Press Room

Your Excellency Dr Ing Kantha Phavi

Minister of Women’s Affairs of the Kingdom of Cambodia

Fellow Ministers, 

Distinguished speakers and delegates, 

Ladies and gentlemen, 

Good afternoon.

INTRODUCTION 

It is my pleasure to join you here today. I would like to thank Your Excellency Dr Ing Kantha Phavi and the Royal Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia for the excellent hospitality extended to us and for organising this conference.

The 2008 – 2009 economic crisis had brought about uncertainty and rapid changes to many parts of the world, including Asia. As an open economy, Singapore was not spared from the global financial and economic downturn. Following a very mild growth of 1.5% in 2008, the economy contracted by 0.8% in 2009. The crisis caused many people to lose their jobs as companies took the drastic move of retrenching their workers to cut further losses. 

Singapore rebounded from the economic downturn in 2010 with a GDP growth of 14.5%. With growth of 4.9% in the first half of 2011, Singapore has done its best to keep firms viable and save jobs. Our unemployment rate remains low at 2.1%. 

As a small city-state with no natural resources, Singapore depends heavily on our human capital. With women making up half the population, we have to maximise their potential, as a matter of economic survival. As of last year, 56.5% of women¹ were in the workforce, an increase from 50.2% in 2000. This lags behind other developed countries such as the Scandinavian countries. The lag is clearly illustrated in the 2011-2012 World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report where Singapore was ranked second overall but ranked 82nd out of 142 countries on female participation in the labour force. One of the top reasons cited for women’s economic inactivity in Singapore is family responsibilities (housework, childcare or care-giving to families/relatives) (46%). This is a clear indication of the need to support working women in balancing work and family.  

The promotion of work-life initiatives is therefore one of Singapore’s key thrusts to enable women to enter and remain in the workforce. Like many Asian economies, Singapore is constantly faced with global competition and a tight talent pool. Attracting and retaining talent, both men and women, remain a challenge to Singapore and work-life harmony is one of the key tools in talent attraction and retention. Research show that employees in organisations with work-life programmes, which include flexible work arrangements, are less likely to leave their jobs. In a study by Mercer² this year, flexible work schedule is the fourth most important reward factor influencing motivation and engagement.

Singapore promotes work-life harmony through enhancing work-life programmes in the workplace, allowing parents more time to spend with their children, providing a supportive infrastructure and engendering mindset change.  

Singapore adopts a multi-stakeholder approach in promoting work-life harmony. The Tripartite Committee on Work-Life Strategy (TriCom) was formed in 2000 with representatives from the Government, unions, and employers, as well as business associations, and human resource practitioners. Besides identifying the challenges faced by the companies and employees, the TriCom formulates and drives initiatives that facilitate the implementation of Work-Life strategies. 

The TriCom promotes work-life harmony through a four-pronged approach. Firstly, TriCom conducts research to develop the business case for work-life harmony, to better convince employers of the benefits of implementing work-life strategies. 

Secondly, the Tricom’s strategy is to “use CEOs to convince CEOs”. Market research showed that business leaders tend to be most convinced by the behaviour of their peers. The Tricom funds the Employer Alliance, which is a group of like-minded CEOs from best practices companies from a wide range of industries who promote work-life harmony to their peers. Their aim is to make work-life harmony an integral part of the corporate landscape. 

Thirdly, the Tricom develops work-life capability and provides resources to support implementation. For instance, the Work-Life Works! or WoW! Fund introduced in 2004 helps companies in their implementation of work-life strategies, with an emphasis on flexible work arrangements, by providing grants of up to SGD20,000 (USD15,600) per company. Examples of flexible work arrangements include a compressed work-week, telecommuting, flexi-time and part-time employment. The fund also subsidises work-life training and consultancy. In 2010, the TriCom produced a guide book “Energising Work Culture” which helps employers to implement work-life programmes using a life-stage approach. This year, a “Work @ Home” guide was developed for employers interested in starting home-based work arrangements.

