Committee of Supply – Head S (Ministry of Manpower)

The Chairman: Head S, Ministry of Manpower, Mr Patrick Tay.

Fairness – Work, Workers and Workplaces

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan (West Coast): Sir, I beg to move, "That the total sum to be allocated for Head S of the Estimates be reduced by $100".

I wish to dedicate my cut to highlighting three important manpower issues in Singapore to enhance fairness and opportunity – for all workers, regardless of the work that they do and their workplaces. First, Singaporean Core; second, mature and mid-career workers and Professionals, Managers and Executives (PMEs); third, freelance and self-employed.

On strengthening the Singaporean Core, I applaud the recent move by the MOM to further augment and strengthen the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) and the naming of recalcitrant companies and employers. I congratulate the good work done by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP).

I wish to ask MOM to provide an update on how effective the FCF has been to level the playing field for Singaporean PMEs and remove nationality discrimination in hiring practices. Since 1 August 2014, how many complaints have been received and how many companies have MOM called up for additional scrutiny and what has been the success rate in convincing and ensuring that companies discontinue their poor hiring practices.

Many PMEs I have met have shared that they are not unhappy with foreign PMEs who bring in huge businesses and investments in Singapore and have unique international competencies. Instead, they are unhappy with foreign PMEs doing jobs which Singaporeans can undertake and do. At the same time, we want to see further efforts to encourage capability transfer, so that we can develop a Singaporean Core across all levels of hierarchy, from rank and file to top management.

In this area of strengthening the Singaporean Core, I have four suggestions. First, with the rise of S Pass numbers, can MOM explore extending the FCF to S Pass holders as well. Second, whether MOM can review the salary ceiling for Employment Pass applicants to level the playing field for our Singaporean PMEs. This is also in consideration of the rise in median and entry salaries of our local PMEs. Third, to review and better scrutinise the FCF exemption on intra-company transfers. Fourth, whether MOM can push ahead in creating more flexible work-from-home opportunities for Singaporeans.

The question to ask is, are there tasks or jobs that can be arranged to be performed by Singaporeans who require very flexible work arrangements, for example stay-at-home dads or mums, care-givers for parents, those with family members who are ill and so on. I find this important, particularly with an ageing populace. This can also be a source of employment for those who are not able to fit into the current model of flexible employment, where work can still be delivered for less time-critical tasks.

On mid-career and mature PMEs, I highlighted during the Budget Debate on the exacting challenges faced by mid-career and mature workers especially PMEs in the area of finding work and staying employable. I wish to ask MOM for an update including the take-up figures, retrenchment and data on the various schemes under the Adapt and Grow since it was first launched. In particular, I wish to ask first on the Professional Conversion Programme (PCP) – further sub-divided into PCP for new entrants as well as those pre-emptive in-employment PCPs. I also wish to ask how MOM intends to make the PCP an attractive option for PMEs and better manage the dropout rate of PCP candidates.

Second, the Career Support Programme (CSP) was rolled out on 1 October 2015 to encourage employers to hire mature PMEs for jobs paying $4000 and above, by providing salary support. I wish to ask how CSP has made mid-career PMEs more employed and employable. In particular, are there avenues to further enhance and expand the CSP scheme so as to help more mid-career PMEs land themselves in suitable quality jobs.

Third, the Jobs Bank, now known as the My Careers Future portal. How successful has the portal been to connect mid-career PMEs to jobs and minimise situations whereby there is jobs and skills mismatch? I also wish to ask if further enhancements can be made so the portal can also leverage on big data to better enhance job matching.

By the same token, anecdotally, I still hear complaints of ageism in the hiring of workers in various workplaces. Though not rampant, this is and will be a growing challenge as we face the imminent challenges of an ageing workforce, an increasingly mature and older workforce, and as we raise the retirement and re-employment ages.

Job redesign and augmented technology and intelligence are imperatives but will not be the dynamic panacea. I cannot emphasise the need for us to change mindsets and attitudes towards this segment of workers. Besides the tripartite partners, our people and society as a whole must embrace the changing fabric of the Singaporean workforce so that we can overcome unfortunate stereotyping and mental models.

On freelancers and self-employed, this group of workers are one big group affected by the current COVID-19 situation. To mitigate the effects brought about by the outbreak and better support freelancers and self-employed persons during this lull period, I reiterate the call I made during the Budget debate to extend the absentee payroll – which is traditionally used to fund employers – to this group of workers. This is so that they can also have the opportunity to go for skills upgrading and training, while receiving a training allowance. NTUC stands ready to partner the Government to administer the Surrogate Employer Programme, so that we can better encourage our freelancers and self-employed persons to come forward for training. Sir, in Mandarin.

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(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] How to ensure that all workers including white-collar, blue-collar and freelancers are treated fairly has always been an area of concern of NTUC. In this regard, I have three suggestions.

Firstly, MOM recently reviewed its Fair Consideration Framework to act as a deterrent for employers who discriminate against Singaporeans. This is indeed very encouraging. At the same time, we must continue to strengthen our Singaporean core, for example, by tightening the eligibility criteria for S Pass and EP holders, or even by providing more opportunities for Singaporeans to adopt flexi-work arrangements.

Meanwhile, we want to better assist Singaporeans between 40 to 60 years old to find good jobs and to stay relevant. Can we consider enhancing the various government schemes, such as the Professional Conversion Programme, Career Support Programme or even the Jobs Bank, in order to help more Singaporeans secure better jobs and to enjoy better career advancement? As the workforce ages, I encourage everyone to change their mindsets and attitudes towards middle-aged and senior workers.

Thirdly, the COVID-19 outbreak has greatly impacted a lot of freelancers and self-employed workers. Our priority is to help this group of workers and other neglected workers during this period and allow them to receive wage supplements during leave of absence. NTUC stands ready to partner the Government to administer the Surrogate Employer Programme so that we can better encourage our freelancers to come forward for training and upskilling.

Question proposed.

Support for Mid-career Workers

Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo (East Coast): Mr Chairman, the support for Singaporean workers aged 40 to 60 years in this year's Budget is a welcome move. With technological advances and digital disruptions, businesses need talent as they transform. Mid-career workers are concerned as the nature of work and jobs are changing and they worry that there may not be enough or suitable jobs. Paradoxically, we see a situation where companies are seeking skilled talent and are facing a talent crunch. Mid-career workers who are displaced are finding it harder to find suitable employment.

As we focus on supporting mid-career workers on re-skilling for new roles to meet changing business requirements, I want to stress that we should also build upon the experience, expertise and knowledge of mid-career workers, especially PMEs.

While digital skills and technology are increasingly required to get work done, technologies, for example, artificial intelligence and data analytics, do not exist in a vacuum. In fact, if we examine the roles that are in demand, while many of the roles require the ability to handle technology, they are at the same time more complex and multi-disciplinary, requiring business acumen and a wide set of skills from different fields, for example, design, marketing, sales and customer services, and even operational know-how. These are quality roles and not low-level entry jobs.

While mid-career PMEs will need to learn new skills, especially digital skills, they have the experience, expertise and knowledge. And organisations should and must tap on this valuable talent base. While younger talent may be equipped with new skills, be agile in learning, they will need time to acquire multi-disciplinary skills and expertise that mid-career workers have built up over their careers. In coping with today's complex and fast-changing market, businesses will need both young and mid-career workers to transform and will benefit from having a diverse talent pool, creating a work environment that effectively engages a diverse workforce of both young and mid-career workers, and this will be a competitive advantage for businesses.

For companies to up-skill their own mid-career employees or to hire mid-career employees effectively, they need to also understand the existing skills that their mid-career employees have and also what their business requires. This will enable better alignment of employment development for the new jobs. I hope that the various skills programmes will take this into account and provide the job pathways and relevancy of the existing and new skills required to help mid-career workers.

Mid-career Transitions

Ms Sylvia Lim (Aljunied): Chairman, mid-career transitions may be one of the most daunting experiences for workers. I will touch on the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) and career transition schemes.

First, the FCF. Four years ago, my colleague, Member of Parliament Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap, highlighted that the original FCF needed enforcement measures. Anecdotally, some mid-career transitioners have experienced being called up for third or fourth interviews with employers, but sensing from the body language of interviewers that everyone was "going through the motions" to tick boxes before applying for work passes to hire foreigners. I believe that the Minister is well aware of some employers who treat the FCF as, to quote her, "a paper exercise".

The announcement in January that MOM is enhancing the FCF is welcome. In particular, I note that MOM has started to charge employers in court under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act for making false declarations that they had considered local applicants fairly before trying to apply for a foreigner.

However, it seems that in recent years, most of the discrimination cases came to the Ministry's attention through whistle-blowing. Is the Ministry going to step up proactive detection of its own?

My second point relates to career transition programmes. Professional Conversion Programmes (PCPs) and Career Support Programmes (CSPs) are key planks of the Government's Adapt and Grow initiative to help mid-career transitions. In his Budget round-up speech last week, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat assessed that the results were encouraging. He highlighted that career coaches worked with about 27,000 jobseekers every year and in 2018, managed to place about 70% into new jobs within six months.

However, I have encountered some in the balance 30%, who expressed difficulties in finding work through the schemes despite their best efforts. To what extent is success hampered by capacity issues, that is, insufficient job openings, or is matching of jobs to applicants the bigger issue?

Mr Chairman: Mr Douglas Foo, both your cuts, please.

Worker Re-skilling

Mr Douglas Foo (Nominated Member): Mr Chairman, as Trade Associations and Chambers like the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) continue to work with enterprises to re-skill and train employees, the SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit scheme is a welcome announcement. However, a common feedback from employees is that they are hesitant to go for training because when they return to the office, they have to deal with accumulated backlog. In a 2019 survey by Linkedin, 57% of Singaporean employees said the most significant challenge to re-skilling was the lack of time.

Yet, it is pertinent that organisations need to take a long-term view and to look into re-skilling their employees. The burden is largely on employers right now to juggle the limited resources, uncertain demand, maintaining the payroll and continue with training efforts.

Therefore, does the Ministry have in place plans to encourage and educate employers to put in place more facilitative work arrangements to allow for staff to go for training without worrying that they have a large workload to return to? In the same vein, are there plans to alleviate employer difficulties that arise from employees going for re-skilling? How can Trade Associations and Chambers play a role in this journey?

Fair and Progressive Employment

Second cut. Chairman, the Government has introduced many tripartite committees and initiatives such as the Singapore Tripartism Forum (STF), National Wages Council (NWC), Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) and Tripartite Committee on Employability of Older Workers.

Such tripartisan initiatives promote greater awareness for fair and progressive employment practices to employers. The good work from their efforts are often brought up during our engagement with members from the business communities.

However, there will always be some errant employers out there who go against the principles of fair and progressive employment. We must be careful that in formulating policies, we do not inevitably place bigger burdens on the majority of employers by putting in place measures aimed at preventing the behaviour of the errant minority. In turn, employers should support the targeted moves the Government makes to go after bad behaviour.

In Budget 2020, Deputy Prime Minister Heng has introduced many measures under the third thrust of the Transformation and Growth strategy to develop the capabilities of our workers. The Singapore Manufacturing Federation is a firm supporter of lifelong learning for workers to be ready for new challenges and opportunities to progress and grow with enterprises.

One profession I would like to highlight would be the training and development of Human Resources (HR) professionals. With the advent of new technologies and the skill sets required emerging in the workforce, our HR professionals would also need to learn new skills and strategies to nurture and manage this new workforce of the future.

In this regard, what is the Ministry's plans to nurture a pool of human capital talents that would assist enterprises in strategic forward planning for sustainable development for both people and enterprises?

Fair Consideration Framework (FCF)

Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten): Sir, earlier this year, Minister Josephine Teo shared on her Facebook that MOM is "rededicating" itself to strengthening fairness at the workplace as a value and a virtue. She also warned that there would be "stronger deterrence for discrimination against Singaporeans when hiring, but also stronger support for employers who are committed to giving our people a fair chance."

I support this approach by MOM. For some years, Singaporeans have complained about companies where most of their colleagues are foreigners and Singaporean employees are in the minority.

That kind of practice cannot be a right practice. Businesses operating in Singapore must help create more employment opportunities for Singaporeans. The Government must send a strong signal to companies which discriminate against Singaporeans and favour foreigners that their employment process is wrong. Singaporeans must be given fair consideration if they meet the right criteria. Unfair and discriminatory employment practices affect the harmony among Singaporean residents and cause unfair resentment against foreigners who may be genuinely needed in Singapore, due to their specific skills and expertise.

In February, I filed a Parliamentary Question about complaints received regarding excessive foreigners in financial institutions. I was glad to read MOM's reply that they will not tolerate any form of workplace discrimination and has also recently raised penalties. Thus, whether the businesses are banks, financial institutions or large multinational corporations (MNCs), I urge MOM to constantly check their employment practices and their Singaporean employee statistics. I also urge MOM to consider taking action not just against recalcitrant businesses but also against the HR or senior management responsible for such practices. MOM should not hesitate to name companies found to have discriminatory employment practices so that Singaporeans know who they are.

Revisiting the $15,000 Cap under FCF

Mr Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok): Sir, the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF), implemented in 2014 and last updated in 2018, does not require a prospective employer intending to apply for an Employment Pass for a post that pays salary above the specified limit to advertise to Singaporeans beforehand in the National Jobs Bank. The specified limit was originally a salary of $12,000 per month. This was increased in 2018 to $15,000 per month.

Notwithstanding the exemption, the Ministry of Manpower still requires all employers to consider Singaporeans fairly.

Sir, in your capacity as acting Minister for Manpower, you explained the rationale to this House in 2013. You said, "This is because open advertising for jobs such as these is usually done in a different manner. Furthermore, such jobs only cover 5% of the local workforce, meaning that the vast majority of jobs would be covered by advertising requirements."

I believe the FCF has served us well in ensuring that there is a strong Singaporean PME core in the industries. With the experience gained over almost six years, I wonder whether this is an opportune time to review the FCF to ensure that a proper balance continues to be struck between giving Singaporeans a fair opportunity to access high quality jobs and ensuring that Singapore is an attractive place to do business.

I would like to suggest that we do away with the salary ceiling altogether for the following three reasons.

First, in the current economic landscape, it should not matter that jobs above the salary peg only covers 5% of the local workforce. What is key is whether Singaporeans are fairly considered for the post in question before a foreigner is considered. Also, the jobs above the current salary ceiling usually involve senior positions such as C-suite officers in multinational corporations (MNCs) or banks. These are high quality jobs which suitably qualified Singaporeans would be aspiring for.

Second, without advertising, it will never be clear whether qualified Singaporeans are made aware of such job openings.

Lastly, the quantum of the salary ceiling, which is applicable throughout the workforce, is not representative of the average salaries for senior jobs in certain industries such as finance and technology.

Unfair Hiring Practices

Mr Chong Kee Hiong (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Chairman, I was heartened to learn about stronger measures rolled out by the Ministry in January this year against companies that discriminate against Singaporeans during the hiring process. Offending employers will be barred from applying for new work passes for between 12 and 24 months, up from the minimum period of six months before. Furthermore, they will no longer be allowed to renew their existing work passes.

Would the Ministry provide an update on the results of enforcement measures against errant companies in the last 12 months? What additional measures has the Ministry implemented in the last year to ensure fair hiring practices and a level playing field for Singaporeans? Will the Minister share an update on its review of the foreign worker hiring policies and the progress on efforts against other forms of workplace discrimination?

Tightening S Pass Sub-Dependency Ratio Ceiling

Miss Cheng Li Hui (Tampines): Sir, I declare my interest that my father owns a business in the process industry, although I have not been involved in the business for over two years.

In 2016, I filed an MOM cut on local talents. I said then that one of the challenges faced by SMEs is finding local talent. It is common knowledge that companies need high quality staff for expansion and survival of business. Many SMEs want to employ local talent but some locals might find that it is more glamorous to work for MNCs.

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Then, I had proposed for our trade associations to work closely with IHLs to close the gaps in employment. We should also build up the image of mastery of skills and trade.

Budget 2020 announces reduction of the S Pass sub-DRCs of the construction, marine and process sectors from 20% to 18% 2021 and 15% 2023.

However, many companies, especially smaller scale ones, find it challenging to hire local talents. Some of the jobs in those three sectors are simply not attractive to locals. Long project working hours, sector specific hazards and remote workplace, such as Tuas and Jurong Island, are not helping.

I am concerned that the challenging terrain faced by these companies would become even more challenging come 2021 and 2023. How can we help these companies to smoothen the transition to lesser S Passes and more locals in the future? How are our IHLs training locals to fill those roles?

Support for Senior Workers

Mr Kwek Hian Chuan Henry (Nee Soon): Sir, prior to this Budget, to help our senior workers age with purpose and dignity, Singapore already has a set of pro-senior worker policies. And this year, I am heartened to see that we have continued building on this very strong foundation. In fact, our goal to say that this is a very exciting year for our senior workers.

There are at least five key new policies and refinements that benefit our senior workers this year. These include the Enhanced Second Employment Credit, the CPF Transition Offsets, Senior Worker Early Adopter Grant and the Part-Time Re-employment Grant as well as the Matched Retirement Saving Schemes. And these are on top of the improvements of the Silver Support Scheme that improves on social assistance for our seniors and HDB's Lease Buy-back that strengthens the retirement adequacy of our seniors.

This is surely the result of MOM's Working Group for Senior Workers, and MOM's willingness to engage many groups of stakeholders, including the PAP.SG through two Private Members' Motion on seniors over the past two years.

As such, can MOM provide the House with a comprehensive update on measures to help senior workers stay gainfully employed and improve the quality of their jobs?

Productivity of Older Workers

Mr Chen Show Mao (Aljunied): Sir, support our older workers to improve their productivity helps provide our older workers with the choice of working longer if they wish, representing an opportunity to stay economically active, socially engaged at work and better provide for themselves in future retirement and, of course, work to the best of their ability. May I ask the Ministry for an update of its plans in the area?

The Chairman: Assoc Prof Walter Theseira. Both cuts, please.

