Plans to Raise Awareness and Capture Female Talent Pool to Augment Workforce and Challenges Faced

79 Miss Cheryl Chan Wei Ling asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the Ministry has ongoing plans to raise awareness and capture female talent pool to augment the workforce; and (b) what are some of the challenges faced in the process of doing so.

Dr Tan See Leng: With an ageing and plateauing population, it is important that we enable all residents to participate in the workforce.

Women tend to still shoulder a heavier share of domestic responsibilities, even though men are starting to do more. To help more women join the workforce, we must support both men and women in managing their work and caregiving responsibilities and enable a more even sharing of the caregiving load. As such, we encourage employers to adopt flexible work arrangements (FWAs) and other work-life harmony practices and recognise those who do so through the Tripartite Standards on (a) FWAs, (b) Work-Life Harmony as well as (c) Unpaid Leave for Unexpected Care Needs. We also launched the Alliance for Action on Work-Life Harmony last year, bringing together like-minded employers, union leaders and HR practitioners to develop tools and best practices to support better work-life harmony. Nearly eight in 10 employers provide at least one form of formal FWAs in 2020¹.

In addition, the Government is committed to enhancing the accessibility, affordability and quality of preschool, so that parents with young children can go to work with peace of mind. By around 2025, 80% of preschoolers will have a place in a Government-supported preschool. Over the medium term, the Government aims to lower fee caps for full-day childcare at Government-supported preschools so that working families will pay around the equivalent of Primary school fees plus after-school care fees, before means-tested preschool subsidies.

Women looking for support to return to the workforce can tap on Workforce Singapore’s (WSG) employment facilitation programmes and services as well as SkillsFuture Singapore’s training courses. Different programmes are available to address different needs. For example, the Career Trial allows the jobseeker and prospective employer to try each other out for a period of time, with an allowance paid by the Government, to assess job-fit. Career Conversion Programmes provide generous training and salary support for employers to hire mid-career locals who require some skills top-up. Jobseekers can approach WSG or NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute for advice and assistance.

Through the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP), we also ensure that employers recruit and promote employees and jobseekers based on merit, regardless of irrelevant attributes, such as gender, marital status or family responsibilities. The Tripartite Committee on Workplace Fairness is, currently, deliberating how the requirements in TGFEP can be enshrined in law to strengthen protection against discriminatory employment practices.

Our community partners and the business community have also introduced various initiatives to provide mentorship, networking and training opportunities to nurture women talent in various fields. Some examples include the NTUC Women Supporting Women Mentorship Programme, NTU’s Promotion of Women in Engineering, Research and Science programme and Dell’s Diversity Leadership Accelerator Programme.

Enabling women to participate in the workforce and realise their fullest potential requires a whole-of-society effort. As a result of our joint efforts with stakeholders and partners, our female employment rate² has steadily increased over the past decade from 66.1% in 2010 to 73.2% in 2020. MOM will continue to work hand in hand with our tripartite partners and other stakeholders to support more women to participate in the workforce in their careers of choice.