Louis asked the Minister for Manpower (a) how can employers provide flexible work arrangements for frontline workers such as nurses, cleaners and security officers; and (b) when flexible work arrangements are not readily available for these frontline workers, how can employers support better work-life harmony for this group of workers.

Mrs Josephine Teo (MOM): The majority of companies in sectors employing nurses, cleaners and security officers are able to offer some form of flexible work arrangements (FWAs) to their employees. In 2018, between seven to nine in 10 companies in these sectors offered formal FWAs¹.²

Although frontline workers often have to be physically present in their workplaces, employers can still offer FWAs by way of staggering the start and end times of their shifts (i.e. flexi-time), or enabling shifts to be shared by multiple workers (i.e. flexi-load).

To help more frontline workers benefit from FWAs, MOM and tripartite partners are developing sector-specific resources and employer support groups to help employers overcome challenges in offering FWAs unique to some sectors. These are in line with recommendations recently made by the Citizens' Panel (CP) on Work-Life Harmony, which comprises diverse participants including business owners and employees.

As emphasised by the CP, both employers and employees have a part to play in achieving better work-life harmony. Employers and senior management need to better understand challenges faced by frontline employees, optimise work processes and enhance staff welfare. Employers should also be mindful about giving workers excessive workloads, and respect their workers' rest hours and off days. Employees, on the other hand, have to take personal responsibility in defining what they want out of their work and personal life. This will help guide them in achieving their individual work-life harmony goals.

¹ Formal FWAs include part-time work, flexi-time/staggered hours, formal telecommuting, homeworking, job sharing and compressed work week.  
² Conditions of Employment Survey, Manpower Research & Statistics Department, MOM.  

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

(Supplementary Question) Louis: Thank you, Sir. I thank the Minister for the response. I note that we are now at about 50% of our work-from-home policy, but I think Minister Lawrence Wong originally said that we should embrace working from home even after the circuit breaker ends. So, can I just check whether the Government still stands by that statement?

Second, I think working from home has allowed more fathers to play an active role in child care-giving duties. I am just wondering whether the Government has studies or will be studying whether our work-from-home policies can contribute towards levelling the child care-giving duties at home and hence, tackling this gender stereotype?

Mr Gan Kim Yong (MOM): I thank the Member. Let me answer the first question. Working from home will continue to be default, but we do accept and acknowledge that there are challenges both from the employers as well as from the employees' perspective. Some employees' homes may not be conducive for working from home. Therefore, we made some arrangements and provided flexibility to allow the employers and the employees to work out better, more flexible arrangements, but subject to the criteria that I have just mentioned – no more than 50% of all employees who are working from home today, can go back to the office; and for those who are working from home today, not more than half of their time should be spent in the workplace; and they should still continue to work from home if they can.

It is a flexible arrangement; we want to provide some flexibility for the workers and the employers. We also recognise that some employers do need to consult their employees, they still need to have face-to-face interactions and meetings. This is also part of the process of team bonding and is critical among the employees. We cannot totally do away with the face-to-face, physical meetings and interactions amongst employees and employers. So, we provide some flexibility but we still encourage employers and employees to work out the arrangements and to allow employees to stay at home, work from home, as much as possible. This will help to reduce overcrowding in the workplaces and at the same time, also reduce the congestion on the roads and on public transport. These are important.

As I had mentioned in my reply, even after the COVID-19 pandemic is over, whenever that happens, we will continue to encourage this flexible working arrangement. Through this period of COVID-19, we have found that working from home has a lot of advantages, like Mr Louis Ng has mentioned. You can spend more time with your family and fathers can also play a bigger role in the family setting. But this is a separate issue on family matters, which is probably more appropriate for the Member to file a separate Parliamentary Question (PQ) addressed to MSF, rather than for MOH to respond specifically.

But generally, we will continue to encourage working from home and we will continue to provide flexibility to allow flexible work arrangements between the employer and the employees.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Louis asked the Minister for Manpower whether the Ministry will legislate the right for all employees to request flexible work arrangements and require employers who reject the request to provide a specific business-related reason.