Employment of Older Workers

Assoc Prof Walter Theseira (Nominated Member): Chairman, first cut. The new Senior Employment Credit (SEC) addresses the employability of older workers. However, the evidence linking employer wage subsidies to increasing employment is not encouraging. Studies of similar programmes in Belgium, Finland and Germany suggest that subsidies have small effects on increasing employment among older workers and on reducing early retirement. Thus, most of the subsidy is a deadweight loss, a transfer to the employer with no policy effect.

What lessons were learnt from the existing Special Employment Credit, including Additional SEC and how were they used in designing the new SEC? How has retention of older workers and new hiring of older workers, improved since the existing SEC was introduced? To what extent have these improvements been caused by the existing SEC? And what targets have been set for the new SEC?

Better Retirement Savings Match Design

Second cut, Chairman. Budget 2020's Matched Retirement Savings Scheme is an important policy to address the retirement savings shortfall among lower income Singaporeans. However, academic research suggests that Government subsidies for retirement savings have little to modest effects on actually encouraging people to make voluntary contributions to retirement savings, or, to increase those contributions.

Engelhardt and Kumar show that increasing the employer savings match rate for company-sponsored retirement account plans in the US generates little improvement in retirement account participation or savings.

Raj Chetty and co-authors find that tax subsidies in Denmark have little effect on increasing total retirement savings. They estimate $1 in government subsidies only generates one-cent in additional savings. This is for two reasons. First, the majority of workers – 85% – they are passive savers who do not respond to Government policies to encourage savings. Second, the remaining 15%, largely just shift money from their private savings accounts, to their tax-subsidised savings account.

A randomised experiment in the US by Esther Duflo and co-authors offered a 50-cent match for each dollar contributed to retirement savings. However, only 14% of subjects made contributions in response. Although this is much better than the 3% of subjects who contributed without any match, the experimental context is important. Subjects were deciding how to use their US tax refunds and were not contributing out of pocket.

I have previously argued this means we should move away from Government subsidies for voluntary saving, such as our SRS and CPF tax deduction policies, in favour of Government matching contributions for all mandatory CPF savings, or to all citizens in general. Nonetheless, how we implement Budget 2020's Matched Retirement Savings Scheme could be more important than the dollar amount itself in encouraging retirement savings.

Behavioural economics research suggests people fail to save for retirement due to a combination of loss aversion and procrastination. To address loss aversion, we can ask people to contribute out of future income, rather than out of pocket. To address procrastination, we can ask people to make a commitment to contribute, which becomes a passive action in the future. This avoids needing to make an active choice each time a contribution is due. These behavioural principles are summarised by Benartzi and Thaler as "Save More Tomorrow".

To improve take-up of the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme, we could ask eligible Singaporeans to commit to contribute part or all of their future Government payouts to their CPF account. Such payouts could include the GST Voucher-Cash, the Workfare Income Supplement cash payout and one-off payments, such as the Care and Support – Cash payout.

We can also ask employers whether workers can commit to contribute part of future work income, such as the Additional Wage Supplement, annual bonuses and annual wage increments, to their CPF account for the savings match. Such commitments must be revocable any time before the CPF contribution is made, in case cash is needed urgently. The key is to set up a commitment to contribute in the future, to deal with loss aversion and procrastination.

I understand that a pilot study for the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme has shown very encouraging results, supported by strong local academic research from Profs David Chan and Benedict Koh at SMU.

I urge the Government to continue building research into the policy of implementation through randomised controlled trials so as to discover the most effective means of getting high take-up of the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme.

Securing Financial Security

Ms Foo Mee Har (West Coast): Sir, with people living longer, the ability to meet essential living expenses and maintain standards of living they expect in retirement years is a key concern amongst Singaporeans.

Whilst CPF LIFE plays a key role in providing the basic level of retirement income for every Singaporean, it is inadequate as the sole source of post-retirement income to support a "reasonable" standard of living in retirement, unless the retirees are willing to make substantial compromises in their desired lifestyles, through to the end of life.

According to G30's "Fixing The Pension Crisis" report published in 2019, the estimated gap between the expected lifetime financial security benefits and that which existing systems are likely to provide is expected to be huge, that is US$15.8 trillion by 2050, for the 21 countries analysed, including Singapore. A key policy recommendation of the report is to increase private savings with reforms to minimise investment management costs and enable individuals to benefit from collective investment management, at low cost, yet protecting the retirement savings from unprecedented low and negative interest rates and volatility of market cycles.

So, in Singapore, it has been more than three years since the CPF Advisory Panel highlighted the significant investment costs and risks faced by retail investors in the current CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS). The Panel had recommended that the Government introduce a new scheme, CPF Lifetime Retirement Investment Scheme (CPF LRIS) as a prudent, professionally managed, low fee option for CPF members to invest and grow their "surplus" CPF retirement savings.

With 22 billion currently invested in CPFIS and another estimating 142 billion investible CPF in ordinary account (OA), CPF members are potentially missing out on significant opportunity to augment their retirement savings.

With CPF LRIS, members can potentially see their average cost of investment go from 2% to 3% per year as retail clients, to below 0.5% with the economies of scale accorded by a Government-sponsored scheme. The improvement in net investment returns from the reduced investment costs, as well as the benefits from a professionally managed life cycle fund, will significantly improve retirement adequacy especially if compounded over a long term period.

For example, I calculated. Over a 30-year period, a savings of 2% in investment management cost will translate to almost doubling the original sum, even before accounting to the growth of the underlining amount. I would like to ask the Minister for an update on the progress of CPF LRIS? What are the difficulties and concerns in launching such a scheme?

CPF Contributions

Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong (Non-Constituency Member): Chairman, Sir, last year in August, the Government announced that the CPF contribution rates for older workers would be increased gradually starting from 2021 and carried out over the next 10 years. The full rate of 37% would be restored for workers aged 56 to 60, while workers aged 61 to 65 would see an increase to 26% and those aged 66 to 70 would see an increase to 16.5%.

I have called for the restoration of the full rate for all older workers, but I can also understand the Government's position that there is a need to balance the demand-side of the labour market, that is, the employability of older workers who are usually more expensive for employers, and the supply-side, that is, the incentives and sense of worth for older workers to remain in the labour market.

I understand this balance is worked out in intense tripartite discussions between employers, unions and the Government.

Beyond tripartite discussions, my question is whether there is scope and flexibility for the Government to spearhead changes when it can be shown that the increased rates are not attractive enough to retain productive older workers to remain in the workforce and that demand for workers remain high in labour-constrained Singapore.

Also, is the Government still committed to the first increase in CPF contribution rates in 2021? I believe Senior Minister of State Heng Chee How said the Government is. Minster Josephine Teo also said last year that the Government was committed despite the economic uncertainties faced by businesses in the context of the US-China trade war.

Now that the COVID-19 emergency is certain to hit the global economy and our open economy hard, I hope the Government is still committed to an increase.

CPF Usage for Education and Re-skilling

Ms Sylvia Lim: Chairman, during the debate on the Budget Statement, I had asked whether it was time to consider other approaches to support mid-career transitioners, such as enabling CPF members in their 40s and 50s to tap on their CPF savings to chart their own continuing education and re-skilling. The Minister had responded briefly to reject the suggestion, stating that the cost of training was not the main issue and that retirement adequacy should not be undermined. I would like today to elaborate on why cost has been an issue for some, and why such a proposal need not affect retirement adequacy.

We are all aware of the Adapt & Grow initiatives and how they dovetail into the Government's Industry Transformation Maps. These give effect to the broad national plan to enable the workforce to have relevant skills to take on jobs that are projected to be in demand now and in the future economy.

I appreciate the deliberations, consultations, planning and resources that have been devoted to this national endeavour, which has helped many mid-career employees find meaningful work in new industries. Indeed, many courses endorsed under these frameworks are relatively low-cost and accessible.

However, there are also other mid-career transitioners who will not be content with these offerings. Some have remarked to me that to set themselves apart in a soft job market, they did not want a certification that so many others were already getting but to chart their own paths. Some may already have tertiary qualifications and wish to do post-graduate courses in new areas conducted by overseas universities or professional bodies. Others may want to venture to work abroad, where the skill areas in demand may not be the same as those under Singapore's economic transformation plan. For these mid-career transitioners, the passion to take ownership of their own futures should be commended.

Yet, such mid-career transitioners may have multiple financial commitments and will hesitant to dig into a significant portion of their current liquid savings to undergo unsubsidised and costly re-education and re-skilling. It is in this context that I am suggesting that the Government look into the feasibility of enabling CPF members to tap on their CPF savings to fund their re-education and re-skilling.

I agree that retirement adequacy will always be the over-arching aim of the CPF savings scheme. However, re-skilling potentially leads to better salary outcomes and could pay for itself. This is important at a time where retirement and re-employment ages are moving up.

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The Government could always put in safeguards, such as has been done with the CPF investment schemes. For CPF members currently in their 40s and 50s, there are probably significant numbers whose CPF savings exceed their applicable Minimum Sums, even before they reach 55. The Government could consider enabling these members to make such withdrawals.

Contribute-As-You-Earn (CAYE)

Mr Chen Show Mao: Sir, the Ministry has taken a step towards buttressing the retirement adequacy of freelance workers in our economy with Contribute-As-You-Earn (CAYE) model for MediSave, whereby contribution is made as and when a service fee is earned. May I ask the Ministry for an update on the progress in the implementation of CAYE and an update of its plans in the area?

The Chairman: Mr Patrick Tay, take both your cuts, please.

Review of the Industrial Relations Act

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan: The Industrial Relations Act was amended in 2015 to permit rank-and-file unions to collectively represent executive employees. In order to avoid conflicts of interest and undermining management effectiveness, executives with senior management functions were excluded from collective representation. These functions are set out in section 17(3) of the Industrial Relations Act. The tripartite partners have also issued the Tripartite Guidelines on Extending the Scope of Union Representation for Executives.

In the years that have followed, unions which have sought to extend their scope of representation to include executives have met with some difficulties, mainly due to the overly general way in which exclusions in section 17(3) have been worded.

On the ground, our unions have come across instances where employers cite section 17(3) to deny collective representation for executives who are not really in senior management grades or having access to information which would give rise to a genuine conflict of interest if they should be represented by the union.

The unions' experience, therefore, is that the exclusions set out in section 17(3) are too broadly worded, thereby giving employers the opportunity to claim that even mid-level executive employees fall within them, whereas the intent behind the law was only to exclude those who are at senior management levels and carrying out functions which genuinely give rise to a conflict of interest if they are represented by a union.

Besides this, there are other areas, such as the status of Collective Agreements during a Judicial Management or Receivership and whether the scope of coverage of the Collective Agreement can be limited to union members only, and several other procedural and technical areas which are unclear.

I would like to suggest that a tripartite work group be formed to look at reviewing the Industrial Relations Act and addressing some of these areas of concern. This will help to better reflect the true intent of the law, look after the interests and welfare of workers and help employers and unions to reach consensus on extension of scope and other areas of industrial relations smoothly and expeditiously.

Review of Trade Unions Act

My second cut on the Review of Trade Unions Act. In light of the expected growth of freelance workers or what many term as the "gig economy" in the next five to 10 years, the labour movement hopes more can be done to enable this group to become union members so that they, too, can enjoy the plethora of membership privileges NTUC and our unions offer. At present, the Trade Unions Act requires a person to be in a "contract of service" to join a trade union. Freelancers who are in a "contract for service" may not be full-fledged union members per se. As such, I suggest for MOM to work with NTUC to review and study this with a view of removing or relaxing the prohibition and explore ways to allow freelancers to be union members without compromising or contravening traditional collective bargaining and representation.

The Chairman: Mrs Josephine Teo.

The Minister for Manpower (Mrs Josephine Teo): Mr Chairman, let me start by updating Members on the labour market in 2019.

Despite the economic headwinds, employment growth was better than expected. Retrenchments remained low. Singapore citizens continued to earn higher incomes in the recent five years. In fact, if we look back over a longer period since 2015, the employment outcomes for our people have been very positive overall. We have provided a handout to Members. It is in the folder that has been distributed.

However, the outlook for 2020 has become very uncertain. Given the COVID-19 outbreak, it would be unrealistic to expect employment growth of the last few years. It will also be a challenge for unemployment to remain in the relatively low range of recent years. These unfavourable conditions demand a united response from all of us.

Our first priority is to prevent large-scale job losses. Particularly for those earning lower salaries, we should also prevent a scaling back or reversal of wage increases. This is why the biggest bulk – 60% of the Stabilisation and Support Package announced by Deputy Prime Minister Heng – goes towards Jobs Support and Wage Credits.

Beyond immediate relief, we must not neglect future challenges. In the longer term, we need businesses to transform and keep creating good jobs. We want wages at the lower end to move up more. We also need to help Singaporeans adapt to changing job requirements brought about by technology. The resident workforce will not expand as much as before and we have more seniors.

We will need to help both businesses and our people make the best of the opportunities available. At the same time, we must address their anxieties and be sure to walk this journey together.

MOM’s responses centre on the belief that there must be fairness at work, for both individuals and employers. This is essential to maintaining cohesiveness in an open economy – to give our workers fair chances to progress, and our businesses fair support to succeed.

I will be speaking on four areas: fair opportunities, fair hiring, fair competition and fair support.

Many Members of Parliament also asked that we offer more help to self-employed persons (SEP) who have been hard hit. I share their concerns and will announce more measures to support our freelancers.

Minister of State Zaqy will elaborate on how we can give fair support for lower wage workers and employers of persons with disabilities. He will cover foreign workers, as well as their employers.

Senior Parliamentary Secretary Yen Ling will elaborate on how we are providing fair opportunities for women, as well as fair support for foreign domestic workers and their employers.

Let me first start with fair opportunities. Our aim is to give every Singaporean every opportunity to progress at every stage of their working lives. Last year, we placed more than 31,000 local jobseekers in jobs through the Adapt and Grow initiative, similar to the number in 2018. More than half were aged 40 and above. Nearly one-third of placements were aged 50 and above. The share was even higher for rank-and-file workers.

In fact, since 2016, the Adapt and Grow initiative, which includes the Career Support Programme, has helped over 100,000 jobseekers get placed. But we are mindful: the work is never done. Therefore, Workforce Singapore (WSG) continues to enhance its service and programme offerings. For example, MyCareersFuture.sg has new features to help employers identify suitable candidates.

One particular group we have been thinking about are Singaporeans in their 40s and 50s. They, too, deserve fair opportunities to progress in their careers. We recognise that it is a daunting task for anyone in the middle of their careers to reskill for new jobs. This was highlighted by Mr Liang Eng Hwa, Ms Jessica Tan and other Members of Parliament.

In response, the Government has put together the SkillsFuture Mid-Career Support Package. Let me take a step back to outline the thinking behind the package and what we aim to achieve.

Mid-career individuals generally hope that their time invested in training leads to a job. That is why many programmes are "Place-and-Train" – a jobseeker first secures placement with the employer or attachment with a host company on the strength of his existing work experience and undergoes additional training to close the skills gap to fully meet job requirements.

Most participants on such programmes start their training only after they have been placed with an employer or a host company. Forty-nine-year-old Shah Jehan Haniffa and 61-year-old Low Kok Chuen are two examples. Despite limited experience in the logistics industry, Shah Jehan secured a job with ST Logistics through the PCP for Logistics Executives. Low Kok Chuen decided to start work again after two years in retirement and enter a new industry. Delphic Manufacturing Solution saw his potential and hired him through the PCP for Technical Sales Engineers or Managers.

Since 2016, "Place-and-Train" programmes have benefited nearly 14,500 Singaporeans. Today, we have no shortage of such programmes. For PCPs alone, we have around 100 across around 30 sectors. We have also started moving upstream.

To Mr Patrick Tay's question, in the last two years, over 2,000 PMETs were reskilled and redeployed within the same companies, well before they became redundant.

To Ms Sylvia Lim's question, capacity is rarely the issue. Nonetheless, to support more mid-career individuals who may be affected by the faster pace of business transformation, we will expand capacity in such programmes. A good example is the TeSA Mid-Career Advance programme announced earlier by Minister Iswaran. In particular, for workers in their 40s and older – like Shah Jehan and Low Kok Chuen – we aim to double annual placements to around 5,500 by 2025. This is the first pillar of the Mid-Career Support Package.

Even then, Members of Parliament, like Mr Ong Teng Koon, are rightly concerned about employer commitment becoming the bottleneck. Indeed, when programme capacity is not fully taken up, it is often because employers are hesitant. Especially when prospects are uncertain, employers might hold back and wait for better conditions or a candidate with better match.

On the other hand, employers continue to tell MOM their frustrations that mid-career jobseekers shun certain occupations or industries. Jobseekers may lack awareness of the opportunities or confidence in their abilities to adapt to new work environments. Some employers also need to improve job quality to make them more attractive.

Therefore, beyond expanding the capacity of reskilling programmes, the Mid-Career Support Package must empower individuals and enable employers. One key pillar of the Mid-Career Support Package is the additional top-up of SkillsFuture Credits. This aims to empower persons in their 40s and 50s to refresh their skills to complement their employers' training investments. Bear in mind that many courses are already heavily subsidised by the Government, up to 90% in some instances. This additional top-up will mean even lower out-of-pocket expenses.

At the same time, besides "Place-and-Train" programmes, we will ramp up "Train-and-Place" programmes. These programmes do not require employer commitment upfront. But, as long as the programmes are well designed to plug skills-in-demand, participants have a good chance of getting job placements after they are trained.

At MOE's COS debate, Senior Minister of State Chee Hong Tat will share more details. I hope it will persuade Ms Lim that actually you do not touch CPF. Even the Institutes of Higher Learning will be able to offer very good opportunities to help mid-careers progress.

For "Place-and-Train" programmes, all trainees receive full salaries or allowances. For example, during the nine months of the PCP, Shah Jehan, whom I cited earlier, received full salary from his employer – 90% of which was subsidised by the Government.

In other words, although we do not have unemployment insurance in Singapore, we have programmes that provide income support to unemployed persons who are prepared to undergo reskilling, which maximises their chances of returning to work.

To empower mid-career individuals, another important pillar is our career advisory system. This is the scaffolding and hand-holding that I spoke about in response to Ms Sylvia Lim's points during the Budget debate. Today, this capability resides in several agencies.

