NTUC’s family development unit, U Family, conducted its Happiness Poll last December on the state of happiness and well-being of families in Singapore. Over 4,700 U Family members of different gender, age, employment status and marital status were polled. (Please refer to Annex A for the profiles of respondents.)
Happiness Poll 2014 results
Into its third year, the poll results showed consistently that Singaporeans are generally happy. 9 in 10 respondents indicated that they are either very happy or happy with their lives. Their overall happiness is largely consistent across gender, age group and employment status, with marriage and parenthood satisfaction emerging as key contributors to happiness.
Labour Movement calls for greater workplace flexibility for expectant employees
The poll revealed that 1,113 parents are still planning for more children and about 42 per cent of the remaining 3,431 parents regretted not having more children.
Among 987 respondents who are currently expectant women and women who were pregnant in the last two years, only 3 in 10 were able to change their work hours with their employers and 4 in 10 were able to go for prenatal checks without utilising their annual leave, sick leave or no pay leave. In this case, NTUC U Family noticed that not all employers exercise the same level of flexibility at work for expectant workers.
Amongst the 189 respondents who were pregnant when they did the survey, 9 in 10 intend to return to work after their maternity leave. With these findings in mind, NTUC U Family reiterates its call to employers for more workplace support for working parents and for greater workplace flexibility to be extended to expectant women workers. This can be in the form of flexible work arrangements (FWA) to help them better manage their time at work, and/or provide time-off so that they can go for prenatal checks whenever necessary.
“Generally, an expectant woman makes between 10 and 15 antenatal visits of one to two hours each during her entire pregnancy. There are often instances when she may have to go for a check-up during working hours, thus, NTUC U Family hopes that employers can consider supporting these expectant employees by offering time-off so that they can go for prenatal checks,” explains Ms Toh Hwee Tin, Director of NTUC U Family.
Ms Toh added, “Employers should look at family-friendly measures as long-term benefits to the company. The extent which companies support and accommodate the needs of expectant women workers is also a test of our willingness and readiness to help them manage work and family responsibilities. Such supportive arrangements will not only help encourage mothers to return to work after their delivery, but more importantly, attract and retain these valuable talents in their jobs.”
Happy Workplaces Initiative – Surprise visits to supportive employers and co-workers
The call by NTUC U Family for companies to adopt family-friendly workplaces started in 2012. As part of this on-going initiative, NTUC U Family introduces the U Family Happiness Crew who will put together surprise visits to show appreciation to employers or co-workers who have shown invaluable support for expectant mothers or working caregivers who have to juggle responsibilities between work and family.
An online nomination for the U Family Happiness Crew was launched and about 70 nominations were received within the nomination period of two weeks from 28 Jan to 15 Feb 2015.
Today, the U Family Happiness Crew launched its first round of surprise visits to two selected companies with their respective nominators to show their appreciation. These employers and co-workers have shown a high level of understanding and consideration towards the nominators and have gone the extra mile to help and encourage them to continue working despite their challenging situations.
Going forward
Currently, there are 165 unionised companies that provide employees with some form of family-care leave beyond what is required by the legislation. As indicated in the latest Conditions of Employment 2014, there are now more companies offering FWA and non-statutory family-friendly paid leaves. NTUC U Family will continue to work with unions and relevant partners to raise awareness on the importance of having such family-friendly practices at the workplaces.
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