Last but not least, the TriCom drives publicity efforts that build awareness of work-life harmony and communicate and sustain the key messages. To better reach its audience, it organises an annual Work-Life Conference, which serves as a platform for human resource and work-life practitioners to network and share ideas. The TriCom also organises the Work-Life Excellence Award to showcase employers that implement effective work-life strategies benefiting both the business and the employee.

The concerted effort by the tripartite partners has seen employers increasingly embracing work-life arrangements. 35% of establishments offered some form of work-life arrangement in 2010, an improvement from 25% in 2007. 95% of the employees of organisations which received the WoW! Fund agreed that work-life programmes have helped improve their quality of personal and family life.

The Tricom has also formed a workgroup on “homeshoring” to explore home-based work as an option for employers and employees. As the name suggests, home-based work refers to the home of the employee being the primary work location, instead of the office. With a nation-wide ultra high-speed national broadband network coming in 2012, it will be increasingly viable for employees to work from home. Studies show that home-based work can reduce overhead costs such as office rental and transport, improve productivity through flexible work scheduling as well as enhance business continuity. Employers with home-based work programmes can also gain access to workers who, for reasons such as caregiving responsibilities, prefer to work from home.  

Separately, in 2008, the Singapore Government enhanced our pro-family initiatives through the Enhanced Marriage and Parenthood Package. The enhancements included extending paid maternity leave to 16 weeks and paid childcare leave from two to six days, and the introduction of infant care leave of six days per year per parent until the child turns two. These measures allow working parents more time to spend with their family.   

Besides the workplace, it is also important to provide a supportive and holistic infrastructure through the provision of good, affordable and accessible childcare and eldercare facilities to allow women to go out to work. Under the 2008 Child Care Masterplan, the Singapore Government is facilitating the development of 200 new centres by 2013, to provide 20,000 more childcare places. To help keep the services of childcare centres affordable, the Government provides a universal childcare subsidy for all children. Children from lower-income households up to the 40th percentile are given subsidies for childcare and kindergarten over and above the universal subsidy, and kindergarten fees.

For the elderly, the Government set up the Centre for Enabled Living (CEL) in 2009 as the first stop information and referral centre for eldercare and disability services. The CEL has developed a three-day structured hands-on gender-neutral training course to equip informal caregivers, such as family members and foreign domestic workers, with the relevant skills to cope better with the physical and emotional demands of caregiving. The CEL also administers the Caregiver Training Grant.

In addition to “hardware” support, “heartware” is also important and by this I am referring to the mindset change that is needed to move away from the “traditional” gender roles within the family. We need fathers to step up and take equal responsibility for the care of the family. To this end, the Singapore Government promotes shared parenting through the national fathers’ movement ‘Dads for Life’ to mobilise and involve fathers in their children's lives. The Government works closely with community partners in parenting programmes covering issues related to gender roles and expectations within marriage. People-sector organisations such as the Fathering Movement, the Centre for Fathering (CFF) and the Association of Devoted and Active Family Men (ADAM) are also making in-roads by encouraging men to share family and parenting responsibilities with their wives. Changing mindsets takes time but young fathers today are more involved in the upbringing and care of their children and household duties. This will go a long way in helping lift the “double burden” that women now carry.  

Work-life strategies play a key role in retaining talent within organisations. Besides the more intangible benefits to both employers and employees such as increased employee engagement, some measures can directly improve the company’s bottomline – such as reducing overheads by allowing employees to work from home. The business case for work-life harmony is clear. 

As we are facing economic uncertainty now, it is all the more important not to “de-prioritise” work-life harmony, which is a long-term strategy that we must invest in. The Government, working with employers and employees, can help our women so that they do not have to make painful choices between having a career or a family.

Thank you. I look forward to hearing your experiences and thoughts on this important topic.

²Mercer’s 2011 What’s Working™ survey – http://inside-employees-mind.mercer.com/flash/mercer-pkg/