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WSG and NTUC's e2i have been offering employment and training assistance for well over a decade. Since the SkillsFuture movement was launched, the five Community Development Councils (CDCs) have also been mobilised. Through SkillsFuture Advice workshops, more than 100,000 Singaporeans have gained a deeper understanding of their skills and how they can keep abreast of industry developments to stay relevant in their careers.

About three years ago, we roped in the private sector. Two best-in-class operators with good track records in other countries were appointed to supplement Government efforts in career-matching.

Sector agencies are also involved. Last year, for example, MAS and the Institute of Banking and Finance released a joint study on the impact of automation and data analytics on 121 job roles in financial services. I know that Mr Patrick Tay read this publication from cover to cover. Amongst several outcomes, the Technology in Finance Immersion Programme was launched. Mr Henry Kwek and Mr Leon Perera will be reassured to know that other agencies are conducting similar studies to help with workforce and career planning.

Workforce Singapore (WSG) has also intensified support to jobseekers through a suite of high-touch career coaching programmes.

The Career Recharger module equips discouraged jobseekers with a positive mindset for their job search journeys. The Career Catalyst module offers one-on-one coaching to help jobseekers uncover their strengths and career options. The Career 360 module helps jobseekers access networks to widen their job opportunities.

In this regard, peer support can be very useful. There is untapped potential in our professional communities where many seasoned professionals have rich experiences to share. They are plugged into the challenges and opportunities in their respective fields, have established networks and may themselves have navigated career transitions.

We can therefore complement our team of full-time career coaches by building up a pool of volunteer career advisors. Career advisors will receive training to provide sector and occupation-specific career advice and outline career options. Career Advisors will also be equipped with in-depth knowledge of resources and channels of support such as the Adapt and Grow programmes. In short, we hope that the career advisors can help to boost the confidence of their mid-career peers in charting the way forward.

At the same time, as the institutes of higher learning ramp up Train and Place programmes, they will also need to be better at providing career advice to mid-career individuals. MOM and MOE will work together to consolidate our resources and boost our collective capabilities in empowering individuals to take charge of their careers.

In terms of support to employers, the priority is to bring down the cost of recruiting and training for mid-career jobseekers. We must also keep up the pace of business transformation and job re-design.

From 1 April, we will boost salary support for all workers aged 40 and above enrolled in Place and Train programmes from 70% to 90%. This pillar comes on top of very generous funding already available for the training components. Essentially, the Government will underwrite almost the entire salary and training costs of mid-career recruits for the period of training.

Further, we will provide a new incentive for employers who hire workers aged 40 and above, through any Place and Train or Train and Place programme. This pillar comes on top of the salary support during the training period. It will cover 20% of the new hire's monthly salary for half a year, capped at $6,000 in total.

Senior Minister of State Heng Chee How will be pleased to know that the enhanced employers support extends to workers above age 60. Depending on the duration of training, this means employers will get salary support of up to one year in most cases. This is not even including the Senior Employment Credit, which I will talk more about later.

Beyond these two pillars, the Government is providing another two pillars of support for employers to implement business and workforce transformation plans. That is the reason for the $10,000 SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit which MTI has highlighted.

Through the enhanced Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG), we will also provide up to 70% funding for companies to engage job re-design consultants. This is important for ensuring that jobs become more attractive, especially to mid-career individuals and seniors. Most of the remaining 30% out-of-pocket expenses can be paid off using the new SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit. In other words, costs will be very minimal, for SMEs in particular.

Mr Douglas Foo and Mr Gan Thiam Poh were understandably concerned that employers may no longer be short of training funds but training time. For companies with a clear plan to transform their business, MOM will consider supporting them with transitionary manpower. Others may take advantage of the current downtime to increase training hours.

Through the five pillars of the SkillsFuture Mid-Career Support Package, we will be investing close to $750 million in the re-skilling and placement of mid-career workers over the next five years. Taken together with the SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit and the enhanced Productivity Solutions Grant, we are providing a very significant boost – about $1 billion – to the employment prospects of Singaporeans, especially those in their 40s and 50s. They are a clear commitment to ensure Singaporeans have fair opportunities to progress at every stage of their working lives.

At the same time, we will need employers to uphold the culture of fairness at the workplace. This means taking care to ensure there is no discrimination of any kind.

In Singapore, where the workforce includes foreigners, we are particularly watchful about discrimination against locals. Under the Fair Consideration Framework, or FCF, we require employers to advertise on MyCareersFuture.sg before submitting Employment Pass (EP) applications. This is to ensure fair hiring and guard against job openings being restricted to "closed circles of friends".

Mr Murali Pillai pointed out that job positions with salary of $15,000 and above are currently exempted from the FCF job advertising requirement. This threshold was last updated in July 2018, when we also required smaller firms with at least 10 employees to advertise. From 1 May 2020, MOM will expand the advertising requirement to include positions paying up to $20,000. Positions that are more senior remain exempted as they are more likely to be market-sensitive.

As for intra-company transfers, which Mr Patrick Tay asked about, they need to meet strict criteria to qualify. As a result, they have constituted a very small share of EP applicants.

I will take this opportunity to remind employers not to treat the advertising requirement as a paper exercise. MOM has started to use data analytics to scrutinise EP applications. I cannot tell you too much about it. For example, I cannot tell you what the algorithm is. That would not be wise.

We also actively follow up on leads provided by whistle-blowers.

Members will appreciate that this is a laborious exercise. Sometimes, disgruntled employees or competitors send us on a wild goose chase. Employers may also use delay tactics to frustrate us. Nonetheless, if we uncover evidence that an employer had pre-selected a foreign candidate and did not give fair consideration to qualified local applicants, we will reject the EP application and ban the employer from hiring or renewing foreign workers.

Under the FCF, MOM has also proactively identified employers suspected of nationality-bias in their hiring. We look out for employers with exceptionally high share of foreign PMETs compared to their industry peers or high concentrations of single nationalities. These employers are put on an FCF Watchlist, where all of the EP applications will be scrutinised or withheld.

Among other Members of Parliament, Mr Patrick Tay and Mr Chong Kee Hiong asked for an update of these efforts. I informed Parliament last year that MOM had put about 600 firms through the FCF Watchlist. We have since cast our net wider and scrutinised about 1,000 firms.

To date, a total of 3,000 EP applications have been rejected or withheld by MOM, or withdrawn by the employers. In addition, firms under the FCF have hired more than 4,400 Singaporean PMETs over the same period.

Our objective is not just to penalise errant employers. We want them to improve. This is why we reached out to another 350 employers whose workforce profiles give us cause for concern, so that they take additional steps to strengthen local hiring. But it also means that having served notice to these employers, MOM will not hesitate to put them on the FCF Watchlist if their workforce profiles deteriorate.

Nationality bias is only one form of discrimination. I agree with Mr Lim Biow Chuan that we should take firm action against all forms of discrimination. This is why I announced earlier this year stiffer penalties for discrimination by age, gender, nationality or mental health condition. Employers that violate the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices will be barred from hiring new foreign workers or renewing existing ones for a minimum of 12 months, up to a maximum of 24 months.

In January 2020, MOM released the details of five employers that were penalised under this new framework. We have taken action against another 18 more, bringing the total to 23 employers sanctioned under the new penalty framework in just over two months.

In one case, a 51-year-old applying to be a receptionist was told that she was "too old". That means me too. MOM discovered that the firm had a policy where only candidates younger than 45, female and Chinese, would be invited for interview. So, we have acted against this employer.

We will also hold culpable key decision makers responsible, whether it is the chief executive officer (CEO), the chief human resources officer (CHRO) or line managers. We are prepared to name them publicly and revoke their work passes if they are foreigners.

Some people may feel that the penalties are still not enough. A 24-month debarment is actually quite painful. Most of the work passes will expire during this period but none can be renewed. Neither can the employer hire new foreign workers. In other words, these employers would need to hire more locals if they want to continue their operations in Singapore.

MOM will also prosecute employers and key personnel who make false declarations on fair consideration. One employer has been charged so far. If found guilty, the penalties are up to two years of imprisonment and fines of up to $20,000.

We will continue to remain vigilant against discriminatory employers and take firm action against those who try to circumvent our fair hiring requirements. But we cannot do this alone. Workers who come across workplace discrimination should surface it to MOM or TAFEP. Employers should review employment practices to weed out discriminatory practices. Employer organisations should call out members with errant practices that tarnish their sectors.

Besides the assurance of fair hiring, our people want the assurance that they compete on a level playing field. Fair-minded Singaporeans do not expect to be given a free pass but they do expect fair competition, and rightly so.

As announced by Deputy Prime Minister Heng, we will implement cuts to S Pass quotas for the construction, marine shipyard and process sectors in 2021 and 2023. As he explained, S Passes should not be a means by which enterprises hire low-cost foreigners when qualified locals are available.

Miss Cheng Li Hui asked what jobs were available in these sectors and what we were doing to train locals for them. In construction, for example, there is growing demand for PMETs skilled in Building Information Modelling (BIM), to use advanced software to visualise and manage building projects. Many draughtsmen who previously made technical drawings are now taking on more complex BIM roles. Other jobs performed by technicians and engineers will be equally transformed by automation and digitalisation.

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Our educational institutions already work closely with industries to ensure their students have the right training. From 2017 to 2019, there was an annual average intake of 7,400 Polytechnic students in related courses. For mid-career persons, we have PCPs for BIM Professionals, Marine Engineers, Marine Technicians, and Process Construction and Maintenance Professionals.

I am aware that affected businesses may still be worried they cannot find people. It is unlikely that locals will change their minds if work conditions do not improve. But as long as employers are willing to make changes, we will help you.

The SkillsFuture Work-Study Programme can help you identify suitable Polytechnic and ITE graduates and help to defray training costs. You can also consider mid-career workers. I have outlined the enhanced support for employers under the Mid-Career Support Package. I urge employers to get in touch with WSG or the relevant trade associations. For example, in the last three years, trade associations and chambers (TCAs) have helped more than 4,500 SMEs recruit mid-career PMETs through the P-Max programme – one programme alone.

Besides quotas, we regularly review other measures to control the foreign workforce.

To ensure that firms do not hire locals on token salaries just so that they can hire more foreign workers, only workers that are paid above a threshold each month can be counted towards a firm's S Pass and Work Permit DRCs. We call this the Local Qualifying Salary, LQS.

We have been regularly updating the LQS to ensure that it keeps pace with rising local wages at the lower end. We last raised the LQS threshold from $1,200 to $1,300 in July 2019.

We will be raising it further from $1,300 to $1,400 on 1 July 2020. Most employers of foreign workers are not affected because they do not have workers earning below $1,400. Even for those that are, the extension of the Wage Credit Scheme should provide some relief. In any case, like Ms Denise Phua and Assoc Prof Walter Theseira, I hope employers and their customers do not begrudge the raising of salaries at the lower end.

At the S Pass and Employment Pass (EP) levels, MOM regularly updates the salary criteria that applicants must meet to work in Singapore. These criteria take reference from salaries of locals with similar experience and seniority, to ensure that the S Pass and EP holders are of good calibre and do not undercut the wages of our local PMETs. This is why older and more experienced candidates need to command higher salaries in order to qualify for a S Pass or an EP. It keeps the competition fair.

S Pass salary criteria were raised in 2019 and this year. We last raised the EP minimum qualifying salary in 2017, from $3,300 to $3,600 per month. We will be raising it from $3,600 to $3,900 per month. This increase is in line with improving wages of fresh graduates of local Autonomous Universities.

The salary criteria for older and more experienced EP candidates will be raised in tandem. For example, an EP applicant in his early 40s will need to earn around double the new minimum qualifying salary of $3,900; double of $3,900. This is only fair, considering the skill-sets he or she is expected to have. It helps to ensure a level playing field for experienced local mid-career PMETs.

The new salary criteria will apply to new EP applicants from 1 May 2020. However, for EP renewals, they will apply one year later, from 1 May 2021. This staggered approach will moderate the impact on businesses.

With these changes, employers should continue to ensure that they have fair and merit-based pay practices, in line with the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices.

Anecdotally, we have heard of firms that only raise salaries of the EP holders to meet new salary criteria, while freezing salaries of the local workers, even if the locals are better performers! This is wrong and not in the employer's best interest. Apart from the risk of having their work pass privileges cut back by MOM, such practices will undermine their efforts to retain their local employees.

While we are asking a lot more of our employers, we are also providing them with fair support. Likewise, we will keep fair support to the self-employed and for Singaporeans in general to build up their retirement nest-egg.

Let me outline the enhanced support for senior employment, which Mr Henry Kwek and other Members spoke about.

Over the past decade, senior employment rates among locals have grown steadily. In 2018, I convened the Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers to study ways to further support senior employment. It announced its recommendations last year, which the Government has accepted in full.

The Retirement Age (RA) and the Re-employment Age (REA) will be raised to 65 and 70 respectively by 2030. To help businesses adjust, each move will be implemented in small steps with sufficient notice.

In addition, the CPF contribution rates for senior workers will be raised gradually over the next decade. The first increase will take effect from 1 January 2021. This will not change. The exact timing of future moves will be decided later, but we aim to implement the full increases by 2030.

Yesterday, Minister Shanmugam announced that the retirement age for Home Affairs Uniformed Services will be raised from age 55 to 58 by 2030. MOM welcomes this move and will work with MHA and our tripartite partners to similarly review retirement age policies for Auxiliary Police Officers and private-sector firefighters.

As outlined in the Budget, the Government will support employers to implement these changes, including creating more age-friendly workplaces. We will do so through the Senior Worker Support Package which will provide up to $1.3 billion in support over three years from 2020 to 2022.

Businesses had called for continued Government support for the employment of senior workers, in particular, wage offsets similar to the Special Employment Credit (SEC).

The Government has heard these calls. From 2021, through the new Senior Employment Credit, we will provide wage offsets to employers that hire senior Singaporean workers aged 55 and above. For 2021 and 2022, employers will get up to 8% of the wages paid to workers aged 55 and above. Similar to the Special Employment Credit, more support will be given for those in higher age bands.

The employment rate for workers aged 55-59 has improved greatly and is now close to that of the 20-64 age group. Hence, wage offsets for the 55-59 age group will be 2% in 2021 and 1% in 2022.

We will instead focus resources on the older age groups which have lower employment rates. Wage offsets for those aged 67 and above will be the highest, at 8%. Overall, companies will get $660 million in Senior Employment Credit over two years.

In 2021, we will offset half of the increase in employer CPF contribution rates through the CPF Transition Offset scheme. Companies will receive about $80 million.

We are not depending on the SEC alone to senior employment.

We encourage progressive companies to raise the RA and REA ahead of legislative schedule. And to do so, we will introduce a Senior Worker Early Adopter Grant (EAG). Companies can get up to $250,000 each under this grant.

Through the Tripartite Workgroup's public consultation and other surveys, senior workers told us they would like to reduce their work intensity gradually as they approach retirement. It makes a lot of sense. They are also more prepared to remain in the workforce if they can undertake part-time work arrangements during the re-employment phase.

While the Tripartite Workgroup explored legislating the provision of part time re-employment, employers expressed serious concerns. Many employers today provide mostly full-time positions. Their work structures and processes cannot support workers on partial shifts, or job sharing of full-time positions. This explains our relatively low part-time employment rate for seniors.

The Workgroup agreed on a promotional approach to give employers time to adjust. To give these efforts a bigger push, we will introduce a new Part-Time Re-employment Grant (PTRG) that provides up to $125,000 to each company that commits to providing part-time re-employment opportunities to eligible senior workers upon their request. This will benefit seniors who prefer lower work intensity, thereby encouraging them to stay in the workforce. Both the EAG and PTRG will provide support of $100 million to companies over three years.

In total, we estimate that up to about 110,000 companies and 570,000 workers will benefit from the Senior Worker Support Package.

Mr Chairman, let me now address the concerns of self-employed persons. Based on our most recent survey, the share of individuals who took on self-employed work as their main job remained stable at around 8% to 10% of our resident workforce.

Most of our SEPs have a preference for self-employment over regular employment. A small number would actually prefer to be in regular employment but could not find suitable openings. We encourage them to approach WSG or e2i which will help them through the relevant programmes.

While some SEPs ponder their longer term plans, the immediate concern of all is the significant drop in earnings due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Sector agencies are stepping in to help those directly impacted. For example, MOT has put together a $77 million package to help taxi and private hire care drivers. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is also providing licensed tour guides with short-term relief.

SEPs in other occupations may see lower earnings because their clients have delayed projects or postponed bookings. This is, no doubt, a period of difficulty. But it is also a window of opportunity for skills upgrading.

I will therefore introduce a new SEP Training Support Scheme, which I believe Mr Patrick Tay, Mr Ang Hin Kee, Mr Desmond Choo, Ms Tin Pei Ling and other Members of Parliament will welcome.

Over the next three months, all SEPs will be paid a training allowance of $7.50 per hour when they attend courses under the SkillsFuture series, as well as selected sector-specific training programmes. Not only will this scheme supplement their income, it can help them become more future-ready.

To illustrate, consider a 45-year-old freelance sports coach or media freelancer who decides to brush up on business management skills by taking a series of courses covering areas such as digital marketing and design thinking. Together, there are six modular courses stretching over 90 hours or about 12 days. With SSG's enhanced 90% subsidy of the course fees for those aged 40 and above, this sports coach or media freelancer would only need to pay about $400 for the course. And by using his SkillsFuture Credit, he will not need to pay a single cent out of his pocket. Furthermore, he will receive training allowance of $675.

The SEP Training Support Scheme is a practical way to provide fair support to SEPs in these tough times. The Government will set aside $36 million for this purpose. There is no cap to how much training SEPs can sign up for. NTUC, which has established outreach channels to freelancers, will administer this scheme and release details on how to apply soon.

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Even as we support SEPs in the short-term, we are also concerned about their longer-term needs. In 2017, the Government set up the Tripartite Workgroup on SEPs. Through extensive consultations with stakeholders, the Workgroup found that most SEPs did not expect their clients to provide employment benefits or to treat them as regular employees. Instead, SEPs asked the Workgroup to focus on addressing their practical concerns. Their preference shaped the Workgroup's recommendations, which have been progressively implemented since March 2018.

