Companies Benefiting from Developmental Grant under Work-Life Grant

6 Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong asked the Minister for Manpower (a) how many companies have benefited from the Developmental Grant under the Work-Life Grant since the scheme was started; (b) how many of the companies are SMEs; and (c) how many of the companies have formalised the flexi-work arrangements.

Mr Lim Swee Say: More employers are now adopting flexible work arrangements (FWAs), such as flexi-time, flexi-place and/or flexi-load for their employees. The proportion of employers with at least 25 employees providing at least one form of FWA has steadily increased from 28% in 2008 to 47% in 2014. The Developmental Grant under the Work-Life Grant was launched to help defray the implementation costs of formal adoption of FWAs.

From the launch of the Development Grant in April 2013 to December 2015, there have been 325 applications. A large majority, about 95%, of the applications were from SMEs. SMEs would typically require a year or more to pilot and formalise FWAs. So far, 39 companies have formalised FWAs and claimed the grant. We expect more companies to do so in 2016.