Companies Offering Caregiving Leave to Employees and Plans to Encourage Such Offerings to Improve Caregiving Support
Ministry of ManpowerSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Mr Desmond Choo’s inquiry into the prevalence of voluntary caregiving leave and the Ministry of Manpower’s strategies to enhance support for caregiving employees. Minister for Manpower Dr Tan See Leng reported that as of 2020, 19.5% of establishments provided additional paid family care leave and 27.3% provided extra paid child sick leave, reflecting an increase over the previous decade. He noted that the government promotes progressive practices through tripartite standards for unpaid leave and work-life harmony to complement statutory leave provisions. Minister for Manpower Dr Tan See Leng also identified flexible work arrangements (FWAs) as a more sustainable solution for caregivers' needs. Consequently, the Ministry will introduce Tripartite Guidelines on FWAs by 2024, necessitating formal procedures for employers to fairly consider and respond to flexible work requests.
Transcript
55 Mr Desmond Choo asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the Ministry has data on the current number of companies offering caregiving leave for its employees; and (b) what are the Ministry's plans to encourage such offering as part of its plan to improve caregiving support for employees.
Dr Tan See Leng: To support employees in their caregiving needs, employers are required by law to provide paid maternity, paternity, childcare leave and unpaid infant care leave. These have been progressively enhanced over the years. On top of these, employers may also voluntarily offer additional paid and unpaid caregiving leave. As of 2020, 19.5% of establishments surveyed1 voluntarily provided additional paid family care leave2, while 27.3% provided additional paid child sick leave3. These proportions have trended up over the years; in 2010, only 10.6% of establishments surveyed provided additional paid family care leave, while 19.0% provided additional paid child sick leave.
To encourage more employers to support employees in managing their caregiving responsibilities, tripartite partners introduced the Tripartite Standard on Unpaid Leave for Unexpected Care Needs in 2018 and the Tripartite Standard on Work-Life Harmony in 2021. These set out best employment practices that progressive employers commit to adopt, such as providing additional unpaid leave to employees who need to take care of their children or other immediate family members with medical conditions, or other forms of enhanced leave benefits.
Notwithstanding these efforts, tripartite partners recognise that leave provisions are just one of several ways to support working caregivers. It is also important to encourage and equip employers to foster and manage more flexible workplaces, which caregivers have said are a more sustainable way to support their needs. Tripartite partners will be introducing a set of Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs) by 2024, which will require employers to put in place proper processes to fairly consider and respond to employees' requests to FWAs. We will also continue to strengthen measures to equip companies with the know-how to implement FWAs well.