Mrs Josephine Teo (MOM): The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) recognises the importance of flexible work arrangements (FWAs) in helping workers to better manage both their work and personal responsibilities. We have continuously reviewed and enhanced our efforts to support the provision of FWAs. This includes progressively implementing the recommendations of the Citizens’ Panel on Work-Life Harmony that were submitted last year, such as growing a community of Work-Life Ambassadors and developing sector-specific implementation guides on FWAs.

Today, the vast majority of employees are benefitting from FWAs. In 2019, about 85% of employers offered some form of formal or ad-hoc FWAs.1 These numbers have increased during this COVID-19 period with employers being required to implement work-from-home and FWAs for safety of their workers. Post-Circuit Breaker, even as more workers are allowed to return to the workplace, the tripartite partners have called upon employers to not only stagger start times for their employees but also introduce flexible workplace hours as a norm.

MOM will monitor the effects of the higher use of FWAs, and study the best ways to entrench best practices after COVID-19. We will consider the experience of other jurisdictions and work with tripartite partners to ensure the interests of both employees and employers are considered. In the meantime, we urge employers to press on and continue to implement work arrangements that enable employees to maintain work-life harmony while continuing to meet business needs.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Ministerial Statement: Overview of Government’s Strategy to Emerge Stronger from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Louis championed for work from home in his response to the Ministerial Statement as follow.

Louis: Sir, this COVID pandemic has badly affected our economy, many lives and livelihoods. But if there is something positive, it has reminded us about the important things in our life, the things that we may have taken for granted.

Sir, I learnt a very painful but important lesson over the circuit breaker. I realised that I missed out on so much of my children's childhood over the last couple of years. While working from home, I was able to spend so much time with my little ones. Together – Ella, Katie, Poppy and I cooked, ate, played, enjoyed bedtime stories and even managed to set up a tent in our living room.

Before this pandemic, I was never able to spend so much time with them. I was often out on the ground at work, like most of us, and by the time I got home at night, the kids would be fast asleep. The reality is that work from home is something that us, as Members of Parliament will not be able to completely do as our work is often on the ground. But many fellow Singaporeans can benefit from it. In a survey of 9,000 respondents across night 90 companies conducted this May, 90% of respondents said they wanted to continue working from home. Singaporeans do want such an arrangement.

Sir, we should respond positively and legislate the right to work from home for all employees and require employers who reject the request to provide specific business-related reasons. 

Working from home will benefit all employees, whether you're married or single. Employees will have better work-life balance, more freedom, spend less time commuting and it promotes employee well-being. Beyond this, there are four other main reasons why we should give people the right to work from home.

The first reason that it will be better for fathers. A survey conducted by Focus on the Family Singapore this year found that out of nearly 2,500 fathers, 70% became more involved with their families during the circuit breaker. Of this group, more than 80% said they connected better with their kids.

This pandemic has hurt many Singaporean families but it has also provided opportunities for parents, especially fathers to bond with their children like never before. A recent media article spotlighted the stories of several fathers during the circuit breaker and how COVID-19 has given fathers a chance to bond with their kids.

Marketing manager Imran talk about how his wife and him are so glad that he has now more time to play and eat together with his two toddler children. Imran talked lovingly about how his kids now miss him even when he stepped out of the house briefly.

Shahid Nizami, a managing director, spoke about how he had to strike a balance between working from home and supervising his son, Kain's home-based learning and how he jammed with his son for a virtual talent competition, with his son on drums and the dad on a guitar. He said, "This has been really special for both of us."

It is clear that many fathers now want to reconsider their work-life arrangement and we should not waste this opportunity. The right to work from home will give fathers more flexibility and more time to spend with their loved ones.

Second, the reason this working from home would help benefit mothers. One mother, Sheena, wrote to me, expressing her joy at seeing more fathers picking up their kids from schools these days as a result from our work from home policy which she says used to be a rare sight previously. Fathers picking up their children from school is part of a bigger solution.

A study conducted this year by the US National Bureau of Economics found that a pandemic would likely cause fathers to become more interested and experienced in childcare, reducing the childcare responsibilities on mothers and increasing gender equality at the workplace.