For example, the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management extended its services to SEPs to help resolve payment-related disputes. We also launched the Tripartite Standard on Contracting with SEPs to promote fair contracting norms and have made good progress. Grab, a major player in the private-hire car and food delivery markets, recently adopted this Standard, joining about 710 other progressive businesses. This means that the 85,000 SEPs engaged by these adopters will be provided with clear written terms to minimise disputes, such as when payments would be made. We call on more service-buyers to do their part by providing SEPs with clear written contracts. We also encourage service-buyers to adopt the Standard, to be more attractive among SEPs.

Finally, I will like to provide an update on retirement adequacy, an issue close to the hearts of Singaporeans. We are committed to providing fair support to help our people prepare for retirement. In fact, successive cohorts of Singaporeans have been able to set aside more CPF savings for retirement. Over the last decade, median CPF balances of active CPF members aged 55 have also more than doubled from $71,000 to $155,000. This is because of higher labour force participation and rising wages as well as enhancements to the CPF system, such as the increases in CPF contribution rates and CPF salary ceiling.

As a result, even as the Basic Retirement Sum (BRS) has been raised gradually for each cohort, more active CPF members have been able to set it aside at age 55, from about four-in-10 a decade ago to more than six-in-10 today. That does not mean our job is done. The CPF is a "live" system and must continue to evolve. Incomes continue to rise and so will spending needs in retirement. This is why the Government accepted the Tripartite Workgroup's recommendation to gradually raise CPF contribution rates for senior workers over the next 10 years. By the time we are done with the full increases around 2030, the median member aged 55 can expect his retirement payouts to be boosted by close to 10%.

The first increase in CPF contribution rates will take effect from 1 January 2021 but the next steps have yet to be decided. Assoc Prof Daniel Goh asked if we could accelerate the pace. Ideally, we would like to. But this desire needs to be balanced against the impact on the senior workers' employability and take-home pay, factors which he himself had outlined. This is why CPF contribution rates should continue to be stepped down by age and why the Workgroup recommended small increases each time. Given the current pressures on employers and job security, we should proceed with care.

Over the years, we have also refined our retirement system to be more fair and progressive. The Government provides higher interest rates of up to 6% on lower CPF balances. The Government also tops up the CPF accounts of lower balance members from time to time, such as the recent Bicentennial Bonus CPF top-up. Targeted subsidies are provided to lower income Singaporeans with lesser means, through Workfare in their working years and Silver Support in retirement. All these translate into substantial support for lower income households in retirement.

The Government will take additional steps to strengthen retirement adequacy of Singaporeans. We launched the Contribute-as-you-Earn (CAYE) pilot at the start of the year to help SEPs better save for their healthcare needs through smaller and more regular MediSave contributions whenever they earn income. We expect about 3,000 SEPs or so working with Government agencies each year to make CAYE contributions.

To help SEPs come on board the scheme, we will provide a dollar-for-dollar matching for CAYE contributions made in 2020, capped at $600. Mr Chen Show Mao will be pleased to note that around 400 SEPs made CAYE contributions in January alone. This is encouraging. All of them will receive matched MediSave contributions from the Government.

SEPs can also save for retirement through cash-top-ups schemes into their CPF. Those who are eligible can tap on the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme, which I will elaborate on later. In addition, SEPs may receive additional support through the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) Scheme. From 1 January 2020, the qualifying income cap and maximum annual payouts have both gone up. In addition, recipients will get an additional 20% of their WIS payment for work done in 2019, with a minimum payment of $100. This will be given in cash. Each year, more than 50,000 SEPs receive Workfare. With the COVID-19 situation, I expect more SEPs to qualify this year.

More broadly, to help Singaporeans with less CPF savings, we will introduce the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme (MRSS) from 2021 to 2025. This can benefit lower income seniors and in particular, gig workers and "unpaid" care-givers, who typically have less in their CPF.

The Government will match cash top-ups made to the Retirement Account of eligible members, up to $600 annually or $3,000 over five years. About 435,000 Singaporeans will be eligible for MRSS each year. There are no restrictions on who can contribute. For example, employers may want to use MRSS as a staff benefit to recognise long-serving senior workers and help them set aside more for retirement. They will enjoy tax reliefs for cash top-ups. Working adults can also make top-ups to their stay-at-home spouses, or their parents who are nearing retirement.

Will MRSS work? Assoc Prof Walter Theseira is not so sure and suggested that people be asked to commit their savings in advance, for example, their WIS cash payouts or annual bonuses. I thank him for thinking about how to improve MRSS. We will study, seriously, the practicalities of his suggestion.

Let me round off this section with the Silver Support Scheme. Silver Support targets seniors who had lower incomes throughout their lives and have less in their retirement. Since 2016, we have disbursed close to $1.6 billion to over 200,000 seniors.

From 1 January 2021, we will do the following: (a) Increase the quarterly payouts by 20% for all flat types; (b) Expand the criteria for lifetime wages; (c) Expand the criteria for household monthly income per person from $1,100 to $1,800, with two tiers of payouts.

With these enhancements, close to 250,000 Singaporeans aged 65 and above will benefit in 2021. This is about 100,000 more than today. Total Silver Support payouts will almost double from $330 million currently to about $620 million in 2021.

MOM will continue to review our policies to improve the retirement adequacy of Singaporeans. This includes studying the feasibility of introducing the CPF Lifetime Retirement Investment Scheme (LRIS), which Ms Foo Mee Har asked about.

LRIS will be designed for members who wish to invest their CPF monies but have neither the knowledge nor time to do so. To be attractive, it has to charge low fees. There must be a good chance of earning higher returns than the current CPF interest rates. But it should also provide some assurance against the downside risks.

This is a complex effort with many multiple objectives that are not always consistent with each other. Given the many issues that demand MOM's time, I seek Members' understanding that we need more time to get the fundamentals of LRIS right. We will provide an update when ready. Mr Chairman, please allow me to conclude in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Mr Chairman, at the moment, the economic outlook of the whole world is unclear. This is not only due to COVID-19 but also because of technological advancement that is constantly changing the nature of jobs. In the face of these key external factors, Singaporeans may be concerned about their employment prospects.

The Government will do everything it can to protect the rice bowls of our people.

In particular, those in their 40s and 50s are at a stage of life where they need to support their families. Besides caring for their aged parents and school-going children, and most of them are still paying off their home mortgage. They are worried that even if they work hard, they cannot avoid becoming obsolete.

Therefore, the Government has strengthened its efforts to focus on middle-aged workers in their 40s and 50s, so that they can take charge of their careers, explore new opportunities and carve out new careers for themselves.

We understand that if we want to help these workers, we need the cooperation of employers and enterprises. Our reskilling efforts would not achieve the intended outcome if they are not supported by employers.

We will therefore adopt a targeted approach. If employers are willing to spend time and money to train mid-career and middle-age workers, they would be able to receive 90% salary support.

After workers complete training, we will cover 20% of the new hire’s monthly salary, for a duration of six months and subjected to a total cap of $6,000. As they say, the number 66 is symbolic of a smooth-sailing pathway. We hope that employers can keep an open mind, and give more opportunities for mid-career and middle-age workers to play a greater role.

In fact, many companies in Singapore are supportive of the Government's policies, especially with regard to hiring senior workers. I would like to thank all of them for their support.

As the Chinese saying goes: 家有一老，如有一宝， an elder in the family is a treasure. I hope employers will adopt the same attitude towards senior workers within their companies, and help them achieve their aspirations to work longer and accumulate more savings.

The Government will strengthen support for enterprises to achieve this.

Those who raise the retirement age and re-employment age before July 2022 will receive grants of up to $250,000. If employers make changes to company policies to allow senior workers to be employed on a part-time basis, they will receive up to $125,000 in grants. In other words, the more "elders" they retain or re-employ, the more "treasures" they will receive.

Let me now talk about self-employed individuals. In the last few weeks, the Government has announced various packages to help taxi drivers, Grab drivers and tour guides. However, the earnings of self-employed individuals in other sectors have also taken a hit due to cancellations or postponements. Hence, the Government will provide an additional S$36 million to help self-employed individuals.

NTUC will administer the Self-employed Persons Training Support Scheme to help self-employed workers. If they undergo training under the SkillsFuture Series or sector specific-training programmes, they will receive up to $60 per day for attending the courses, on top of the existing subsidies on course fees. There is no cap on how much training they can sign up for. So, I would urge self-employed individuals to make good use of these schemes. Not only will they enjoy wage subsidies, they can also learn a new skill.

As a society, we should pay more attention to assist the more vulnerable groups who have less in retirement.

From this year, we will enhance the Workfare programme to benefit more low-income Singaporeans.

The Silver Support Scheme has benefited 150,000 workers. From the end of this year, the quarterly cash supplement will increase by 20%. Next year, we will further expand the criteria to include an additional 100,000 senior workers to benefit from this scheme. We will continue to refine these schemes to benefit those with less in retirement.

Beyond these initiatives, the Government will help Singaporeans build up more retirement savings to prepare them for retirement.

The Government is committed to ensure job security for everyone and look after disadvantaged groups.

Even in this time when the economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak is still unclear, we are fortunate that we still have the means to develop long-term plans to lay a good foundation for our people. I firmly believe that in spite of the immediate challenges and difficulties, we can create a better home for all as long as we work together as one Singapore. [Applause.]

3.30 pm

Better Work, Wages and Welfare for Low-wage Workers

Mr Zainal Sapari (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Mr Chairman, in recent years, NTUC and the Government, with the support of our tripartite stakeholders, have taken bold and specific interventions to help workers providing essential services with better wages, better welfare and better work prospects because every worker matters. The Progressive Wage Model (PWM) has improved the wages and skills of thousands of cleaners, security officers and landscape workers. Other schemes implemented over the years, such as Workfare Scheme, have helped them with cost of living and hope for a better future through new skills that they can acquire at heavily subsidised rates. The road to improving the lives of low-wage workers cannot just end here.

In my Budget speech, I am urging the Government to support extending PWM to more sectors if the industry stakeholders are supportive and for us to try wage benchmarking in some sectors if PWM is not practical or feasible. Given that the SkillsFuture framework, identifying different job levels and skills for more than 30 sectors, have been developed, it would be easier to develop the wage ladder for some industries. This would incentivise workers, especially low-wage workers, to upgrade themselves if the prospect for better wages are assured. NTUC will put up some possible sectors and hope the Government will give due consideration.

Previously, I have also on several occasions in Parliament made calls for Annual Wage Supplement (AWS) to be made mandatory, especially for low-wage workers, but the response so far has been, at best, lukewarm. Many of us assume that all workers get the 13^th month bonus or AWS at the end of the year but the sad reality is that the very group that needs it most is not receiving it. As a society, we must demand for the right treatment of our low-wage workers. AWS can boost their salaries by about 8.3% and this can help narrow the income gap. As the Government has pledged to support outcome-based procurement practices, perhaps, the Government and Government-linked companies can also nudge employers towards the right behaviour, to award tenders to companies with good HR practices that include paying the 13^th month bonus as part of their pay package.

I have also called for better protection of low-wage workers against unfair employment contracts and terms. I have highlighted this in a blogpost that I wrote last year. While I applaud the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management for following up on these cases, I would like to know MOM's view about starting a watch list if companies are found or reported to have unfair clauses in their employment contracts and imposing administrative penalties on such companies, such as curtailment of work pass privileges.

Lower Wage Workers

Mr Chong Kee Hiong: Chairman, most of our lower wage workers are in sectors where their wages have stagnated due to competitive outsourcing practices. The Progressive Wage Model (PWM) puts in place a systematic framework to track the quality of work, gains in productivity and training attained by these workers and peg them to corresponding wage increments and career progression. The PWM has proven to be effective in uplifting workers in the cleaning, security and landscape sectors and improved their prospects.

With this successful implementation, I join Mr Zainal Sapari to appeal to the Ministry to consider expanding PWM to even more sectors as soon as possible. In addition, I would like to request for measures to ensure that these workers have access to proper rest areas and safe work environments, backed by legislation and regular enforcement.

Employment for Special Needs People

Miss Cheryl Chan Wei Ling (Fengshan): Chairman, in Budget 2020, we have the SkillsFuture Support Package for all Singaporeans aged above 25 and one specific to the mid-career so as to encourage and remind them to always stay relevant and keep learning for life. As Minister Josephine Teo has just mentioned, there is also a suite of other support measures on jobs support, wage credit, enterprise grants and so on. It is clear that re-skilling and staying relevant is applicable to everyone and an effort played by all – individual, employers, society and Government.

But what does this mean to the people with special needs or disabilities? Some that I spoke to raised the challenges they face at the workplace. For example, they are assigned menial jobs that are not wanted by others; they encounter a lack of jobs after trial employment; SPED schools' academic qualifications are not recognised by the employers, amongst others. In a nutshell, finding and sustaining employment in life for them is a constant challenge.

In this regard, I would like to ask MOM what can be done to better facilitate job design and assignment of jobs for people with special needs? Which policy area can be improved to raise awareness and protect their rights at work?

Let me share my thoughts on a few areas that the employers, society and Government can do to assist.

First, societal mindset change and prevent discrimination at hiring. I think this begins from the design of job application forms where disclosure of medical conditions is required before interviews are granted. How much to disclose and when to do so are always key concerns for these individuals who feel they are disadvantaged from the start. Employers and colleagues can create the right work culture, one that focuses on establishing shared interests and values, building bridges with them and connect through common grounds. They need to be treated as people, not labour. By not emphasising their conditions also means inclusion as all are accepted as one.

Second, flexi-work arrangement. There needs to be a better match in mutual expectations, understanding the intrinsic ability of the staff and assigning appropriate task, recognising the contribution and lending emotional support are important. Unfair judgement or bias treatment will only result in clashes or poor work performance. Sometimes, special needs people also require occasional medical treatments throughout their life. Being flexible in work arrangements or time off will help them when annual leave is limited and for those whose physique or stamina are constrained by the number of hours they can put in each day.

Third, enhance the dedicated resources of job referral and training organisations. Job coaching, preparatory for workplace and re-skilling are fundamental for people with special needs to continue being in the workforce and remain in the industries. Some form of assistance do exist today but the period of support is short. If the Government and the agencies can play a more prominent role in matching their skills and appropriate employers, this acts as a safeguard for them to remain connected in the industries. Employers and job coaches who value such employees should also be ready to provide testimonials and be willing to offer as their referrals for future jobs. The Government should also look at and consider funding some of these training and provide more wage credit offsets for the employers who hire people with special needs.

Lastly, equality in terms and conditions of work. It is not uncommon to hear that people with special needs are often grateful that they are being offered a job and would remain in the job for a long time. But they are, in fact, no different from other workers when they put their heart to the tasks. For that matter, they should be entitled to receive the same contractual coverage and benefits offered by the companies like any other permanent or contractual staff under the same work conditions.

I hope to see stronger support and move towards levelling the playing field for people with special needs in the area of employment and lifelong learning.

The Chairman: Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar. Take your two cuts together.

Support for Persons with Disabilities

Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar (Ang Mo Kio): The National Council of Social Services (NCSS) published its "Quality of Life Study on Persons with Disabilities" in 2016. The study involved close to 1,000 respondents with disabilities. The study incorporated a face-to-face survey which sought to identify the needs of persons with disabilities (PWDs) across six domains of Quality of Life.

Among the findings established was that PWDs who were not engaged in a main daily activity, particularly employment, experienced lower quality of life, with more than half of the respondents who were not gainfully employed indicating so. In contrast, those in employment reported a higher level of independence, with a difference of 10%-16% between those who are employed and those who are unemployed. However, what was more disconcerting is that those who are in open employment, that is, employed just like typical hires, tended to feel discriminated against, with a difference of 4%-8% between those in open employment and those in sheltered employment or working in Day Activity Centres (DACs).

NCSS carried out another study with 1,400 Singaporeans and PRs on attitudes towards PWDs. Among the many findings established in the study, one that stood out was that attitudes towards PWDs were least favourable in the domain of employment. Deeper probing suggests that the public often perceives a person's disability as the inability to perform one's job. In particular, it was found that people in general feel or behave even less positively towards individuals with autism or intellectual disabilities.

Information on both studies can be found in this publication by NCSS.

As I have said before in this House, being gainfully employed and being able to be remunerated for doing meaningful work, like other typical hires, is a start in helping PWDs or special needs live independently like many others and it accords sufficient opportunities for them to develop that much-needed sense of identity, self-esteem and self-dignity.

The Government has introduced schemes, such as the Special Employment Credit (SEC), Workfare Training Scheme (WTS) and the Open Door Programme (ODP) to help PWDs with special needs to be employed. However, how many employers actually have, in their hiring policies and practices, affirmative action to employ PWDs with special needs? How many employers have leveraged on these schemes to actively hire persons with disabilities or special needs? And how many PWDs with special needs are in active or open employment?

I am also concerned that the Special Employment Credit will cease after 2020. Will there be a new Employment Credit scheme to help employers employ PWDs with special needs? Or can the Special Employment Credit be extended to employers to continue employing PWDs with special needs?

In addition, for the SkillsFuture Credit (SFC) of $500 per Singaporean aged 25 years old and above, can an exception be made to allow PWDs with special needs make use of the SFC from age 18 years old when they are in DACs and where they can pick up SkillsFuture training courses while there?

I laud the Adapt and Grow and Place-and-Train initiatives available for older workers and for students to upgrade and transition into the world of work across sectors, such as hotel, retail, food services, tourism and air transport.

Will there be a similar Place-and-Train scheme for PWDs with special needs to help them ease into their new job and place of work and learn on-the-job? I am sure sectors, such as food services, retail and tourism, are always in need of employees and these are sectors where PWDs with special needs can do well in, provided they are given the opportunity and are coached to perform their job functions well.

Finally, how else can employers be nudged into actively hiring PWDs with special needs and valuing them for the skills and abilities that they have, rather than perceiving them as simply being unable to perform job tasks or, worse still, seeing them as a liability?

Rest Areas for Workers

My second cut, Chairman, on rest areas for workers. In last year's COS, I brought up the need to provide decent working conditions, such as the provision of proper rest areas for lower wage and outsourced workers, such as cleaners, security officers, F&B service staff and despatch riders.

