Launch of “WORK! LIVE! PLAY! The Scandinavia and Singapore Experiences on Enhancing Productivity with Work-Life Innovations”
28 October 2009
Media Release
1. There were a lot of discussions recently on the need to help women balance work and family so that more are able to return to work and those who are working can continue to do so. There were even suggestions for us to adopt legislation akin to the UK’s making flexi work a right. The Prime Minister too acknowledged the difficulties women faced in balancing work and family at a recent event.
2. Although at 56 per cent our female labour force participation rate is comparable to most developed countries, it is much lower than the 76 per cent found in the Scandinavian countries. Increasing the female labour force participation rate is becoming more urgent now as we realise that Singapore cannot have a limitless pool of foreign workers without imposing tremendous strains on our society. Therefore, we have to do everything possible to better utilize our women to expand our workforce.
3. In the 2009-2010 World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, Singapore moved up to third spot, but our lower female labour force participation rate continues to be a drag as we were placed at 84th position out of 133 countries.
4. Apart from the economic arguments, the simple truth is that with rising costs, many women feel the need to work in order to help supplement the family income.
5. The real challenge in most cases is not merely employers’ lack of will power to introduce flexi work or family friendly practices but also because of the lack of knowledge and skills to do so, whether perceived or real, as often it takes very little to introduce such schemes.
Two objectives of Work! Live! Play!
Objective 1
6. Hence, the first objective of the NTUC Women’s Development Secretariat’s publication Work! Live! Play! The Scandinavian and Singapore Experiences on Enhancing Productivity with Work-Life Innovations is to share experiences of companies in Singapore that have implemented family friendly practices and flexi work. Eleven companies from both the public and private sectors that gave priority to work-life integration and the Flexi-Works Programme are featured in the publication. Their HR representatives, together with diplomatic representatives from the embassies of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, received the publication from our Guest-of-Honour, NTUC’s Deputy Secretary-General Halimah Yacob, who is also the Director of the Women’s Development Secretariat at today’s launch ceremony.
7. Their success stories reflect the various ways through which these companies adopt family-friendly practices and highlight the tripartite platforms that facilitate businesses in employing family-friendly initiatives. NTUC WDS hopes that it can inspire and encourage more Singapore companies to start looking at work-life practices such as employees support schemes, flexible work arrangements, family-friendly facilities, leave benefits and family-oriented activities.
8. “As parents, we often tell our children that we are ‘going to work’ or we are ‘busy at work’, and they may not appreciate the work we do and many will not understand why work is so important. At NTUC Club, we are delighted to open our doors to our employees’ children and allow them to take a look at their parents’ workplace and the great things their parents do at work”, said Yeo Khee Leng, CEO of NTUC Club, which is one of the Labour Movement’s social enterprises that strongly advocate work-life strategies for its workforce. The organization offers part-time work options, staggered working hours, five-day work weeks under its package of flexible work arrangements for its employees.
9. Kraft Foods Asia Pacific also offers its employees a good spread of employee support programmes. Sharing her organisation’s experience, Varun Bhatia, Vice President of Human Resources, Kraft Foods Asia Pacific said: “We are a dynamic and fast-growing business that is committed not only to our customers, but also our employees. We believe that our programmes help instill stronger connections with each other and with the company, as well as boost morale, a critical part of being a successful, high performing organisation”.
10. The second objective of Work! Live! Play! is to capture the Scandinavian experiences. In April this year, the NTUC WDS collaborated with the embassies of Denmark, Norway and Sweden to organise a seminar attended by 500 participants. The seminar was supported by our tripartite partners – the Singapore National Employers Federation, the Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. Work! Live! Play! captures the key learning points arising from that seminar, and provides insights into lessons on creating spaces for work and life from the Scandinavian countries.
11. In addition to this, Work! Live! Play! provides a snapshot of work-life initiatives championed by tripartite partners in Singapore. These include the Tripartite Committee on Work-Life Strategy set up in September 2004; Child Development Co-Savings Scheme introduced in April 2001; Enhanced Marriage and Parenthood Package 2008.; Flexi-Works! Fund initiated by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency and administered by the NTUC WDS for companies to hire new workers on part-time or flexible work arrangements; Work-Life Works (WOW) Fund introduced in 2004 and administered by MOM to help defray costs incurred by companies while introducing work-life measures; WDS’s Little Ones @ Work initiative that brings children to their parents’ workplace; Women Interactive Series (WISE) that engage female union leaders and members, professionals and Back-to-Work women; and Employer Alliance on Work and Family jointly set up by SNEF and MCYS to spearhead the adoption of work-life practices in companies.
12. Work! Live! Play! is another effort of NTUC WDS to promote friendly family practices and flexi work in Singapore. We will do all we can to keep up the interest and momentum on this subject. We should also continue to leverage on our unique tripartite strength to bring our standards on work-life practices to a higher level. Through exploring new innovations and strategies, it is hoped that our workplaces will become more conducive for building resilient families and supporting procreation.
Mdm Halimah Yacob (Mdm)
Deputy Secretary General, NTUC
Director, NTUC Women’s Development Secretariat