This rings true for Singapore too. An IPS study found that fathers who had more time to be with their children at home were able to better develop effective childcare skills. When fathers become more adept with handling childcare responsibilities, their families rely less on the mothers for childcare. This not only improves delegation of home responsibilities more equally between fathers and mothers but allow working mothers to focus better at work. In short, when fathers buck up at home, mothers get to lean in at work. Gender equality happens when everyone chips in.

The third reason is that it would be good for businesses. It does so by increasing productivity.

A 2011 guide by the tripartite committee on work-life strategy says that working from home enhances business performance and competitiveness for employers as employers can optimise manpower and resources deployment. International examples back up this point. A study again by the US National Bureau of Economic Research found that employees of China's largest travel agency, Ctrip, were 13% more productive while working from home.

Having employees work from home also help companies reduce fixed costs, such as office rental and workstation set-up costs and staff turnover related costs. As early as 2001, MOM stated that work from home allows workers to better combine their work and personal responsibilities which helps to reduce absenteeism and attrition. Ctrip, the Chinese travel agency I mentioned previously, halved their attrition rate of their employees, with a work from home policy.

Businesses that allow their employees to work from home do grow stronger. Let us help our businesses recover from this COVID economy in a way that emphasises efficiency and reduce costs. And through the Productivity Solutions Grant, the Government is also helping to make a work from home policy possible for businesses.

The fourth and final reason for legislating the right to work from home is that it will be good for our economy.

I cited research showing that a work from home policy reduces employee attrition. What I have not mentioned is that so often, this attrition employees are women. When you add up the effects on the national level, we see shocking trends. Let us talk about female labour force participation rate. On that, Singapore scored 61.1% in 2019, far below other countries in Southeast Asia, such as Vietnam at 72.5%; Cambodia at 75.2% and Lao PDR at 76.8%.

It is often said that Singapore's only natural resource is our people. Yet, we are not even employing half of our people, our women efficiently. Why is our female labour force participation rate so low? According to the McKinsey Global Institute, the culprit is care-giving and childcare responsibilities. The study estimates that if we close this gap, more than $26 billion could be added to the Singapore's GDP by 2025. We need every dollar of that and we need to close that gap.

The solution is to empower our mothers to work from home. Teresa, a working mother wrote to me, saying that working from home has meant that she did not have to worry about childcare arrangements and could pick up her children from childcare, bring them to appointments and take care of them when they did not have school. The right to work from home will provide parents like Teresa and many other employees with legal grounds to request to work from home when they need to without being penalised. It will enable those who have been discouraged and forced out of the workforce to rejoin their fellow Singaporeans. In these hard times, Singapore's economy needs every leg up we can get. The right to work from home will help.

Finally, let me address potential downsides and how we can solve them.

MOM has previously stated that this legislation can have unintended consequences for the very group it is meant to benefit and protect. For example, it may discourage employers from hiring groups seen as likely to take up the benefits. I am equally concerned about such outcomes. So, I studied the issue.

The UK has done what I am calling for. It provides the right for all workers to request for work from home, which employers can reject only based on certain business reasons. A study conducted in 2018 found that less than 5% of UK workers who worked from home or used staggered hours experience negative consequences due to their working arrangement. It is extremely unlikely that getting to work from home hurt someone's career. By contrast, the study found that work from home has been shown to reduce women's likelihood of working part-time after childbirth, reduces the motherhood penalty and potentially increase wage premium for women, especially in the longer run. In other words, the evidence suggests that legislating the right to work from home would help, not hinder women from succeeding at the workplace.

Sir, in conclusion, I hope we will legislate this right to work from home. Employers can reject the request with specific business-related reasons and employees who want to choose to work from the office can still feel free to do so. I believe this is a good middle ground win-win proposal.

For years, we told everyone that work from home helps with work-life balance, reduces employees absenteeism, leads to higher productivity, saves costs of office space and attracts and retains value employees. It even helped save lives during this pandemic.

For months, we make it law. All I am asking is that we now make this law permanent.

Minister Lawrence has said that working from home must be embraced as a new normal even after circuit breaker ends. We are now at a 50% work from home policy and I urge the Government not to reduce this any further, but instead take a step forward and ensure that work from home truly becomes a new normal.

