Minister highlights importance of Shared Parental Leave scheme to enhance employment outcomes
Singaporean Minister Indranee Rajah has underscored the importance of providing family-friendly practices at work amid employers' concerns on the upcoming 10-week Shared Parental Leave scheme.
Rajah pointed out that workplaces and the workforce have changed, with younger employees putting more importance on family-friendly practices.
"Given that this is important to young employees, having family-friendly practices is a key part of talent recruitment and retention," she told Channel News Asia's Singapore Tonight programme.
"Any company that wants to get ahead and have a good, solid workforce would need to have progressive workplace practices, and that includes all these things that make Singapore a place that's made for families."
She made the remarks as she acknowledged employers' staffing concerns when the new Shared Parental Leave scheme gets implemented.
The scheme, which will be rolled out in phases starting April 2025, will provide working parents a total of 10 weeks of shared leave to take care of their children once fully implemented.
Owners of small- and medium-sized enterprises, however, are wary that this new scheme can leave them without enough manpower to cover daily tasks and sustain the business.
But Rajah assured that the 10-week leave will be shouldered by the government, allowing employers to hire another staff member who can cover the gap in the workforce.
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Good working relationship needed
The minister also highlighted the role of employees in the upcoming scheme.
According to Rajah, the government will encourage employees to give an even more advance heads up to their bosses than the mandated four weeks' notice so employers can plan for a new arrangement.
Employees taking the leave should also hand over the work properly and work out the covering arrangements with their employer, the minister added.
A good working relationship between employers and employees will be the key to manage operational challenges emerging from the new policy.
"The key is that responsibility; that sense of mutual trust and understanding that we're both trying to work together to achieve a good outcome – and having an early heads up really makes a difference," she told CNA.