I had also expressed that while some people may feel that requiring proper rest areas is a trivial request, it is not so. When you work the most part of the day on your feet, you do look forward to having a proper place to sit and rest and experience some sense of well-being while at work. And this rest area should not be at staircases or rubbish dump areas.

I had requested for MOM to make proper rest areas for lower wage and outsourced workers mandatory. These rest areas should be well-ventilated, well-lit and have proper tables and seats for the workers to have their meals and to rest. Other than rest areas, there must be proper lockers where personal belongings can be stored safely while they work.

I would like to ask MOM for updates in this. How many employers and organisations have agreed to make such a provision for their lower wage or outsourced workers? How is MOM helping employers and organisations make this provision?

3.45 pm

Right to Flexible Work Arrangement and Mental Health Insurance

Ms Anthea Ong (Nominated Member): In the public consultation that my team and I conducted on mental health, there were 76 responses referencing issues within workplaces. The focus of the Ministry on mental wellness within workplaces as part of the WSH 2028 vision is prudent and necessary, as supported also by WHO.

Will the Ministry consider issuing an advisory to employers to adopt progressive practices that support their employees’ mental health?

Countries, including UK and Canada, have legislated the right to Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA). Twenty-one responses asked for FWAs. One indicated that most treatment options for mental health conditions are only available on weekdays, with their employers unwilling to provide FWAs. Given the Ministry’s strong endorsement for FWAs in care-giver support and Work-Life Grant, would the Ministry consider legislating the right of employees to pursue FWAs and also make explicit publicly that sick leave entitlement can be used for both physical and mental health conditions?

Six responses raised lack of mental health insurance as affecting treatment affordability. One respondent shared the inability to claim insurance for treatment at IMH as the company insurer does not allow this. The recent WICA amendment saw the Ministry working with a group of insurance companies to risk-pool and ensure affordable premiums for employers. In a similar vein, will the Ministry consider working with insurance companies on providing mental health coverage for employees?

Workplace Safety and Best Practices

Mr Yee Chia Hsing (Chua Chu Kang): Chairman, on the night of 7 February this year, there was a fire at a chemical plant on Jurong Island. The fire resulted in the death of two workers, one of which is my resident.

When I visited the funeral wake, the family was understandably distraught and they had many questions which the employer did not provide. The company did not explain to the family how workmen insurance compensation worked, did not provide more information on whether the company had bought additional insurance and did not even provide the contact details of a person that the family could approach. No one explained to the family if they would get a factual report of what happened and, if so, from which entity.

Chairman, the fire left a Singaporean family with two young boys – six and four years old – without a father. While much work for workplace safety has focused on prevention, I believe MOM must mandate that companies in high-risk industries put in place crisis management and family support best practices to ensure that families get the maximum amount of support when something goes wrong. The situation could even be worse if an accident involves a sole breadwinner.

Meanwhile, I would also like to ask MOM to provide an update on our workplace safety and health record over the past year and if it is introducing additional measures to enhance workplace safety and health.

Workplace Safety and Health

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye (Tanjong Pagar): Chairman, according to the latest workplace safety and health statistics released for the third quarter of 2019, the 12-month rolling fatal injury rate per 100,000 workers has dropped to 1.1. This is a new low, but I believe we can strive to do better. To achieve better workplace safety, it is important that we challenge ourselves constantly to make work conditions even safer and healthier for our workers.

In 2019, the Government accepted in full the recommendations made by the WSH 2028 Tripartite Strategies Committee. Can the Ministry provide an update on the progress of the respective recommendations made then? I would also like to reiterate my continued repeated calls for a mandatory WSH representative in every company. This will help to support the advocacy and implementation of WSH initiatives at the workplace.

Sir, we need also to work towards better workplace health. Mental health, in particular, is vital for our overall well-being. But while mental health issues are real and ever-present, particularly at our workplaces, many are afraid to voice out for fear of stigmatisation. Therefore, we need to raise awareness and socialise mental health issues so that we can build an eco-system of support to help with the detection and early prevention of mental health issues.

The Labour Movement will do our part in destigmatising workplace mental health issues. I am happy to announce that NTUC will be partnering with the WSH Council and the Singapore Association for Mental Health to promote mental well-being at workplaces. We will recognise inclusive employers who have gone the extra mile to put in place robust mental wellness programmes to help employees stay mentally healthy and resilient. Through profiling such inclusive employers as industry role models, we hope that we can encourage more companies to do the same. More details will be shared soon.

Sir, I note that the Health Promotion Board has been doing its part to promote the creation of mental well-being programmes at workplaces. Since 2017, HPB has trained close to 1,400 managers and HR personnel under the Workplace Mental Health Solution Initiative to support the development of workplace mental health programmes. I would like to ask if there had been any notable initiatives rolled out which can serve as exemplary case studies for other companies to emulate.

Sir, we know of two companies who want to support their employees in the area of mental health but do not know where to start. I would like to call on our tripartite partners to partner with the Labour Movement to do more in promoting the training of supervisors and union leaders to identify and respond to employees with mental health conditions. I hope also that the Government will partner with NTUC to study the incidence of workplace mental health issues and the effects, both long-term and short-term, they have on our workforce.

By working together to create better total WSH outcomes at the workplace, I believe that our workers will have – to quote Mr Lim Swee Say – a H2P2 life – Health and Happy, Productive and Purposeful.

The Chairman: Mr Zainal Sapari, you can take your three cuts together.

Mr Zainal Sapari: Chairman, there was a positive trend in the general reduction of workplace accidents but, unfortunately, the spate of multiple workplace accidents involving fatalities among migrant workers in the construction and high-risk sectors last year has cast a dark shadow on an otherwise positive trend in 2019.

This begs the question whether the measures taken have been effective in reducing workplace fatalities involving migrant workers. Has MOM concluded if there was any trend, pattern or underlying cause in the spike of accidents in November involving migrant workers, and what pre-emptive measures could have been taken? What is the result of the investigations and, if wrongdoing or negligence is found, when can we expect sanctions to be handed down? Is MOM reviewing rules, increasing enforcement or doing anything else to ensure such spates are prevented in future?

I would like to urge our tripartite partners to re-examine the entire eco-system in the industries with many migrant workers to identify weaknesses in workplace culture and practices that could lead to accidents. These gaps must be addressed systematically so that we can have truly inclusive and progressive practices in workplace safety and health because every worker matters and every job counts.

Electronic Salary Payment for Work Permit Holders (WPHs)

My next cut – Electronic Salary Payment for Work Permit Holders. Since 2014, the Migrant Workers’ Centre has been calling for electronic payment of salaries to be made mandatory for all Work Permit Holders to protect and minimise risk of salary abuse from unscrupulous employers.

Although the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act requires employers to switch to electronic payment should the workers request for it, the reality on the ground is that workers would be too afraid to push the issue should the employer refuse, for fear of termination and repatriation by employers. This is an unacceptable consequence to most migrant workers, especially if they have paid high recruitment or placement fees to come here in the first place.

Are there statistics on what proportion of the Work Permit Holder population is already paid electronically? Given the success of the MWC-POSB Bank Account-Membership Programme, will MOM be able to say when mandatory electronic salary payment for Work Permit Holders can be a reality?

Increase Medical Coverage for WPHs

My last cut – Increase Medical Coverage for Work Permit Holders. The Migrant Workers' Centre has been assisting migrant workers who sustain serious injuries from workplace accidents, including helping many employers discharge their responsibilities to their migrant workers undergoing treatment.

Based on the injury cases handled by MWC, they have found that the $15,000 value of mandatory medical insurance coverage for migrant workers is inadequate in assisting employers to defray the unexpected costs involving serious injuries. Even though employers can opt for a higher coverage, the reality is that many would opt for the lower coverage to manage their business costs. This would make the workers vulnerable if the final treatment cost is not covered by insurance and the employer is unable to bear the cost.

I would like to call upon MOM to initiate and involve the tripartite partners in reviewing the mandatory medical insurance for Work Permit Holders. Perhaps, MOM would want to determine the mandatory insurance coverage based on the industry sector where the quantum of medical insurance coverage would be higher for those sectors which contribute most to the accident and fatality rates. Every worker matters and it is important that they are taken care of in times of need.

The Chairman: Order. I propose to take a break now.

Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.

Mr Speaker: Order. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair at 4.20 pm.

Sitting accordingly suspended

at 3.58 pm until 4.20 pm.

Sitting resumed at 4.20 pm

[Deputy Speaker (Mr Charles Chong) in the Chair]

Debate in Committee of Supply resumed.

[Deputy Speaker (Mr Charles Chong) in the Chair]

Head S (cont) –

The Minister of State for Manpower (Mr Zaqy Mohamad): Chairman, as Minister for Manpower has shared, MOM will continue to champion fairness. Fairness in the workplace encompasses fair support for both employers and workers. I will share our plans to enable inclusive growth for low-wage workers as well as persons with disabilities, and how we inculcate care for all workers.

First, our initiatives for low-wage workers. Over the years, we have improved their wages and skills through various policies. A handout on the achievements of the Progressive Wage Model, or PWM, can be found on Members' seats.

Mr Chong Kee Hiong's asked for an update on PWM. The PWM has benefited over 78,000 workers in the cleaning, security as well as landscape sectors by boosting their wages and providing clear paths for career progression. Between 2013 and 2018, real median monthly gross wages of full-time cleaners, security officers and landscape workers grew cumulatively by about 30%, 31% and 32% respectively, higher than the 16% for median full-time resident workers. The current mandatory PWM framework has served us well.

In 2018, we announced a PWM for the lift maintenance sector. MND plans to make this mandatory in due course. Meanwhile, the Government is taking the lead by only awarding lift maintenance tenders to firms that have adopted the PWM.

Mr Zainal Sapari and Mr Lim Swee Say asked to expand the PWM to more sectors. We have made progress this year. We appointed a tripartite cluster to include escalator technicians under the lift PWM. Together, close to 1,300 resident lift and escalator maintenance workers stand to benefit. The Tripartite Cluster for Lift and Escalator Industry, the fourth such cluster, will aim to submit its recommendations by the end of the year.

But we will not stop with these four clusters, and intend to expand the PWM to more sectors. So far, the sectors that implemented PWM have found that a mandatory approach, where a regulator imposes a uniform obligation to comply with the PWM, delivers results most readily. If Government agencies are themselves large buyers of such services, Government procurement policies can also help to kick-start the process.

However, the vision of progressive wages, which Mr Lim Swee Say first laid out many years ago as Secretary-General of the NTUC, is more far reaching than that. It is a vision that every sector should have a clear ladder for better jobs, better skills and, as a result, better wages.

Therefore, even as we extend mandatory PWM to a few other sectors, we intend to introduce PWM even to sectors where we may not be able to apply mandatory PWM. We want PWM to be a broader movement where the community can play a part as responsible consumers.

Under this approach, we want to create a virtuous cycle, where companies that voluntarily pay progressive wages and provide job progression pathways to their low-wage workers, are recognised and rewarded by consumers who support them by purchasing their products and services. This will in turn spur more companies to be progressive as the best way to advance their business interests.

We are working actively with our tripartite partners to explore how we can expand the PWM in new sectors and with a new approach. However, we recognise there are current market challenges with COVID-19, and we will have to share more when the economic climate and business conditions are more favourable.

Progressive wages are one way to support low-wage workers. The Government also supports them through Workfare. The Workfare Training Support Scheme, or WTS, was first introduced in 2010 to encourage companies to send their lower-wage workers for training, and encourage workers themselves to upgrade their skills. So far, WTS has benefited over 12,000 companies and 270,000 individuals, and disbursed over $550 million. More details are in the handout.

I would like to assure Mr Chong Kee Hiong and Mr Saktiandi Supaat that we will continue to provide strong support to low-wage workers to undergo training.

We will replace the WTS with a new Workfare Skills Support, or WSS. Over the years, our workers have benefited from the introduction of substantial SkillsFuture course fee subsidies of up to 90% and SkillsFuture Credit for training. The old WTS came at a time before SkillsFuture established itself to what it is today. So therefore there is a fair bit of duplication between WTS and SkillsFuture.

Under the new Workfare Skills Support, we will no longer provide course fee subsidies. Instead, WSS will provide more support for workers who complete training leading to full qualifications under the Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications, or better known as WSQ, as well as the academic Continuing Education and Training (CET) qualification systems. This is because we have found that those who acquire full qualifications are more likely to earn higher wages.

Forty-two-year-old Mr Syamsaini Ramli is one such example. Syamsaini's employer, PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay, used WTS to sponsor him for courses that led to a WSQ Certificate in Security Operations – a full qualification. Syamsaini gained new skills in areas such as counter-terrorism and managing threatening behaviour, which his employer valued. He was promoted to assistant security supervisor in 2019, with a pay increment of 10%.

We want more workers like Syamsaini to benefit from WSS. Hence, we will raise the Training Commitment Award for low-wage workers who attain a full qualification to $500, from $200. Its annual cap will also be increased to $1,000, from $400.

We will also raise the training allowance to $6 per hour, from $4.50, to offset the opportunity costs of workers' training. We will tie the eligibility for training allowance to courses which are more likely to lead to better employment outcomes. The new WSS will commence on 1 July 2020.

Let me turn to the concerns of Persons with Disabilities, or PWDs. Our current programmes to support PWDs have contributed to their improving employment rate. Last year, I shared that three in 10 of PWDs aged between 15 and 64 were in employment. Between 2016 and 2019, more than 2,000 PWDs found new jobs through the Adapt and Grow, or A&G, initiative.

The Open Door Programme, or ODP, a special scheme under the A&G initiative, is administered by SG Enable, and helps PWDs enter suitable jobs and better integrate into the workplace. It provides support for job placement, training and job re-design. The ODP Job Redesign Grant provides funding of up to 90% of job re-design costs, capped at $20,000 per PWD employee. MOM and SG Enable also launched the Job Redesign Guide to help companies better integrate PWDs into the workplace, one of the critical success factors for PWDs continuing to be employed.

Last year, more than 5,900 employers hiring over 9,000 Singaporeans with disabilities benefited from the Special Employment Credit, or SEC, and the Additional Special Employment Credit, or ASEC. This amounted to over $102 million since 2012.

We want to do more to improve the employment and employability of PWDs. To study this, MSF set up the Enabling Masterplan workgroup comprising of public, private and people sector representatives last year. With the workgroup's support, MOM will be enhancing our schemes to give our PWDs a boost.

The workgroup recognised that training and job re-design are key to helping PWDs stay employable. One of the beneficiaries of the ODP Training Grant is David. David was diagnosed with mild retina pigmentosa in his teens, which led to worsening vision over time. He lost his job as an engineer in his mid-50s. David tapped on the ODP Training Grant to pick up workplace IT skills as well as telephone etiquette.

The courses prepared him for an alternative career pathway as a call centre agent with Eureka Call Centre Systems, or EurekaCCS. EurekaCCS also tapped on the Job Redesign Grant to purchase keyboards with larger font keys and high colour contrast, allowing employees such as David to work more productively.

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The training David underwent gave him confidence to attend to enquiries and feedback from customers and David performed so well that EurekaCCS recognised him as one of their top performing call agents and rewarded him with an additional bonus incentive. In total, EurekaCCS has 14 employees with disabilities, who make up 87% of its workforce. Well done, EurekaCCS! I hope more employers will follow its lead.

We will enhance the ODP Training Grant to provide stronger funding support to employers who send their PwDs for training, and PwDs seeking to upgrade themselves. We will raise course fee subsidies from 90% to 95% for eligible training courses curated by SG Enable. We will also raise training allowance for both unemployed and employed PwDs to $6 per hour and introduce a training commitment award of $100 per completed eligible training course.

The SEC and ASEC have served our PwD employees well and will expire this year. To replace the SEC and ASEC, we will introduce a new Enabling Employment Credit, or EEC, which will provide even stronger support for persons with disabilities. The EEC will be given to employers that hire Singaporean PwDs earning below $4,000 per month and this will cover about four in five of current PwD employees. The EEC provides a wage offset of up to 20% of the employee's monthly income, capped at a maximum of $400 per month. In addition, employers hiring PwDs who have not been working for at least six months will receive an additional 10% wage offset, capped at $200 per month, for the first six months of employment.

Mr Alvin Yeo, the founder of Faith Music Centre, is one employer that will benefit from the new EEC. Faith Music Centre is a social enterprise which teaches music to PwDs and has also hired several of the centre's learners with disabilities as music instructors and stage masters. Today, Faith Music Centre has 15 employees with varied disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder, sensory impairment and intellectual disability. EEC will provide Faith Music Centre a larger wage offset as compared to SEC and even more support if they hire more PwDs.

As persons with disabilities become more economically active, the issues of financial independence, whether they enjoy fair salaries, as raised by Dr Intan Azura as well as Miss Cheryl Chan, will become more important to PwDs. MOM will closely monitor workplace practices and encourage progressive practices for PwDs, just as it does for other workers.

Under the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices, employers are expected to treat PwDs fairly, including asking for information only relevant to the job and paying them fairly. Lower income PwDs also receive additional support through the Workfare Income Supplement. In 2019, over 6,300 PwDs received WIS payouts amounting to $6.7 million. WIS has been further enhanced from 1 January 2020, with a higher qualifying income ceiling of $2,300 per month and higher maximum payouts of $4,000 per year.

So, ultimately, the best way to safeguard the interests of our persons with disabilities is to ensure that they have many good opportunities to choose from. This means more employers hiring PwDs and giving them opportunities for career growth. It also means more Singaporeans welcoming PwDs as colleagues in the workplace.

Beyond inclusive growth, we want to promote a culture of care. It is important to uphold our workers' dignity and to support them by giving them the respect they deserve. Last year, we launched Workcare, an initiative to uplift the well-being of our low-wage workers. To begin, we are focusing on rest areas. Mr Chong and Dr Intan asked for updates. Last December, we launched the Tripartite Advisory, or TA, on Provision of Rest Areas for Outsourced Workers, and I am happy to share our progress.

West Coast and Ang Mo Kio Town Councils, with the support of Mr Patrick Tay and Dr Intan, have partnered MOM to spruce up 20 rest areas for their outsourced cleaners, as a pilot initiative. In sites with space constraints, cleaners asked minimally for means to safekeep their belongings. NEA has worked with their cleaning contractors to provide lockers in 10 MEWR hawker centres, and will do so for the remaining 16 centres by the end of 2020. NTUC Foodfare will also provide lockers in all 12 food courts by the end 2020.