Let me end by stressing that work from home is not just for fathers and mothers. It is for those are not married as well. At some point in our lives, we will have to care for someone else – be it children parents, grandparents, spouses, partners, friends and other loved ones. We will all need to be care-givers some day and we should have the flexibility to do so.

Working from home also helps with work-life balance and our well-being so it is also about caring for ourselves. Let us emerge stronger, as I have said many times in this House, spend time with those you love. One of these days, you will either say "I wish I had" or "I'm glad I did". Let us give our people a better chance of saying "I'm glad I did".

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Normalising Work-from-home Arrangements in Aftermath of COVID-19 Pandemic

(Supplementary Question) Louis: Could I ask the Minister of State, out of the 85% of the companies that are offering FWAs, how many percent are actually offering WFH arrangements? Second, can I also ask what was the Ministry's consideration when we so drastically reduced our WFH policy from 100% to 50%? Why do we not just have a set of conditions or criteria where, if an employee is required to go back to work, then, they go back to work; rather than halve it quite immediately?

Ms Gan Siow Huang (for the Minister for Manpower): For 2019, I do not have the data off-hand on what percentage of the 85% of the employers offered WFH arrangements as well. But we do know that prior to COVID-19, before the circuit breaker, there were fewer companies that were implementing WFH arrangements. During the circuit breaker, because of safety reasons, many companies, employers, have adapted very fast. We see that there is feedback from more employers telling us that they are prepared to continue to implement WFH post-COVID-19. So, this is an encouraging sign.

As to whether 50% is the correct level or not, I think we have to have proper conversations and discussions, hopefully with the tripartite partners to understand better the challenges that come along with WFH – both for the employers as well as for the employees, just as Dr Wan Rizal had mentioned earlier on. I think it is not so much pegging a certain level in the steady state, but rather, trying to find optimal conditions for us to be able to implement WFH in a sustainable manner.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Louis delivered his budget cut on Legislate the Right to Work from Home at Committee of Supply 2021.

Louis: COVID-19 has shown that work from home is possible. Many employers I spoke to said that they are willing to allow employees to work from home if the Government legislates this. I am not asking for employees to be forced to work from home. I understand that it is not possible for some lines of work. Some employees may also not want to. Instead, I am asking for employees who can work at home to be allowed to work from home if they wish to.

We should also allow employers to reject such requests for business related reasons. Will MOM look into legislating the right to work from home? 

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Ms Gan Siow Huang (The Minister of State for Manpower): Mr Louis Chua and Mr Louis Ng would like to see flexible work arrangements continuing post-COVID-19. The importance of flexible work arrangements was echoed in the recent Emerging Stronger Conversation series too. Particularly, on working from home, a survey conducted in July last year showed that four in five workers wished to continue to work from home for at least half the time, even after Government measures are lifted. 

Employers are aligned with this too. In a recent MOM online poll, more than three in five businesses indicated that they intend to continue to allow employees to work from home at least half the time post-COVID-19. 

Although COVID-19 has significantly increased the proportion of people working from home, further study is needed to understand the impact of such arrangements on the work productivity and wellbeing of employees in the long term. Some employers may feel that work-from-home, if protracted, could hinder collaboration, productivity and the building of team spirit. Some employees may prefer to work in the office if their home environment is not conducive or for social interaction. The degree to which work-from-home can be proliferated will vary across occupations.

We will look at the experiences of other jurisdictions such as the UK and Australia, which have introduced flexible work arrangement legislation. But we will need to work with our tripartite partners to ensure a holistic representation of employees and employers' interests as we decide on the steps for the longer term. 

We have recently formed an Alliance for Action for Work-Life Harmony to help companies instill workplace practices and resources to promote work-life harmony. In the long term, this will help companies better attract and retain talent.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

(Supplementary Question) Louis: Asked the Minister for Manpower whether, beyond the Tripartite Standards or Tripartite Guidelines, the Ministry intends to retain existing work-from-home legislation and make the right to work from home the new normal.

Ms Gan Siow Huang (for the Minister for Manpower): COVID-19 has catalysed a transformation of workplace practices. Businesses have adapted well and successfully implemented work-from-home arrangements. SMEs can also tap on Government grants, such as the Productivity Solution Grant, to adopt suitable cloud-based digital solutions that can enable productive remote work arrangements for their employees.

