A majority of working caregivers do not get relevant support from employers in easing their caregiving role.
This is one of the results from the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) U Family online survey conducted in August 2013, which was carried out to gather information about the concerns of working Singaporeans with caregiving responsibilities.
Based on the survey findings, the Labour Movement intends to advance its cause to support working families in the area of work-life harmony and help them manage responsibilities.
The survey results were revealed during NTUC’s U Picnic event at West Coast Park on 5 October 2013.
Out of 3,635 respondents who participated in the survey, 3,418 were working caregivers while 217 were non-working caregivers.
62 per cent of working caregivers do not have any Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA) benefits in their workplace, while 77 per cent do not enjoy any Eldercare Leave from employers.
As such, they have had to apply for annual or sick leave and arrive late for work and/or leave early from work to take care of dependents.
“The survey findings further prove that we need to address concerns of these working caregivers if we do not want to see more people dropping out of the workforce to take care of their dependents,” NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Cham Hui Fong shared.
She also mentioned that NTUC has started working with unions to assist more unionised companies in providing better flexibility in workplace arrangements and company’s leave structure.
She added that the Labour Movement targets to have 50 per cent of unionised companies to provide some form of flexibility in workplace or leave structure by 2015 in order to address the difficulties faced by working caregivers.
“NTUC is currently working very closely with the unions to push out this message to the unionised companies. We hope that more can be enlightened and be on board a common goal to provide work-life harmony for our workers,” shared Ms Cham.
Organised by NTUC U Family and supported by NTUC FairPrice, the U Picnic surpassed last year’s attendance with over 6,000 people at West Coast Park.
Original article written by Nicholas Lee, and can be found in NTUC This Week (11 October 2013)
