Utilisation of Flexible Work Arrangements by Employees
Parliamentary Question, 2 Sep 2019
Ms Anthea Ong asked the Minister for Manpower in each of the last three years, what is the average utilisation rate of flexible work arrangements (FWAs) by employees broken down by (i) whether their employer receives the Work-Life Grant and (ii) type of FWA utilised disaggregated by gender and age.
Mrs Josephine Teo: We do not collect utilisation rate of Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs) because it does not show if employees require more FWAs or not. A low FWA utilisation rate could be due to employees not requiring FWAs at the point in time. A more useful indicator is the accessibility of FWAs for employees who need it. Among employees aged 25 to 64 who required FWAs in 2018, more than eight in 10 had access to the FWA that they needed, an increase from seven in 10 in 2016.1 The percentage is broadly similar across age and gender.
The Work-Life Grant (WLG) is only disbursed to companies after their employees have regularly utilised the FWAs. The amount disbursed depends on the number of employees who utilised the FWAs, up to $105,000 per company. We do not track the utilisation of FWAs by all employees in each company. However, as part of the WLG conditions, every beneficiary company must adopt the Tripartite Standard on FWAs, which includes informing all their employees on the types of FWAs offered and outcomes of their applications, and engaging them on alternatives if their requests cannot be granted. To provide greater support to companies to implement FWAs, the budget for the enhanced WLG was recently increased to $100 million, up from $30 million. We strongly encourage employers to tap on the grant to offer FWAs to their employees.
Note(s) to question 26:
1 A biennial MOM survey.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Anthea Ong is a Nominated Member of Parliament. (A Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) is a Member of the Parliament of Singapore who is appointed by the President. They are not affiliated to any political party and do not represent any constituency. There are currently nine NMPs in Parliament.)
The multi-sector perspective that comes from her ground immersion of 12 years in different capacities helps her translate single-sector issues and ideas across boundaries without alienating any particular community/group. As an entrepreneur and with many years in business leadership, it is innate in her to discuss social issues with the intent of finding solutions, or at least of exploring possibilities. She champions mental health, diversity and inclusion — and volunteerism in Parliament.
She is also an impact entrepreneur/investor and a passionate mental health advocate, especially in workplace wellbeing. She started WorkWell Leaders Workgroup in May 2018 to bring together top leaders (CXOs, Heads of HR/CSR/D&I) of top employers in Singapore (both public and private) to share, discuss and co-create inclusive practices to promote workplace wellbeing. Anthea is also the founder of Hush TeaBar, Singapore’s 1st silent teabar and a social movement that aims to bring silence, self care and social inclusion into every workplace, every community — with a cup of tea. The Hush Experience is completely led by lovingly-trained Deaf facilitators, supported by a team of Persons with Mental Health Issues (PMHIs).
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