In 2020, three in four employees worked in firms that provided some form of remote working. The number of hours spent on remote work would vary depending on businesses' and workers' needs, and MOM does not track this.

We expect work-from-home arrangements to become a more mainstream option. Majority of employers said that they would allow their workers to continue to work-from-home for at least a quarter of the time. We should not rush into hasty legislation that unintentionally creates workplace rigidity that may impede our economic recovery at this time.

Our approach for workplace flexibility should be inclusive and not just about working from home. The 2019 Citizens' Panel on Work-Life Harmony highlighted the diverse needs of various sectors and jobs, such as the needs of frontline workers differing significantly from that of office workers. For example, work-from-home is not practical for work that most frontline workers perform. It is therefore critical that a holistic approach be taken to enable more workers' access to appropriate workplace flexibilities, be it flexi-load, flexi-time or flexi-place.

To this end, the tripartite partners have been reaching out to employers and unions to promote the Tripartite Standard on Flexible Work Arrangements. We had also formed the Alliance for Action (AfA) on Work-Life Harmony last year, involving community stakeholders such as employers, employees and HR professionals. The AfA created three Communities of Practice for the food services, manufacturing and finance sectors respectively, to exchange best practices and develop implementation resources that were suited to companies’ sectoral needs. For example, Communities of Practice panellists shared how staggered hours could still be offered to onsite production staff who required them to flexibly manage their personal responsibilities, such as childcare. The HR profession through the Institute of Human Resource Professionals also came together to develop a Playbook on Hybrid Workplaces. We are continuing this ground-up effort by growing a community Work-Life Ambassadors to champion and support these efforts at their workplaces.

Even as work-from-home arrangements stabilise, we are mindful of the risks from blurred work-life boundaries. The Tripartite Advisory on Mental Well-being was introduced in 2020 and one of the key recommendations was for employers to set reasonable expectations of after-hours work communications, such as not requiring employees to respond to non-urgent work-related messages and emails after certain hours. The AfA on Work-Life Harmony also developed an after-hours communication policy template to make it easier for companies to establish and communicate progressive after-hours communications practices.

The Government will continue to work with tripartite partners to expand the provision of flexible work arrangements in a sustainable manner.

Louis: Thank you, Sir and I thank the Minister of State for the reply. Could I have two clarifications?

One, I am not asking for 100% compulsory work-from-home, but to legislate the right to work from home and also to give employers the right to reject for work-related reasons. So, for example, if there is a face-to-face meeting that day, then the employee would not be allowed to work from home.

Two, I do agree with the Minister of State. We should not jump into legislating things, but the fact is that we have been debating this right to work from home for quite a number of years in the House now, even in the pre-COVID-19 days. COVID-19 has shown that work-from-home is possible, so I am just wondering what is stopping MOM from legislating this right to work from home.

Ms Gan Siow Huang: I thank the hon Member Mr Louis Ng for that question, a very thoughtful one. The number of workers with access to flexible work arrangements has increased steadily over the years. From 2014 to 2019, the proportion of employers who offered at least one formal flexible work arrangement on a regular and sustained basis, rose from 47% to 53%. During the pandemic crisis, work-from-home as a form of flexible work arrangement has also become more common.

The Member ask why do we not legislate the right to request for work-from-home. While the economy is showing signs of recovery and more employers and employees are more comfortable and used to the arrangement of work-from-home, there remain uncertainties. As we look at other countries that have introduced legislation to allow employees to request to work from home, it is uncertain as in the outcomes are rather mixed on whether legislation makes a substantial improvement in the work-life and the flexibility that employees have. After all, like the hon Member said, employers will also have the right to reject the request for work-from-home.

I think we have to take a practical approach towards this. I fully agree with the hon Member Louis Ng that legislation may not be the best solution. In fact, what I think we should focus is on enabling employers and employees with resources and with guides to help them implement work-from-home and flexible work arrangements in a practical and sustained manner.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Louis asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the Ministry has studied the potential impact of work-from-home legislation over the past two years on employers and employees, respectively; (b) if so, what are the results of this study; and (c) if not, whether the Ministry intends to conduct such a study and by when.