I am also happy to announce that all public agencies and Town Councils will lead by example and have committed to adhere to the TA by end 2020 as well. To further accelerate the provision of rest areas in other workplaces, MOM will launch a new Workcare Grant that we will announce later this year, with a view of legislating this in time to come.

Singaporeans, we can play a part too. Simple gestures such as thanking these workers for their services, are small but in significant ways that will improve their well-being and dignity at work. Mr Melvin Yong, Mr Yee Chia Hsing and Mr Zainal Sapari raised issues concerning Workplace Safety and Health or WSH, as we all know it. A culture of care includes ensuring the safety and health of our workers. And over the past decade, Singapore's WSH performance has improved. The workplace fatal injury rate last year was no worse than in 2018. More details will be released in the 2019 WSH Statistics Report by next week; so, stay tuned.

In response to Mr Zainal, there was no dominant trend that contributed to the fatal accidents in November last year. Investigations are ongoing. Where necessary, we will issue Stop Work Orders to prevent risks to other workers. Stop Work Orders are minimally for three weeks. And companies have to rectify all unsafe conditions before Orders are lifted. If we find that companies or individuals have failed in their Workplace Safety and Health obligations, we will prosecute them.

I agree with Mr Zainal that tripartite partners should do more to prevent accidents. This was what many of the WSH2028 recommendations sought to do. We are progressively implementing these recommendations. One of the underlying principles of WSH2028 is to make good WSH good for business.

There will then be stronger impetus for firms to embed Workplace Safety and Health in their culture and practices. For instance, this year, we will establish a framework for public sector developers to disqualify unsafe contractors, when considering awarding contracts. Later this year, designated work injury compensation, or WIC, insurers will have access to potential clients' WIC claim records. We expect insurers to set higher premiums for firms with poorer safety records. So, there is an impact to the premiums that you pay compared to how you perform at the workplace.

We agree with Mr Yong that every company should have representatives to champion progressive WSH practices. However, making this mandatory in every company may not be practical. In fact, the WSH 2028 Tripartite Strategies Committee concluded that a prescriptive approach is not the way forward. The more prudent approach is to promote this as a progressive practice. We will support the Labour Movement in championing WSH representatives and other progressive WSH practices.

I agree fully with Mr Yee Chia Hsing, that support for the families affected by workplace accidents is essential. I too, visited the family; in the constituency that was affected, and certainly, our hearts go out to the family. It was a really tragic accident that I feel is needless. MOM will sensitise employers, including through the Institute for HR professionals, because HR is usually the first interface that the family has with the company.

Workplace safety and health covers mental health at work too. Recently, there have been calls to better support employees' mental well-being at workplaces. Ms Anthea Ong asked whether sick leave entitlements can be used for both physical and mental health conditions. This is already the case. In fact, in issuing a medical certificate, a doctor should not indicate to the employer the nature of the patient's medical condition unless the patient has consented to it.

All employers are expected to practise fair and merit-based employment practices, as laid out in the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices. For certain jobs such as pilots and Police officers, some mental health conditions may affect their ability to perform their job roles effectively. In these cases, it is reasonable for employers to ask applicants for more information to make a holistic assessment of overall well-being. Otherwise, employers should not be asking for information on the applicant's mental health. Our recent enhanced penalty framework for discriminatory practices also apply to discrimination on grounds of a person's mental health condition.

We agree with Mr Yong and Ms Ong that employers have an important role in supporting employees' mental well-being. Today, MINDEF and MOE already have well developed programmes to support their servicemen and educators. We encourage more employers to do the same because your workforce of tomorrow and workforce of today have gone through that system and as they come out into the workforce, they need the same level of support too.

Some employers may want to support their employee's mental health, but they do not know how. As Ms Ong has suggested, we will formulate a Tripartite Advisory on Mental Well-Being to educate employers on what could be done. The advisory will highlight notable initiatives that companies should emulate, what Mr Yong was asking for. These could include progressive practices such as providing access to anonymised external counselling service, or training supervisors to identify mental health symptoms early. We will also work with tripartite partners and seek views from various stakeholders including members of the newly announced Youth Mental Well-Being Network.

Ms Ong suggested including mental health expenses as part of employees' medical benefits. One way is to include it as part of employer-provided medical benefits that complement our healthcare financing offerings, which the tripartite partners can discuss in crafting the TA later. We aim to finalise the Tripartite Advisory in the second half of this year.

The Ministry is also happy to partner the Labour Movement to initiate mental health studies and support employee mental well-being. For instance, together we can promote the use of iWorkHealth, a web-based psycho-social assessment tool to help employers and their employees identify workplace stressors. The tool raises awareness of workplace factors that may cause excessive stress and recommends ways to improve mental well-being. MOM is currently piloting the tool and will launch it later this year.

Mr Zainal asked about medical insurance for Work Permit holders. Foreign workers who sustain injuries from workplace accidents are entitled to claim compensation under the WICA Framework. Compensation benefits under the WICA include medical leave wages, medical expenses of up to $45,000 as well as lump sum compensation for permanent incapacity or death. The compensation cap of $45,000 for medical expenses will fully cover the medical expenses incurred in more than 95% of claims where hospitalisation was required.

To meet WICA obligations, employers are required to purchase Work Injury Compensation Insurance. This is separate from the mandatory medical insurance that employers are required to purchase and maintain under the EFMA. Under the EFMA, the medical insurance purchase can be used to either supplement the Work Injury Compensation Insurance or be used for non-work injury related treatment; so they are both different.

We must always treat all workers fairly and inclusively. As the saying goes, "treat others how you want to be treated". This is especially important today, as we face the COVID-19 threat together. As shared last week, MOM is working hard to educate our foreign workers on the COVID-19 situation and the control measures that we put in place. Materials such as posters and videos have been produced and are available in the workers' native language. In addition, MOM has been sharing bite-size information through our foreign worker ambassadors on a daily basis.

An employer from a trading company gave feedback that the handling of the COVID-19 situation was efficient and effective. One worker shared that he "felt no panic about COVID-19" and that the "Government took a lot of steps against COVID-19". But this would not have been possible without our partners – our employers, our unions and our NGOs. We really thank everyone for making this successful.

In pursuing inclusive growth in a culture of care for all workers, the Government is committed to ensuring fairness for both employers and workers. We can achieve this with the commitment and support of our Tripartite Partners and fellow Singaporeans. By working together hand in hand, we can build the workforce which provides fair support to all employers and workers in an inclusive, empathetic and caring manner.

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Mr Chairman, allow me to recap how we provide fair and inclusive support to employers and workers in Malay.

(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] MOM will continue to champion fairness and provide fair support for both employers and workers. This includes our lower wage workers and persons with disabilities, or PwDs.

Over the years, the Progressive Wage Model, or PWM, has provided progressive wages and job progression pathways for lower wage workers. The PWM has benefited over 78,000 workers in the cleaning, security and landscape sectors.

We have seen positive effects. Between 2013 and 2018, wages grew cumulatively by 30% or more for full-time resident workers in these sectors, higher than the 16% for median full-time resident workers.

Earlier this year, we appointed a tripartite cluster to include escalator technicians under the lift PWM announced in 2018. It will submit its recommendations by the end of this year.

We intend to extend the PWM to more sectors, including those where we may not be able to apply mandatory PWM. We will share more when the economic climate is more favourable.

We have also helped lower wage workers upgrade their skills through the Workfare Training Support Scheme, or WTS. Since 2010, it has supported over 12,000 companies and 270,000 lower wage workers.

WTS will be replaced with a new Workfare Skills Support Scheme, or WSS. Our study of WTS outcomes show that those who train and acquire full qualifications benefit from earning higher wages as a result. The new WSS will provide higher incentives and training allowances to support workers to achieve full qualifications. It will commence on 1 July 2020.

To improve the well-being of our lower wage workers, we will launch a new Workcare Grant later this year, to accelerate the provision of rest areas in workplaces.

To improve the employment and employability of PwDs, we will introduce a new Enabling Employment Credit, or EEC, which will replace the Special Employment Credit when it expires this year. The EEC will strengthen support to employers prepared to help PwDs who are new to the workforce or have been out of the workforce for some time, to be integrated into the workplace.

In pursuing inclusive growth, the Government is committed to ensuring fairness for both employers and workers. Together, with the support of tripartite partners and fellow Singaporeans, we will be able to achieve this goal.

Supporting Women at Every Life Stage

Prof Lim Sun Sun (Nominated Member): Mr Chairman – long hours, shifting responsibilities, minimal feedback, constant multi-tasking and zero training. If you saw a job description like this, would you not run in the opposite direction? And yet, many women take on the important job of care-giving without any pay to speak of.

Care-giving for young children, elderly parents or family members with special needs is often a labour of love. But it translates into brutal costs to women's employability, career advancement, income and retirement savings.

Women have much to offer our workforce. Career portal Mums@Work, founded by mumpreneur Sher-li Torrey, supports 43,000 women starting businesses or seeking flexi-work. Data from their 2019 recruitment campaigns demonstrate the talent of back-to-work females. Eighty-four percent had a Bachelor's degree or higher, 53% had managerial experience and 58% had more than 10 years of working experience and this was in critical sectors, such as banking, finance and IT.

Despite these strengths, women face structural, organisational and individual factors that obstruct their return to the workforce. One salient structural factor is the achievement orientation in our education system. In other countries, women tend to take time out from work right after childbirth and, therefore, reintegrate into work when younger. In Singapore, women exit the workforce during their children's critical school years, such as entry into Primary 1 and the high stakes PSLE year. Hence, they are relatively older when they return to work, thus facing the double whammy of outmoded skills and ageism.

Organisationally, industry feedback indicates that even when companies are prepared to welcome back-to-work women, direct hiring managers still prefer women without career gaps. They believe returning women are out of touch with the industry, less dedicated due to their family commitments or cannot gel with younger co-workers.

Even in companies with flexi-work arrangements, individual departments may not adopt them or employees themselves may not request them because of the stigma towards flexi-work. Such prejudices are due to managers not knowing how to manage back-to-work or flexi-work employees. We should, therefore, provide more managerial training to address such organisational issues. Also, we should develop toolkits to help managers onboard and reintegrate returning workers. Flexi-work and back-to-work hire support schemes are also currently pitched as offering support to individual employees. There must be more strategic higher level communication about the benefits that such hiring shifts can bring to the company to influence individual managers' decision making.

With the threat of COVID-19, we are currently conducting the greatest telecommuting experiment of all time. I urge MOM to systematically survey employers and employees to understand the potential and pitfalls of telecommuting. We can then identify creative flexi-work solutions and introduce best practices for different industries.

We should also consider raising SkillsFuture funding for returning women. Due to their longer career gaps, such women have to write resumes, field interviews and job hunt very differently. Hence, their upskilling has to be more comprehensive and targeted to their particular needs. Those who are planning to return to the workforce will still be juggling care-giving with upskilling. Consequently, they may not be able to attend daylong SkillsFuture courses. Such factors must be taken into consideration in the design and development of SkillsFuture courses to more effectively support these women.

Working Mothers

Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong: Chairman, Sir, according to MOM's Labour Force in Singapore 2019 report, it is estimated that there were 49,000 unemployed women aged 15 to 49 who gave the main reason for leaving their previous job as either "Housework" or to "Care for Own Children Aged 12 & Below". If we just compare the numbers for those who gave childcare as the reason, there were 19,000 women in their 30s and 10,000 women in their 40s. This suggests that about half the women did not re-enter the workforce after fulfilling their primary childcare responsibilities. I believe we need to do more for our would-be working mothers in the two aspects of exiting and re-entering the workforce.

First, we should try to minimise the disincentives and maximise the incentives for working mothers to remain in the workforce. As raised by the hon Member Desmond Choo, this COVID-19 emergency has shown that flexi-work arrangements can work for many jobs and I would like second his call to give working mothers the right to make flexi-work arrangements with their employers when these are workable. Besides flexi-work arrangements, Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) and MOM should take proactive steps to clamp down on practices reflecting "motherhood bias", where women are marked as poor performers for juggling family responsibilities while fulfilling their work commitments.

Second, the Government is in a good position to help mothers to retrain and update their new skills and reintegrate them into the workforce, especially through various SkillsFuture programmes. I believe a targeted programme for unemployed mothers would be very useful in this respect. The Government could also support community efforts and partner with initiatives, such as the Mums@Work, to encourage mothers to remain working and to return to work.

Gender Pay Gap

Ms Yip Pin Xiu (Nominated Member): Chairman, it is encouraging to see that the adjusted gender pay gap has decreased over the decades, but we should remain concerned at the unadjusted gap which has barely shifted and remains at 16.3% in 2018.

One explanation for the gap is the inequality in the division of care-giving responsibilities between gender, which significantly limits the choices and opportunities for women. The need to juggle work and care often results in women ending up in lower paying jobs which offer more flexible or shorter working hours. To tackle this, we can reconfigure workplace culture and enable men to share more equally in care-giving.

First, the uptake of paternity and shared parental leave by fathers needs to increase. Reports have found that men who take time off for childcare directly contribute to their female partners' earnings later on in life. According to a study in Sweden – where a family loses some of its designated paid parental leave unless the father takes it – a woman's earnings rose by 7% for every month of leave taken by her husband. Singapore could consider introducing a compulsory quota for men or offer a longer quantum of gender-neutral parental leave for parents to share as they wish.

Second, work arrangements can be designed to accommodate care-giving. Employees should have the right to request for Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA). A study on the implementation of FWA found that the organisational cultures of workplaces in Singapore did not normalise or formalise FWA. Employers were also "wary" about the change in face-time with employees under FWA, which could "potentially complicate employee assessment and surveillance". Legislating the right for employees to request for FWA could institute an organisational cultural shift.

Work hours in Singapore could also be shorter. In 2018, Singapore residents worked an average of 44.9 hours a week, the shortest it has been in a decade but still higher than the average number of hours put in by workers in every OECD country. Shorter work hours have also been associated with increased productivity and lower stress levels, according to numerous trials around the world. An overall reduction of work time could allow workers to juggle work and care better.

The Ministry can also introduce a dedicated "returnship" programme that provides clear employment pathways for women who wish to return to the labour force.

Furthermore, the Ministry can also pay more attention to wage levels in female-dominated industries and occupations. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Committee has recommended that Singapore reduce the gender wage gap by regularly reviewing wages in sectors in which women are concentrated and establishing effective monitoring and regulatory mechanisms for employment and recruitment processes to ensure that the principle of equal pay for equal value is adhered to in all sectors.

Employers could also be required to publish gender and disability-disaggregated salary and bonus data and carry out evaluations assessing if pay gaps are due to gender or other forms of discrimination.

Workplace Transformation and Practices

Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo: The current COVID-19 situation has led to many businesses having to implement their Business Continuity Plans (BCPs). In a short span of time, many organisations have found themselves willingly or unwillingly implementing flexible work arrangements for a sizable proportion of their workforce. Until recently, for many organisations in Singapore, flexible work arrangement was a way for employers to allow employees who required it, some flexibility of where and when they work.

With the current COVID-19 situation, the activation of BCPs involves employees across different roles and levels in the organisation. People have had to adapt. Moving to flexible work arrangements require not only people to work away from the office, but the right tools, processes and even etiquette or work norms had to be established. Some companies and employees moved quite quickly while others are still adjusting.

Regardless, we now have quite a large number of organisations and employees on flexible work arrangements. I believe that with many employees now experiencing flexible work arrangements across their organisations, this will influence and change how people work in the future.

Technology is a key component to enabling new work arrangements and changing how work is done. This goes beyond just flexible work arrangements to include even shared work and collaborative work spaces. With devices getting smarter, connectivity more seamless, the workplace is no longer a place to get work done. It is now more important that you have the right devices, access to information and connectivity to get your work done. While this will change business norms, it does create new opportunities for both businesses and workers. Benefits include access to talent, business and individual productivity, lower cost for work space for companies and many hours saved from not having to travel to and from the workplace.

With the competitive labour market, these new work arrangements may become a staff attraction and retention tool for businesses. I believe that the discussion will move away from flexible work and work-life balance to one of how the boundaries are blurring between work and life as we manage the transformation of how work is done.

Shared or collaborative work arrangements provide platforms for sharing of ideas, creativity and even innovation for companies. HR policies and practices, including performance management and benefits, will need to evolve in tandem to support the new way of work. Implementing more flexible and collaborative work arrangements will also require managers to pick up new skills. Could the Ministry share what support programmes are available to assist companies in transforming their businesses and HR policies to support flexible work arrangements and evolving work arrangements?

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Support for Flexi-work

Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar: Flexi-work provisions, arrangement and support have been extensively rolled out during this COVID-19 outbreak period. Employees are placed on rotating teams, or being asked to work remotely or from home, while face-to-face meetings are replaced by e-meetings or e-consultations. Even with some initial inconveniences, we are able to work remotely, flexibly and still fulfill our daily work responsibilities, or even meet our daily business targets, with some creative provisions and solutions in place.

I have spoken about the need to support flexi-work for employees for some time. With the current COVID-19 situation, we are somewhat forced to carry out flexi-work provisions and arrangements. I hope flexi-work can be a common feature of our employment landscape and eco-system even after COVID-19. Just as we trust our workers and staff to work remotely or on a flexible work arrangement during this period, we must continue to trust them to give the same amount of commitment, time and effort when the worst is over.

Flexi-work is not just for times of crisis or difficulty. Flexi-work is also to allow for personal obligations and commitments to be fulfilled, and to cater to different work arrangements and work needs.

For persons with disabilities or special needs, flexi-work arrangements can provide for better employment opportunities for them to work from home or to gradually adjust to their work environments and work commitments at a pace they are comfortable with. For instance, they can work a few days a week in the office and a few days from home so that they can still work full-time, fulfill their work obligations but can reduce commuting time and yet have the opportunity to meet with colleagues and interact with them face-to-face in the office for that much needed social interaction.

For individuals with family commitments and obligations, flexi-work can accord them some much needed time to fulfill these commitments and obligations while they work from home or work remotely, while still ensuring work is done and key performance indicators (KPIs) are met.

