(FWA 2025/10/28)Recently, Taiwan’s industries have faced international scrutiny due to risks of forced labor involving migrant workers, highlighting Taiwan’s systemic challenges within the global supply chain structure. The Garden of Hope Foundation released the “2025 Taiwan’s First Cross-Industry Migrant Worker Survey” on the 22nd. The survey shows that timely wage payment and fair leave are most valued by migrant workers. High-quality practices adhering to sustainability guidelines also enhance migrant workers’ trust and loyalty. It is recommended that the government assist and encourage enterprises to understand international compliance standards and view migrant workers as talent investments.
Enterprises Gain Favor by Complying with Labor Laws
Kaili Lee, Director of GOH-Migrants for Garden of Hope Foundation, stated that Taiwanese enterprises currently face two types of demands to strengthen human rights practices: internal audits required by global supply chains, which must meet responsibility standards like RBA and BSCI; and the Stock Exchange’s requirement for listed companies to write sustainability reports based on GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) standards. However, the background for initiating this research was the question of whether these reports are actually implemented.
Kaili Lee explained that because migrant workers often worry that being interviewed will affect their employment rights, the survey used a recommendation model, asking migrant workers if they would recommend their employer and why. The survey collected 241 questionnaires through street interviews and online surveys, with 223 valid responses. Indonesian and Filipino respondents each accounted for 40%, and Thai respondents for 20%.
Among the respondents, 85.2% were willing to recommend their company, while 14.8% were not. By nationality, Filipino and Thai workers were more willing to recommend their companies (93%), while Indonesian workers were relatively less willing (73%). This is speculated to be related to Filipino workers being mostly employed by large enterprises.
Main Reasons for Not Recommending: Violations, Neglect of Employee Health
By nationality distribution, Indonesian workers recommended 51 companies, Filipinos recommended 36, and Thais recommended 19. The number of repeatedly recommended companies was highest among those employing Filipino workers (9 companies), followed by Thai (7) and Indonesian (5). Additionally, 2 companies were recommended by workers of different nationalities. The recommended companies ranged in scale from listed companies to SMEs or factories.
Kaili Lee mentioned that what we consider basic rights are the main reasons for recommendation for migrant workers. For workers from all countries, “timely and accurate salary payment” is most valued, followed by a clear and fair leave system, and attention to employee health. Respondents also mentioned that although they recommend their companies, they hope for improvements in areas like forced overtime (4%), poor working environments (e.g., steel industry), workplace discrimination/bullying, dormitory curfews (not applied equally), and companies not addressing exploitation by brokers.
The main reasons migrant workers do not recommend their companies are violations of basic labor conditions and failure to comply with labor laws (25%), and not valuing employee health or providing sufficient employee benefits (both around 20%).
Training, Equal Treatment Earn Migrant Worker Trust
When recommending their companies, migrant workers also mentioned many high-quality corporate practices that align with sustainability guidelines. For example, regarding occupational health and safety, many Indonesian workers said their companies value employee health, providing sufficient food and rest. In terms of training, several Filipino workers mentioned being sent abroad by their company and promoted to mid-level migrant worker positions.
In terms of anti-discrimination, this includes companies giving Filipino workers fixed Sundays off to respect their religious beliefs; one company even provided halal meals for its only Indonesian employee. Regarding diversity and equal opportunity, migrant workers felt a sense of belonging and willingness to stay long-term when not only their direct supervisors but also high-level management showed them respect and treated them equally.
In terms of employment relations, good recreational spaces are also valued by migrant workers. Two respondents also stated their companies adopted a zero-fee policy, covering all costs related to working in Taiwan. Overall, as long as Taiwanese enterprises comply with regulations, migrant workers already consider them trustworthy and recommendable workplaces.
Recommending Government Help Enterprises Understand International Compliance Standards
Kaili Lee pointed out that the survey shows enterprises are still involved in high-risk areas related to “social responsibility audits”: including withholding documents and broker fees (forced labor indicators), wage shortages and unreasonable working hours, and forced overtime. It is hoped that the overall labor policy to be proposed can conduct a general review of these issues.
She further analyzed that migrant workers’ feedback shows a high positive correlation between GRI sustainability guidelines and corporate competitiveness. The perspective should shift from seeing them as guest workers to be “used up” to a “talent perspective” to better gain migrant worker trust.
It is also hoped that the government will take the lead in helping enterprises understand international compliance standards, such as zero-fee policies, RBA, and BSCI, provide guidelines, establish cross-ministerial compliance training systems (especially for management levels), and provide rewards and specific subsidies to enterprises that truly treat migrant workers as talent.