Dr Tan See Leng (MOM): We have not commissioned any study of the sort described by the Member, nor do we have plans to do so.

Due to COVID-19, employers have adapted work practices and norms. In 2020, three in four employees worked in firms that provided some form of remote working. Our surveys also show that the majority of employers are keen to continue work-from-home arrangements for at least a quarter of the time, even after the pandemic ends. Moving forward, we expect work-from-home arrangements to become more mainstream. Employers see the value of work-from-home and other flexible work arrangements in talent retention and attraction, while employees enjoy the flexibility and experience better work-life balance.

However, employers have also shared their concerns over the impact on staff engagement and effective collaboration, while employees are concerned over blurred work-life boundaries and the risk of burn out.

We will continue to work with tripartite partners to sustain the provision and use of flexible work arrangements, which includes but is not limited to work-from-home. We will do so by addressing the challenges that employers have faced in implementing them. We will continue to promote implementation resources and tools, such as the Institute for Human Resource Professionals’ Playbook on Hybrid Workplaces and the Tripartite Advisory on Mental Well-being at Workplaces. These will help guide companies implement effective hybrid work arrangements and measures to support employees’ well-being support.

Even as we drive the adoption of flexible work arrangements, tripartite partners have stressed that we should not inadvertently erode trust at the workplace or create a litigious workplace culture by introducing overly rigid rules or rushing into legislation. We will continue to work with tripartite partners to support companies to provide FWAs in an effective and sustainable manner. 

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

 Louis asked the Minister for Manpower (a) how many and what percentage of registered companies in Singapore currently offer the right to work from home, following the government’s decision to allow 50 per cent of those who can work from home to be allowed to return to the office starting January 2022; and (b) if the Ministry does not have this data, does it intend to collect the data and by when.

Dr Tan See Leng (MOM): Under COVID-19 Workplace Regulations, businesses are currently still required to implement work-from-home for at least 50% of their workforce who can work-from-home. For those workers that are unable to work-from-home, employers are to ensure that start times are staggered and allow flexible working hours.

MOM tracks the proportion of firms that offer flexible working arrangements, including remote work. In 2020, close to eight in 10 firms provided flexible working arrangements on a sustained basis, and close to one in two offered remote work. This information is published on the MOM website. Data for 2021 will be published in due course.

MOM will continue to work with tripartite partners to raise employees’ access to flexible work arrangements, which includes but is not limited to remote working arrangements. As not all working arrangements are suitable for remote work, our approach is to be inclusive, to help more workers access appropriate workplace flexibilities, from flexi-load, to flexi-time and to flexi-place.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Louis asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the Ministry has conducted local studies on the impact of allowing working from home in (i) reducing gender inequality (ii) reducing gender stereotypes (iii) reducing gender wage gap and (iv) increasing the female labour force participation rate respectively; (b) if so, what are the results of the respective studies; and (c) if not, whether the Ministry intends to do so.

Dr Tan See Leng (MOM): We have not commissioned any local studies described by the Member. Nevertheless, we welcome interested stakeholders to conduct robust studies on these issues, and to share the findings to enrich the discussion.

Even without such studies, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), unions, and many progressive employers, both locally and globally, already firmly believe in the benefits of flexible work arrangements (FWAs), of which working from home is but one type. FWAs are key enablers in helping workers balance work and personal responsibilities, such as caregiving. As women tend to still play the primary caregiving roles in families, FWAs will certainly help them. But we also need society’s mindsets to shift, and encourage more men to also tap on FWAs and more equally share in caregiving responsibilities.

The White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development has laid out our action plans to better support women in the workplace, and will positively impact some of the indicators the Member has mentioned. For example, a joint study published in 2020 by MOM and Associate Professor Jessica Pan from the National University of Singapore found that a large proportion of Singapore’s gender pay gap was attributable to occupational segregation where men tend to be better represented in higher paying occupations. This can occur in part when women either choose not to enter or leave these occupations mid-career to manage personal responsibilities such as caregiving. As such, FWAs, such as flexi-time and flexi-place arrangements, could enable women to remain and progress in the workforce and help reduce the gender pay gap.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)