I hope the Ministry will continue to provide the needed support and provisions for flexi-work to continue to be implemented by employers.

Job Design for an Engaged Local Workforce

Mr Douglas Foo: Chairman, employers have been encouraged to explore flexi-work arrangements to create worklife balance for employees. With such arrangements, through rethinking the work day, or redesign of job functions, employers would in all likelihood find it easier to attract and retain locals and reduce reliance on foreign labour.

Today, we find an increasingly diverse workforce. Seniors who would like to remain in the workforce, fathers who take on an active role in parenting, for example. The workforce is no longer homogenous, and as employers, our company policies should respond to such diversity with flexibility.

There are various existing incentives to encourage employers to implement such arrangements in their workplace. In the current situation with COVID-19, there is more compelling reason than before for employers to test out and implement some of the flexible work arrangements. This is a window of opportunity that I see here. Will the Ministry be able to share what plans it has to further publicise the flexible work arrangement schemes and encourage the speedy adoption by Singapore companies?

Flexi-work

Miss Cheng Li Hui: Sir, in an MOM 2018 report, 72% of employees worked in firms which provide formal flexible work arrangements, up from 70% in 2017. The provision of flexible arrangements has a huge impact on staff retention, as the new generation of workers values flexibility a lot more.

With COVID-19, many companies have adopted the split-team arrangement, where an alternate team is now stationed at home to support the company's operations. This creates an opportunity for companies to assess and try out flexi-work arrangement and review internal workflows.

Post-COVID-19, may I suggest that MOM: (a) follow up with a survey to poll companies and employees on their readiness for flexi-work arrangement; (b) study and access flexi-work arrangements across different industries and sectors; (c) make flexi-work arrangement part of the productivity drive, with less time and money on commuting, reduction of office space and rent; and (d) perhaps form an inter-agency work group with the private sector to study this?

Support for Informal Elder Care-givers

Mr Chen Show Mao: Sir, informal or unpaid care-givers enable other Singaporeans to carry out the economic activities that are figured in our GDP while their own care-giving is not. As of now, the burden of informal eldercare-giving falls disproportionately on unmarried women. Our dependence on this group of Singaporeans is real, is substantial and very often unacknowledged. Eldercare leave and the statutory right to flexible work arrangements could well help relieve some of the pressures on informal eldercare-givers who also work at other jobs.

But almost half of our informal care-givers to seniors do not work at other jobs, often because of the unpaid care-giving responsibilities that they have taken on, to their own financial detriment and to their own reduced retirement adequacy. For them, would the Ministry consider measures such as CPF top-ups and cash grants for full-time informal eldercare-givers in low-income households to help reduce the pressure of being under-employed and under-prepared for retirement as a result of taking on the responsibilities of caring for their loved seniors?

The Chairman: Mr Louis Ng, you can do both your cuts.

Increasing Minimum Annual Leave

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Sir, I appreciate that the Government is looking into work-life balance and is introducing several new initiatives. When it comes to work-life balance, Singapore ranks poorly. We rank 32nd out of 40 cities for work-life balance and are second only to Tokyo in a ranking for the most overworked cities.

Beyond flexible working arrangements, I hope we can also look into increasing the minimum amount of annual leave one is entitled to. This is not a zero sum game. We can have flexible working arrangements and still give our people more leave.

The current minimum of only seven days of annual leave is extremely low. Many other countries in this region provide a higher minimum number of annual leave including Malaysia, Bangladesh, Japan, Myanmar, East Timor, Sri Lanka, Laos, Mongolia, South Korea, Qatar, Yemen, Iran, Kuwait and Indonesia. Many of these countries provide not only a higher number of minimum days of annual leave, but also a higher number of paid public holidays.

Our people will always work hard, but we also need to make sure they have time to rest.

Providing Parent Care Leave

This Government recognises that we need to spend time looking after our parents. It has been eight years since we introduced parent care leave in the civil service and it is now time for everyone else to have this. We need to legislate it.

Time to spend time with our parents runs out quickly. With a rapidly greying population, time is running out for our Government to act on this too.

If the Government feels that it is important for civil servants to have parent care leave, then why not others? We are a family-friendly employer and now we need be a family-friendly Government.

Workplace Harassment

Ms Yip Pin Xiu (Nominated Member): Chairman, employers should ensure a safe and inclusive workplace for all workers, regardless of contractual status, by preventing and responsibly handling workplace sexual harassment. Yet, for many Singaporeans, this unwelcome dilemma is a daily reality. In the last year, AWARE handled 212 cases of workplace harassment of women comprising sexual and non-sexual harassment, which suggests that few employers have comprehensive policies and robust training in this area.

The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices guides employers and employees on preventing and managing workplace harassment. However, the Ministry does not track how many employers have implemented the Tripartite Advisory on Managing Workplace Harassment. Can the Ministry intensify promotion of the advisory standards to employers, including setting up and maintaining a public database for employers to voluntarily declare that they have written policies to manage workplace harassment?

There is no legal duty for employers to follow the tripartite advisory. Many women seeking help from the Workplace Harassment and Discriminatory Advisory at AWARE hesitated at raising a formal complaint with their employers or any other authorities because they did not think that they will be taken seriously. Some worried that there will be no follow-up action to hold their employers accountable. These concerns are usually the result of a lack of proper internal structures for reporting and handling harassment complaints. Can the Government also consider ratifying and adopting the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 190 and to oblige employers to create environments that are free from harassment, and for employers to institute formal policies and structures to deal with harassment?

The Chairman: Senior Parliamentary Secretary Low Yen Ling.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Manpower (Ms Low Yen Ling): Mr Chairman, Minister Josephine Teo and Minister of State Zaqy Mohamad have spoken much on the fair opportunities. Earlier on, Members have been given a brochure. I think it is good to highlight the brochure again. Whatever was covered in the earlier speeches have been very well encapsulated in this very colourful brochure – from providing fair opportunities to ensuring fair hiring, to ensuring fair competition and providing fair support.

I also want to add on and say that MOM is also striving to improve work opportunities and progress for our women – many Members have advocated very passionately about that – as well as for care-givers, and also enhance the hiring process of foreign domestic workers (FDWs).

Women in Singapore have made remarkable progress in terms of education, employment and earnings. Our female resident employment rate for those aged 25 to 64 has improved significantly over the past decade, rising from 64% in 2009 to 73% in 2019. More than half of females aged 25 to 64 now have at least tertiary-level education, rising from 37% in 2009 to 55% in 2019.

With improvements in employment rate and education profile, the share of women has risen across broad occupational groups. More women are in PMET jobs, rising from 49% to 57% of women over the decade. Their earnings have also increased, as median income of full-time employed females rose from about $2,800 in 2009 to $4,300 in 2019.

We will build on the progress achieved to make our workplaces fairer and even more progressive for women. Many women juggle multiple roles, like many hon Members have said earlier. Many women juggle multiple roles at work and also at home, juggling our work, our family aspirations and also our personal aspirations. As women tend to be primary care-givers for families, some may stop work to better care for their families, for their ageing parents, parents-in-law, even aunties and uncles, or for their young children or children with special needs.

Prof Lim Sun Sun spoke very passionately and asked about the support for mothers to transition back to work. In this respect, the Government helps in many ways, from matching mothers with options to full-time work with flexible work arrangements (FWAs) or part-time work, to providing greater access to childcare support, and promoting FWAs.

We recognise that women who have left the workforce for longer periods of time may need additional help, additional support, to find jobs, including part-time work. The Adapt and Grow (A&G) initiative offers employment facilitation services and also re-skilling as well as professional conversion programmes to help jobseekers enter and transit into new jobs.

One of these programmes is Career Trial, which provides opportunities for jobseekers and also employers to try each other out over a period of time and assess the job fit – the suitability to the job and also the suitability of the employer to the job, and also whether can the employee work with the people in the organisation and the employer.

During the trial, which can be up to three months, jobseekers receive a training allowance from the Government. Last year, in May 2019, Career Trial was expanded to include part-time jobs to cater for those who prefer part-time work. There are currently over 500 part-time vacancies available for our Career Trial. We encourage care-givers to step forward if they are keen to try out part-time positions while balancing their family or balancing their care-giving responsibilities. Back-to-work women who need career assistance can visit WSG's Careers Connect and NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute's, in short, NTUC-e2i's, career centres.

In addition, as Minister Josephine Teo highlighted last week, during the Prime Minister's Office Committee of Supply (PMO COS), mothers can now enroll their children in affordable and also good quality preschools more easily.

We share Ms Yip Pin Xiu's view that childcare is a shared responsibility between the mum and the dad – between both parents. The recent increase in shared parental leave supports this, and we hope that the move towards more FWAs will enable fathers as well as mothers to share care-giving responsibilities.

Mr Deputy Chairman, as our population greys and as the world of work evolves, we have made continual progress to improve our employees’ access to FWAs – not just for women but for all workers. Men can benefit. Older workers can benefit as they would want to adjust their intensity when they reach a certain age when the grandchildren come along. So, all workers – men and women, young and old – can benefit from FWA, like what Mr Patrick Tay and also Ms Jessica Tan rightly mentioned.

5.15 pm

In July last year, the Government more than tripled the Work-Life Grant budget from $30 million to $100 million to encourage more companies to provide FWAs. So far, the Work-Life Grant’s take-up rate has been promising. Since its enhancement as of 1 July 2018, over 1,120 companies have come on board Work-Life Grant as at end December 2019. And four in five of this company are SMEs. That means 80% of the Work-Life Grant recipients are SMEs. I think this is a really good sign. We encourage more companies, especially our SMEs, or even micro-enterprises to step forward and benefit from this Work-life Grant to put in place FWAs in their workplace.

More importantly, companies that have put in place FWAs have been better positioned to implement flexible work arrangement very quickly, especially in a time of crisis. Like many Members have said earlier, when COVID-19 emerged in January, companies that have already adopted FWAs earlier, already had or could quickly put in place measures, whether it is flexi-time, flexi-place, flexi-load, telecommuting, staggered hours or shared job functions. They could quickly put that in place and this allowed them to minimise disruptions to their business as well as to minimise the team's exposure to the virus.

So, I want to assure Miss Cheng Li Hui and also Assoc Prof Daniel Goh and Mr Douglas Foo that more companies are now realising the value and also expediency that FWAs can bring to their employees and also the operations. FWA can be win-win for the companies and also the employees.

For example, this company Kone Private Limited which is a lift and escalator maintenance company. They have a "Flexi-place" arrangement which allows their employees to telecommute and the company could continue their business operations without affecting the productivity. Even prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, its Senior Sales Engineer, Ms Jasmine Tan, she is a mother of two young children, she was already enjoying the ease of juggling her work and her family needs through telecommuting, and this has improved her work productivity, as well as job satisfaction.

Earlier on, Members talked about the importance of telecommuting. It is, indeed, catching on. In 2018, one in four employees required formal or ad hoc telecommuting, of which seven in 10 had access to it. I want to assure Prof Lim Sun Sun that MOM will continue to monitor such data. This data is important to us. We will continue to monitor it as FWAs have proven to be useful for both employers and employees, especially in business continuity planning when threats like COVID-19 strike.

Companies like Kone that I have mentioned earlier, which had FWAs in place before COVID-19, realised that they are much better placed to respond to the crisis and could safeguard their business functions and continuity. So, Mr Chairman, FWAs are not simply HR measures. In fact, when implemented well, FWAs have the power to enhance the companies’ agility, to enhance the companies' ability to meet changes and to address business need as well as to attract and retain talent.

We hope that during this COVID-19 episode, more companies will adopt FWAs and recognise the advantages that such arrangements bring to their business and also their employees. As Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat pointed out, every effort to ride out this storm makes a difference because when we combine everyone’s effort, when we aggregate everyone's effort, we have a force that is amplified many times over. And we are certain that FWAs have already begun to make a positive impact in such a time as this, and the mindset and attitudes of employers towards FWA adoption will gain greater traction and also resonance.

Employers are already recognising that FWAs are beneficial to their business. I think everyone would have read the two-page coverage in The Straits Times on Sunday. They tell us – employers tell us – that FWAs have the greatest positive impact on staff retention and recruitment. Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar will be pleased to know that more employers than before are offering FWAs. In 2018, more than nine in 10 of employees work in companies that provide some form of work flexibility. This is up from eight in 10, in Year 2013. Another important data – in Year 2018, more than eight in 10 employees who required FWAs had access to the FWA that they needed – and this is also an increase from seven in 10 in Year 2016.

Together, with enlightened employers and employees, we are confident that we will emerge stronger from this COVID-19 episode.

Singaporeans have given a resounding support to improving access and availability of FWAs. MOM is committed to do even more to promote adoption and access to FWAs. As Minister Josephine Teo had highlighted in her recent COS speech, the Citizens' Panel, as part of the SG Together movement, which was launched by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat gave strong support to strengthening worklife harmony (WLH) in Singapore, and recognised the important role that FWAs play in this respect.

This Citizens' Panel, comprising 55 Singaporeans from all walks of life, recommended a greater push for FWAs. They had exchanged diverse views and weighed the trade-offs before putting together their comprehensive report. Once again, Minister Josephine Teo, Senior Parliamentary Secretary Faishal Ibrahim and I would like to say a big thank you to this Citizens' Panel. Fifty-five Singaporeans who came together over four full weekends from September all the way to November to deliberate about this important issue, Work-Life Harmony (WLH). The Government, NTUC and SNEF greatly appreciate their feedback and are in total agreement to intensify our efforts to spur the adoption of FWAs.

How do we intend to do so? Firstly, we will "Make It Easy", make it easy for companies to offer FWAs and WLH initiatives. There are four parts to this "Make It Easy" pillar.

The first one: some sectors have unique characteristics which will lead to challenges in adopting FWAs. For instance, we all know employees in hospitality and healthcare sectors are required to work shifts, and may not have access to FWAs or even access to staggered hours. We acknowledge these hurdles, and we will develop sector-specific resources to facilitate the implementation of FWAs.

Ms Jessica Tan earlier had asked about how businesses may leverage new trends and transform their HR practices to encourage greater participation in the workforce. Indeed, there are companies and businesses that are at the forefront of such progressive practices and those that have moved ahead faster, for instance, in implementing FWAs, we encourage them to share their experiences with others. So, through the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP), we will pilot sector-specific employer support groups, called Communities of Practice, for FWAs. The HR professionals, the senior managers from companies that have made FWAs work well for them can share their best practices with the fellow professionals in the sector or even across different sectors. That is the second one.

The third one – under "Make It Easy", we will make it easier for companies to access the myriad of resources on FWAs. We want to simplify things. So, we will revamp TAFEP’s website to be the one-stop resource for everything to do with FWAs, for instance, consolidating all implementation guides so as to make it easy for the companies to adopt.

The fourth one – under "Make It Easy", to facilitate the implementation of FWAs, we will develop an online free-to-use employment contract builder to help the employers include clauses on FWAs in their employees’ contracts.

Those four modes come under "Make It Easy".

The second one, we will "Make It Known" by raising awareness of FWAs – not just FWAs but also WLH initiatives. Firstly, we will promote greater awareness of progressive practices through tools such as the national Human Capital Diagnostic Tool (HCDT). The HCDT helps companies to better understand their current HR processes better and identify areas for improvement. For instance, this could include appropriate job sizing that is necessary for WLH. So, they want to provide WLH, they do not quite know how to job size it so this actually could help them have a better sense on curating the job sizing. So, HCDT will be offered free to companies which have demonstrated firm commitment to improving WLH.

Next, we will also raise awareness on FWAs and the benefits of WLH initiatives. To this end, TAFEP has started to grow a community of Work-Life Ambassadors to spread the word within and beyond the workplace. We are grateful to the Labour Members of Parliament and also to Secretary-General in NTUC and we know they will continue to support union workers as they actively advocate and promote WLH, and also appreciation to SNEF for encouraging employers to appoint champions for WLH.

In addition to that, we will expand our recognition of employers who are committed to WLH. For example, employers who have just started on their FWA journey, it can be quite daunting because they do not quite know where to start. Those of them who have not yet fully adopted the Tripartite Standard on FWAs, for this group of employers we want to "Make It Easy" for them and "Make It Known" so we will introduce a basic FWA workshop. This workshop will teach our employers how to start offering FWAs. In fact, this will then help place them on a new Provisional Tripartite Standard on FWAs and that will recognise their efforts in taking the first step. The first step is always the most important. And companies that are more progressive can adopt the new Tripartite Standard on Work-Life Harmony, which goes beyond FWAs and touches on additional programmes that improves employees’ WLH.

We have now three types: one is the Provisional Tripartite Standard on FWA and the current existing Tripartite Standard on FWA and for the more progressive, we have the Tripartite Standard on Work-Life Harmony. So, a stepped approach for companies of varying preparedness.

Now, within the report are other suggestions considered by the Panel, such as the right-to-request for reduced hours. FWA legislation was also an aspect that was brought up by Ms Anthea Ong and Mr Chen Show Mao. Though made with good intention, such legislation may lead to unintended consequences.

For example, it could lead to unintended impact of making it unattractive for employers to consider employing those who are likely to exercise the right, such as jobseekers who are care-givers, parents or seniors. These are told to us by the Citizens' Panel that they would prefer that we have a broad-based adoption of FWAs instead of legislation because they know that legislation is not the silver bullet to solve this issue. And that is why a more practical approach is to provide the employers' support and the flexibility of various types of FWAs which they can choose from that best suit theirs as well as their employees’ needs.

To sum up, Mr Chairman, we are already working to implement, over the next 12 months, the recommendations which I had just highlighted. "Make It Easy"; "Make It Known". And the "Make It Easy"; "Make It Known" complement the "Make It Accepted" move that was announced by Minister Josephine Teo last week during the PMO COS. Now, with this, we are confident that this collective move for FWAs by the Citizens’ Panel and our tripartite partners will help to make FWAs the norm and also make positive shifts in our workplace culture, like what Ms Jessica Tan has described and with that, to further improve the WLH in Singapore.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Mr Chen Show Mao had enquired about paid eldercare leave and Mr Louis Ng asked about legislating parent care leave. I want to assure both Members that the needs of working Singaporeans who are also care-givers are utmost on our minds. In 2018, Senior Minister of State for MOH Edwin Tong led an across-agency review, which I am also part of, to better understand the care-givers' need.

