Support for Workers Suffering from Workplace-related Mental Health Issues

12 Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye asked the Minister for Manpower (a) when will the Tripartite Advisory on Mental Health be published; and (b) whether the advisory can be expedited to provide better support to workers suffering from mental-health-related issues arising from the workplace.

The Senior Minister of State for Manpower (Mr Zaqy Mohamad) (for the Minister for Manpower): Mr Speaker, we are on track to publish the Tripartite Advisory on Mental Health in the fourth quarter of this year.

Currently, the Advisory is undergoing consultation with employers, unions, mental health professionals and our civil society groups. In the meantime, the Inter-Agency Advisory on supporting mental well-being of workers under COVID-19 work arrangements that was published in April serves as a useful reference. It has a list of external resources that employers can consider engaging to provide support for their workers’ mental health.

Employers can also initiate support for their workers. For instance, supervisors can check in regularly with their workers, talk to them to find out if they are facing any problems and refer them to external help if needed.

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye (Radin Mas): Mr Speaker, I thank the Senior Minister of State for his update. I have one supplementary question. The prolonged telecommuting arrangements have blurred boundaries between the home and the office for many of our workers, especially our PMETs. Many have told me that they now work increasingly long hours as emails, calls and WhatsApp messages have come in outside of their regular working hours. Some shared that they now have Zoom work meetings in the night, which they never had before COVID-19. In fact, they told me that they had not even heard of Zoom before COVID-19.

Could the Ministry, therefore, consider incorporating aspects of the right to disconnect legislation as part of the Tripartite Advisory on Mental Health so as to provide our workers with a guideline on how to start a conversation with their employers about commuting outside of work hours for non-critical work?

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: Sir, I thank the Member for his clarification and questions. Certainly, the work from home arrangement today has changed the way we work and brought access to the office into the home. So, I fully recognise the challenges some of our workers are facing with regard to the blurred lines between work hours and personal time. Certainly, I can see where the Member is coming from, where clearer boundaries between work and personal time would be useful.

Sir, as we work on the Tripartite Advisory that we plan to announce later, it is important that we look at some of these aspects to see how we can use the space to work towards an understanding between employer and employee to see how we can better manage this work-life balance. But the same time as well, we have to also recognise that this is something new. I think it originated in France, if I am not mistaken – the El Khomri law. And many countries are still observing and seeing how this works out before we can consider it – whether it is feasible and open to legislation. The consideration that we must consider is whether something like this would be relevant or rigid in Singapore's context, given the fact that many of us, for example, do work for multinational firms or firms that work across time zones and you need to also pick up calls – and Zoom included – late at night to cater to a different work type of environment. But the same time as well, we also know that enforcing rigidity may also impede on some workers, too, because some prefer the flexibility that they can tend to their kids in the day, run errands, send the kids to pre-school, childcare and then come back, pick up the kids early and then work at night.

So, there are different modalities in terms of how we work and intermingle the work boundaries and personal life boundaries. I think these are important points for us to consider and perhaps something that the union could raise as part of our discussions on the Tripartite Advisory.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Thank you, Sir. Can I ask the Minister whether he can confirm that the tripartite guidelines or advisory will make clear that employers should not request for information on a person's mental health condition unless the condition has a direct connection with their ability to perform the job role.

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: I thank the Member. The Tripartite Advisory has not been announced and I cannot confirm. But we will certainly look into it. I think, today, the practice is already in place and something we encourage strongly. Where the job does not require it, the employee does not need to declare it as part of his employment application. So, this is something that we need to hold strong, too. But look out for the advisory once it is out. But rest assured that we are looking at various areas in which we want to make sure that the well-being of our workers is well protected, both from the physical health as well as mental health states.