Bringing ethics into recruitment

Three Kuala Lumpur-based women have set up what they call is the first ethical recruitment agency in Malaysia, a country which relies heavily on foreign workers to fill jobs in construction, factories and home help.

Pinkcollar says it will start by dropping the hefty fees usually charged by recruitment firms on workers to help them find jobs. These tactics have pushed thousands of people into crippling debt they find hard to escape.

Malaysia is home to millions of foreign workers and a top destinations in Asia for impoverished women from Indonesia and the Philippines who take up jobs as domestic workers. Cases of abuse have been widely reported.

The Malaysian government has said it is looking to cut out middlemen and end debt bondage, which many consider is a form of modern-day slavery.

Ethical recruiters have popped up in the Philippines and Hong Kong in recent years as businesses come under pressure to end slavery.