted the standard, namely HBO (Asia), the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents and Mediacorp, while the Association of Independent Producers (Singapore) has pledged to adopt the standard by April.