In line with the Work-Life Week (10 – 14 November) - a week-long campaign launched by the Tripartite Committee on Work-Life Strategy (TriCom) to engage employers, supervisors and union leaders on the topic of work-life, the NTUC Women’s Development Secretariat organised a Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA) Job Fair at the Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability today.
“This is the second time WDS is organising a full FWA job fair. There continues to be a growing need for jobs that provide various forms of flexibility. Other than catering to this need, we hope that the offerings at this job fair will help attract more women to return to the workforce. Relevant training and preparation courses will also be provided to help these female job seekers,” said Ms Sylvia Choo, Director of NTUC Women’s Development Secretariat.
Some 500 job opportunities from 16 employers in industries ranging from retail, security, food & beverage, healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality and others were up for grabs at the job fair. These jobs offer various flexible arrangements such as staggered hours, part-time and/or flexi-place.
WDS Works with Employers to Tweak Existing Practices or Employment Packages to Attract Back-to-Work Women and Mature Workers
Employers who participated in the job fair included those which WDS worked closely with to help revise and/or enhance existing employment terms and conditions with flexible work arrangements, in order to attract and retain talents.
Take Digiphoto Entertainment Imaging (Digiphoto) for example, it was facing challenges in recruiting locals onto its existing Guest Associate scheme. With intervention from WDS, the management introduced a new attractive part-time scheme targeting back-to-work women. WDS also worked with the Singapore Institute of Retail to put together a train-and-place programme to prepare interested job seekers for the post. Digiphoto has since recruited some 20 women workers.
“Recruiting the staff that we require for our Singapore operations has many challenges and we’re always looking for new ways to attract and retain employees with the necessary levels of enthusiasm, commitment and responsibility. With WDS’s help, Digiphoto is now able to offer flexible working hours to our staff, and this makes it a win-win situation for all,” said Mr Fraser Whittle, HR Director, Digiphoto Entertainment Imaging.
Accredit HR Consultancy (Accredit) faced the difficulty of competing with multinational companies in terms of employment packages. Working with WDS, Accredit worked towards enhancing its workplace environment to take care of employees’ family needs. Accredit subsequently shortened its work week from five to four-and-a-half days. This allows employees to handle family matters which sometimes have to be done during office hours, like bringing their children for medical appointments etc. Accredit now offers a work-from-home scheme which attracts back-to-work women and mature workers as well.
“Working with NTUC WDS, we were able to implement these new schemes which have reaped some remarkable benefits for the company. We are now able to attract more applicants for our position openings. But most importantly, we are pleased to note that our employees are now more productive as they are able to manage their time better, and the overall morale and team cohesion have improved significantly,” said Mr Damien Lee, Team Lead, Accredit HR Consultancy Pte Ltd.
Other participating employers which are offering FWA options for the first time include Singapore Food Industries and SDV Logistics.
To further FWA Efforts, Labour Movement Introduces the U Flex Ambassador Initiative
To further augment Labour Movement’s efforts in the area of FWA, NTUC WDS will spearhead the U Flex Ambassador Initiative - to build a pool of work-life champions within the Labour Movement. These U Flex Ambassadors will come from various affiliated-unions and communities, and will take on the role of promoting FWA messages amongst their respective industry, union and/or organisation.
They will help to create wider networks and links between relevant stakeholders. The overall desired outcome is to see more companies implement and enhance FWA at the workplace, and to see a more pervasive FWA culture in Singapore.
These ambassadors will receive relevant training on FWA and will be engaged on the Tripartite Advisory on FWA which was recently introduced by the TriCom. For a start, the immediate target is to build a team of 20 U Flex Ambassadors by the first quarter of 2015.
The FWA Job Fair and the introduction of the U Flex Ambassador Initiative are in line with the earlier launch of the U Flex Movement which advocates for employers to offer FWA so as to empower their employees to excel at work and in their roles and aspirations on top of the workplace. This, in turn, enables employers to retain good employees and increase companies’ competitiveness.
“The journey towards building a strong work-life culture in Singapore will take time and a lot of effort. Nevertheless, the Labour Movement strongly believes that it is for the better of our workers, as it will help many working families in Singapore cope with both work and family needs. NTUC will continue to do more, to educate and raise awareness amongst companies and employees on FWA. Without doubt, flexibility at workplaces can be a win-win solution for both employer and employee in creating a working environment conducive for better productivity,” concluded Guest-of-Honour at the job fair, Mr Zainal Sapari, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General.
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