WDS surveyed over 1,200 men and women to find out
needs of women to increase their participation in the workforce
1 NTUC Women’s Development Secretariat (WDS) organised its first workshop for working Professionals, Managers and Executives (PMEs) who were keen to know how to pursue flexible work arrangement (FWA) with their employers on 4 November 2011.
2 Through this session – Negotiating Your Way to Flexi Work Arrangement – NTUC WDS wants to reach out to women and get them to consider approaching their employers for flexible work arrangements instead of simply quitting their jobs to manage their family care responsibilities when work and family are in conflict. WDS plans to run another four sessions and aims to get 250 women to join these workshops by 2012.
3 Women can take charge of their work-life issues by taking on a more proactive approach and learn to negotiate for a more workable outcome that will bode for them, their families as well as their employers.
4 Based on scenario planning exercises, the workshop will provided women participants with some basic tools on how they can put forward their request for FWA. They will discover what is the preferred mindset required to make FWA a win-win for both herself and her employer.
5 In an effort to boost for awareness and adoption of FWA, NTUC WDS has been putting some focus on employees (workers) this year. Earlier in April this year, it launched a work-life initiative – Work-the-Talk – an hour-long talk session which aims to help participants identify the challenges at work and at home, and how to better communicate and manage their expectations with one another. So far till the end of October 2011, 43 companies with 1,629 employees have participated in Work-the-Talk.
6 On the employer side, WDS has since from 2008 to October 2011 worked with some 320 companies to create flexible work options and helped to place 7,500 women in such job options under the Flexi-Works! Funding.
Survey on finding out the needs of women to increase participation in the workforce
7 NTUC WDS commissioned a survey in March this year on finding out the needs of women so as to increase their participation in the workforce. It wanted to better understand men and women with family care responsibilities so that WDS can plan more effective strategies to encourage women to contribute to the workforce, and to help women balance their dual roles as wife/mother and employee. The survey was conducted with 1,214 participants comprising both women and men.
8 The survey revealed findings on the kind of organisation as well as spousal support that men and particularly women feel that they need in order to remain in the workforce.
9 Women who are keen to find out more about the FWA workshops can contact NTUC WDS at wds@ntuc.org.sg or 6213 8382.