Compared to family care leave, the working care-givers interviewed, they similarly had the same conclusion as the Citizens' Panel. They felt that FWAs are a more sustainable, a more preferred means to meet their care-giving needs. Why? Because they told us they preferred to have the flexibility and the ability to take some time off when their parents need to go to hospital for appointment or their special needs kids need to go for EIPIC intervention and so on. They would rather have the flexibility and ability to take some time off when the need arises, rather than have a few more days of leave. Mr Chairman, please allow me to say a few words in Mandarin.

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(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] To overcome the challenges posed by an ageing population and job changes, MOM has been promoting flexible work arrangements or FWAs over the years. This will allow more employees to look after their families while working and achieve work-life harmony , which can improve employee loyalty and productivity.

We will adopt the two-pronged approach that I mentioned previously, which is to "make it easy" and "make it known", so that our businesses can implement FWAs in a sustainable and efficient manner.

First, we have to ensure ease of adoption to enable businesses to adopt FWAs easily. As each industry has different human resource needs, we will recommend feasible sector-specific FWA implementation guides.

Second, we must do more to promote FWAs, to create greater awareness of the benefits of FWAs amongst businesses and employers. Some businesses have committed to implement FWAs but are unsure about how to implement these arrangements. We would like to introduce a Human Capital Diagnostic Tool to help companies make better judgments and decisions.

NTUC and the Singapore National Employers' Federation will also appoint union leaders and employer representatives as work-life champions to raise awareness among Singaporeans about the importance of FWAs in terms of career development and business sustainability.

Following the COVID-19 outbreak, many enterprises now agree that this kind of flexible arrangement is beneficial and is a win-win solution for both employers and employees. Through the strategies of "make it easy", "make it known", we want to enable businesses to adopt FWA easily and effectively, so that more employers will come on board to retain their employees and co-create a sustainable future.

(In English): Mr Chairman, as MOM continually strives to improve working conditions for Singapore workers, we need to make it a point to enhance processes to address workplace harassment. We agree with Ms Yip Pin Xiu that employers play an important role in managing workplace harassment. We want to assure her and the House that, firstly, TAFEP guides our employers to put in place proper grievance handling process through resources like the tripartite advisory on managing workplace harassment. Secondly, when TAFEP receives a complaint of an employer's improper handling of a case, TAFEP engages the employer to educate them and to ensure that they implement the advisory's measures. So far, all employers that TAFEP has engaged with have been cooperative and receptive. Thirdly, if the employers fail to provide a safe environment for their employees, or they refuse to heed TAFEP's advice, we will take action against them, including curtailing their work passes.

Last, not but least, Mr Chairman, allow me to briefly touch on how MOM is improving the employment of FDWs in Singapore.

MOM had announced a series of measures in October last year to enable better matches between our employers and FDWs. We are rolling out these measures progressively over the next two years to allow all parties to adjust to the changes.

It is in the interest of both parties to have a lasting employment relationship – employers want minimal disruption to their households and FDWs want a stable income to support their families back home.

During second quarter of this year, MOM will launch an enhanced online Employment Agency (EA) directory to boost the employers' FDW search and give the employers greater clarity in their selection of EAs for their hiring needs. Besides showing the EAs' FDW retention rates, this directory will also feature several other enhancements.

Firstly, it will allow prospective employers to view customer ratings of an EA's services. For instance, find out the EA's ability to match a suitable FDW and if past clients would recommend the EA.

Secondly, the directory will show the EAs' policies on FDW replacement and the refund of placement loans. This is important because this will enable prospective employers to more easily compare service offerings from the different EAs and identify one that fits their hiring needs.

Third, the improved directory will enable EAs to showcase their niche services, such as providing FDWs trained in care-giving skills, or FDWs who can be swiftly deployed under the Advance Placement Scheme (APS).

So, Mr Chairman, with greater transparency of information, prospective employers can now make better informed decisions, as well as differentiate the EAs based on their policies and also their performance and track record; and thereby, improving the chance of a more suitable FDW match.

We are strongly encouraging the employers to use the online EA directory to assess and search for a suitable EA before engaging one to hire an FDW. These enhancements are a result of close consultations with employers through focused group discussions and also the EAs, as MOM seeks to improve the search experience for employers, while enabling the EAs to profile themselves fairly. MOM will be providing a briefing to EAs on the new features of this enhanced directory to help them adjust to the changes.

However, we know that getting a good match at the hiring stage is not enough. To build and maintain a healthy and strong working relationship between employers and FDWs, the employers and FDWs have to be understanding to each other. And they have also to be fair in their everyday interactions with each other.

To help the first-time FDWs and employers adjust to their new roles, MOM require them to attend the FDW Settling-in Programme (SIP) and the Employers' Orientation Programme (EOP) respectively. At the SIP, we encourage the FDWs to maintain open communication with the employers and to perform their work duties responsibly. At the EOP, we inform the employers of their legal obligations, to help them understand their FDWs' culture differences and also encourage the employers to look out for the needs of their helpers especially in the initial period of employment.

MOM also works with the Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE) to interview first-time FDWs in their first few months of employment. The interview is important, because the interview helps detect any settling in issues so that the FDWs and the employers can work together to resolve them early. In this year, in 2020, CDE will be stepping up their interviews to cover more first-time FDWs.

In addition to these initiatives, MOM continually work with different stakeholders to support both FDWs and employers. Such efforts include providing meaningful social infrastructure for our FDWs during their rest day. And I am very glad to know that FAST, which stands for Foreign Domestic Worker Association for Social Support and Training, will be launching a new multi-service hub later this year that has a bigger capacity to offer more value-added training and also space to offer recreational activities for FDWs on their rest day.

Chairman, much has been done to support our Singapore workforce – from FWAs to safeguarding the employees from unfair treatment. We have also made efforts to developing lasting work relationships between employers and FDWs by enhancing the hiring process.

However, there is still more that we can do. Despite the challenges we face today, I believe that our continued efforts will enable us to emerge even stronger. Through the joint efforts of Singaporeans – from employers to employees, from businesses to Government and the tripartite partners and also supporting organisations, everyone plays a part. As long as we are determined to transform, collaborate and work together, we can enhance our workplace and shape a better future together.

The Chairman: Clarifications. Mr Patrick Tay.

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan: Mr Chairman, I filed two cuts earlier, one asking for a review of Trade Unions Act and the other on the review of Industrial Relations Act and I hope to get a response from the Minister.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman, we regularly review the Industrial Relations Act as well as the Trade Unions Act. Probably later this year, we will pool together a tripartite workgroup to look at an update to the Industrial Relations Act. And during that time, we will take into consideration the suggestions that the Member has made.

As to the Trade Unions Act, I think, in specific, the Member had asked about representation for self-employed persons, membership and representation for self-employed persons. Today, there are already associations that represent them. I think if we engage these associations and hear them out, we could probably find a way forward that they would also be comfortable with.

The Chairman: Mr Zainal Sapari.

Mr Zainal Sapari: My clarification is with Minister of State. I made a cut on the electronic salary payment for work permit holders. Could the Minister of State on the proportion of work permit holders who are already paid electronically and whether MOM will consider making electronic payment of salary for work permit holders mandatory?

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: Mr Chairman, our laws today already require employers and work permit holders to provide electronic salary payment if the workers request for it.

Today, we know we work together with MWC to educate workers as well as share with them their rights so that they can also go to the employers and request for this. In fact, a foreign worker survey conducted by MOM in 2018, indicated that 76% of foreign workers are paid electronically, higher than the 67% in 2014. So, what is different? Over the last few years, we have been working actively to facilitate the set-up of bank accounts amongst new foreign workers. And since October last year, we have also been doing it for those doing renewals. At the same time, MWC has been conducting Settling-in Programmes (SIPs) and therefore, during these programmes, it will help workers who wish to be paid electronically.

At the same time as well, we also know through talking to stakeholders that there are micro SMEs that have expressed concerns, the mom-and-pop shops, for example, who have difficulties in the short term. But I think, the numbers will go up in the long term, so let us study this and see how best we can bridge the gap.

The Chairman: Ms Anthea Ong.

Ms Anthea Ong: Chairman, I thank Minister of State Mr Zaqy for sharing the good news on workplace mental health today. I think my mental health definitely got better after his speech.

Given that there is still stigma that exists in the workplace on mental health, I think it is really quite difficult for persons with mental health conditions to ask for FWAs. I appreciate Senior Parliamentary Secretary Ms Low Yen Ling saying that it is not going to be working in our favour to legislate the right to FWAs but can I ask if the Citizens' Panel who recommended that had any persons with mental health conditions in the Panel? And, if not, would the Ministry and the Senior Parliamentary Secretary Ms Low Yen Ling consider the specific needs of persons with mental health conditions as we embark on all the wonderful efforts on FWAs, going forward?

Ms Low Yen Ling: I want to thank the Member, Ms Anthea Ong. As she started off, I thought the clarification was directed at Minister of State. And then, I think it got boomerang back. But I want to thank her for her passion in this area. Earlier on, I did not have the time but allow me to share this.

Two years ago, I was involved in Senior Minister of State Mr Edwin Tong's cross agency committee for care-givers. And that Motion was tabled in February 2019. Last year, in September, Minister Josephine Teo sponsored the Citizens' Panel on worklife harmony. Interestingly, both committees came to the same conclusion on their own.

For the care-giving committee, they interviewed many care-givers, not just care-givers with aged parents but also care-givers with younger children. They also came up with the original wishlist of legislating the right to request for FWA, legislating more leave and so on. For example, the Citizens' Panel, came to their conclusion that legislation cannot be a silver bullet for every issue. And they recognised that, whether it is FWAs or worklife harmony, everyone has a role to play. And, with that, they shared with us that it is important, in order to achieve broad-based adoption of FWA and then, eventually, worklife harmony, including for persons with mental wellness issues, the important thing is to encourage adoption of FWAs and also greater awareness.

5.45 pm

We took their recommendations very seriously. That is why in the past few months, we have been working with them to see how we can distill into very tangible items under "Make It Easy", "Make It Known" and "Make It Accepted". For example, one of the interesting things they discussed during their sessions was the right to request for FWA that has been introduced in some countries such as the UK, New Zealand, Canada, Australia. But we have found that in these countries, such legislation, although passed, merely gives the employees the right to ask for FWA. Interestingly, there have been anecdotal evidence saying that the employers can still reject the FWA applications based on a wide range of reasons that seem very reasonable and valid. For example, UK employers have rejected FWA applications on the grounds of additional costs or how it could affect the quality of work.

The Citizens Panel is rightly concerned that if we look at legislation as a way to address this issue, it may lead to the unintended impact of eroding the employability for the very people we are trying to protect and whom we are trying to make sure will benefit from FWA.

The Chairman: Mr Louis Ng.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: Thank you, Sir. Two clarifications. A lot of the response to my suggestions so far has been that we will focus on FWA instead. But I think we need to acknowledge that FWA is not going to accessible to everyone, as the Senior Parliamentary Secretary has acknowledged just now, especially to our frontline officers who we have been paying tribute to over the last few weeks. It will be very hard for nurses, doctors, teachers, pre-school teachers, cleaners, security – the list goes on – to have access to FWA. And that is why I say it is not a zero sum game. Can MOM consider focusing on FWA but at the same time, also legislating the parent care leave, childcare sick leave, so that we get the best of both worlds? We are doing this for the civil service already. Why not for the others?

Secondly, I actually had a cut on annual leave. I do not think it was responded to. But I have a stronger focus on that because I think the workers who get the seven days of annual leave, which is the minimum number, are likely to be our lowest income workers. And they are also the workers who probably need the most rest. They are also the workers who probably do not have access to FWA, parent care leave, childcare sick leave. So, can we at least legislate and give a higher minimum number of annual leave so that these lower income workers will be able to benefit?

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman. I appreciate Mr Louis Ng's passion in advocating for more leave provisions. In an ideal world, I would like to be able to say yes to all of them. But we do not live in an ideal world. And I am very much reminded by our former Minister for Labour Mr S Rajaratnam when he moved the Employment Act in 1968. He reminded us of why we are here and why we are seeking to improve work conditions through the Employment Act. He was responding to many Members' calls for employer obligations in many different areas – more protection in this area, more protection in another area. And he said something really profound and I think it remains valid today.

He reminded Members of the House that in order for us to be able to protect employees, we must first have employment. In other words, the jobs must be available. If there is no employment, there is no employment protection to speak of.

So, for every of the moves that MOM tries to make, it is always in consultation, not only with the Labour Movement whom we can completely count on to speak up on behalf of workers and to try and advocate for their interests, but at the same time, we must also involve the employers in this conversation and hear them out and understand the pressures that they face, and then, make a judgement call. At different times, what kinds of pressures we are prepared to exert in order to get the best outcomes for Singaporeans. It is always a balancing act. And MOM is always in the middle. So, we are the true sandwiched class, in some sense.

But let us keep all these things in mind. I see no reason why we cannot continue to review our policies. And I believe that at the right time, when conditions allow, we would certainly want to improve the employment conditions for all of our workers.

Ms Foo Mee Har (West Coast): I cannot help but chip into the discussion on FWA even though I did not speak, if I may. I think this is something that we have, in the PAP Women's Wing, been championing. We have always talked from the legislation and how everybody wants it. Actually, a lot of research has already been established to say this is good for business. Businesses who do it have lower turnover, higher performance, morale is good, higher job satisfaction – all the good things.

Perhaps one approach if MOM can take a lead is to evangelise the benefits of FWA with employers, so that it is something that they will embrace by being a great place to work, so they can attract the best talent. I think perhaps that is something that we all have agreement, but where do we start? And I think it is proven that it is good for business. So, if we can look at that, that would be great.

Ms Low Yen Ling: Mr Chairman, I want to thank Member Ms Foo Mee Har and also the Women's Wing Members of Parliament for advocating for this FWA issue very passionately over the course of a few years. She is right. It is important that we continue to evangelise, a word the Member used.

Minister Josephine Teo, Minister of State Zaqy Mohamad and myself have for the past two years been doing that with the trade associations and chambers, including SBF and SNEF. One important thing we learnt – and I think this is what Ms Foo Mee Har is alluding to and links to the first move that I mentioned – coming up with and developing sector-specific resources. In the past, we had a very generic Tripartite Advisory. We realised that for some sectors, they have certain constraints, especially with work shifts and so on. I highlighted hospitality and healthcare. Another one is food services. We are prepared. Moving forward, we will develop sector-specific resources. What type of resources? It could come in the form of a guide. And that will come about because we have a discussion with the sector and also with some companies in the sector that are more progressive and have been put in place FWA. We will then crystalise that into a guide or even video, which then makes it easier for them to share within a company and with other companies.

The short answer is yes, we will do that.

The Chairman: Assoc Prof Walter Theseira.

Assoc Prof Walter Theseira: Thank you, Chairman. Earlier, I filed the cut on the existing Special Employment Credit (SEC). I would just like to clarify with the Minister – where older PMETs are concerned, how effective has the existing SEC been at job retention versus facilitating hiring. I am asking because retention may well be easier than hiring retrenched PMETs so how will the Ministry approach these challenges separately with the redesign of the SEC and the renewed emphasis on supporting senior employment.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman, a number of schemes work in concert with each other to support senior employment. Truth be said, we do not depend solely on the Special Employment Credit and what is to replace, the Senior Employment Credit.

When it comes to retention of older workers, and older PMETs, in particular, the strongest feedback that we get from employers is that of skills obsolescence. In fact, when we convened the tripartite workgroup on older workers, which led to the recommendation to raise the Retirement Age and the Re-employment Age, the strongest comment on the part of the employer is that they are willing to support it, as long as we have ways and means to ensure that their workers' skills remain relevant. They feedback to us that there have been occasions where they would like their senior workers to go for training and to be ready to be re-deployed into different positions when they come to re-employment, so that the positions that they occupied could be freed up to also younger colleagues to move up.

They face a fair amount of resistance. Sometimes, it is just a lack of motivation to take up training. Sometimes, from the workers' standpoint, he thinks, "Well, if I am not going to be in work for very much longer, why ask me to go for training?" Hence, we were able to persuade the employers that if they gave the workers the assurance, even PMETs, that they have a longer runway, then perhaps this could motivate them.

But this alone is not enough. We are very grateful that to the Labour Movement for being very involved. The Company Training Committees can really exert an influence on the ground. Training is very seldom a solo effort. Peer support – everyone going to train at the same time, everyone in their 50s, 60s and learning data analytics, everyone trying digitalisation tools. It makes a difference. This kind of ground mobilisation is critical. We cannot depend on laws alone, we cannot depend on guidelines alone. Ground mobilisation makes a huge difference.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: I promise the Minister this is the last time I will talk about leaves – this week. Just one last clarification. Can I just ask whether MOM has studied or will be studying whether increasing someone's annual leave entitlement will reduce employability?

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman, I cannot, in all honesty, cite a study that will link one particular policy move to employability. A whole host of factors come into play. An ill-timed move could precipitate changes that are unfavourable. A well-timed move of the same change may not have that impact.

Having said that, let me reassure Mr Ng, whether it is this week or next week, it will always be on MOM's mind to think of ways in which we can improve work conditions as well as worklife harmony.

The Chairman: Mr Patrick Tay, would you like to withdraw your amendment?

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan: I would like to thank my fellow Members of Parliament in this House for preparing and filing cuts for this MOM COS. I would like to thank Minister, Sister Josephine Teo; Minister of State, Brother Zaqy Mohamad and Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Sister Low Yen Ling; as well as the team in MOM, Brother Aubeck Kam, Permanent Secretary; Brother Tan Choon Shian, CE of WSG; Brother Augustin Lee, CE of CPF, for powering the whole MOM COS. I am sure all the measures that Minister and the team have announced to be more fair, be it in terms of fair support, fair hiring, fair opportunities as well as fair competition, will help us – workers, employers and the various tripartite partners – in all the respective sectors, to stay ready, relevant and resilient to the short-term disruptions; and able, agile and adaptable to the long-term challenges. On that note, I would like to beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $2,433,064,700 for Head S ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $50,791,200 for Head S ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.