More bosses offering flexi-work

Number of firms with such benefits up from 38% to 47%, MOM survey shows
By Toh Yong Chuan, Manpower Correspondent, The Straits Times, 10 Dec 2014

MORE employers in Singapore are embracing work-life balance by putting in place flexible work arrangements, a new survey has found.

The number of firms offering some form of flexi-work benefits rose from 38 per cent in 2011 to 47 per cent this year, according to a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) survey released yesterday.

The most common flexi-work practice is allowing staff to work part- time, with 36 per cent of firms doing so. Other practices include allowing workers to report for work earlier or later or letting them work from home.

The increase in firms offering such benefits comes on the back of "the tight labour market and ongoing initiatives which support work-life harmony", the MOM said in a media release announcing the survey findings.

In June, the Government announced more incentives to coax firms to offer staff flexi-work benefits. Firms can now get a $10,000 grant to try out flexi-work arrangements and another $10,000 to implement them. Previously, they would get reimbursements only after the flexi-work arrangements are implemented.

More than 3,800 private sector firms took part in the MOM survey conducted between June and September. The survey found that only 46 per cent of firms have a five-day work week, with the rest having a 51/2 or six-day week, or shift work.

It also found that managers and executives get a better deal than rank-and-file workers when it comes to leave and other benefits. Some 77 per cent of them work only five days a week, compared with a quarter of rank-and-file workers. And 73 per cent have at least 15 days of paid annual leave, compared with 23 per cent of rank-and-file workers.

Under the Employment Act, workers get at least seven days of paid annual leave and the leave increases to 14 days for those with eight years of continuous service.

Said MOM in the report: "Although not a statutory requirement, many employers were generous in providing compassionate and marriage leave."

Some 89 per cent provide compassionate leave and 71 per cent, marriage leave, the survey found.

The findings were welcomed by MP Zainudin Nordin, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower. "We are making progress," he said.

Singapore Human Resources Institute president Erman Tan said that the labour crunch is driving bosses to be more accommodating.

He noted that it is harder to implement the five-day work week for rank-and-file workers than for managers and executives, as these workers are more likely to be required to be physically present at work. "Bosses have to make it up to rank-and-file workers in other ways, like giving them overtime pay," he said.

Post by Singapore Ministry of Manpower.

The case for implementing parental care leave
By Faris Mokhtar, Channel NewsAsia, 10 Dec 2014

More companies should provide parental care or sick leave to allow employees to attend to elderly parents - that is the view of Singaporeans Channel NewsAsia spoke with, after a Manpower Ministry survey on employment practices showed a marginal increase in the number of companies providing such benefits.

The survey had polled 3,800 establishments covering close to 1.3 million employees, in both the private and public sectors. Close to 20 per cent of the companies polled provide paid parental care or sick leave, an increase of around two percentage points from the last survey two years ago.

In Singapore, such leave is not stipulated by law - unlike paid maternity or paternity leave. Still, the Government has taken the lead, giving civil servants two days of parental care leave since 2012.

In light of Singapore's greying population, many members of the public say more companies, especially those in the private sector, should offer such leave as employees end up using their annual leave to attend to elderly parents.

Said optometrist Prem Muniandy, 29: "The Singapore population is aging, and given the current situation, everyone of us has to work. If we are only given leave to take care of our kids, we really don't have enough leave given to take care of our ageing parents as well."

But some HR experts think stipulating the number of days for parental care leave might be tricky. Said Mdm Ho Geok Choo, Chief Executive of Human Capital Singapore: "Concerns of most companies would be - where will that stop or end? Because if we do not specify a tenure to the scheme, then it may just protract. Some staff may have very old parents who may be sick and this can actually be protracted.

"Similarly for child-care and for children who are still at a younger age - when they fall sick, it can also be on a long-term basis. So companies have concerns with regard to what kind of tenure are we looking at when we grant this kind of leave." 

There have been calls to legislate family or parental care leave to help ease the strain on work-life balance. One advocate is Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob, who said clear legislation can help shape and influence behaviour at the workplace.

Said National Trades Union Congress Assistant Secretary-General Zainal Sapari: "NTUC sees legislation as an end-point in order to promote friendly practices. There must be ground engagement with the various stakeholders to understand each other's concerns. One possible option that companies can look into is trying to be more flexible in the leave that they accord to their workers.

"For example, instead of specifying that a particular type of leave can only be used for childcare, they could actually be more flexible and call it family leave, leaving it up to the discretion of the workers to best use it to meet his needs to attend to his family."

Ultimately, Mr Zainal said a flexi-work arrangement should be included as part of a company's overall HR practices, to send a strong signal that the employee's welfare is paramount.