GUIDEBOOK ON WORK-LIFE PRACTICESapp.ncss.gov.sg/ictsweb/hr/Guidebook on Work-Life... · Work-life...
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© Copyright 2013, National Council of Social Service
GUIDEBOOK ON WORK-LIFE
PRACTICES For the social service sector
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CONTENTS
Foreword........................................................................................................ 3
Chapter 1: The Importance of Work-Life Practices………….............................................. 4
Chapter 2: Examples of Work-Life Practices in the Social Service Sector...................... 6
Flexi-Work Arrangements.............................................................................. 6
Specialised Leave Schemes............................................................................ 8
Employee Support Programmes.................................................................... 10
Featured Organisation – Asian Women’s Welfare Association......................
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Featured Organisation – Focus on the Family (Singapore)............................
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Chapter 3: How To Implement Work-Life Practices at Your Workplace........................ 19
Step 1 - Establish the need to implement / modify a Work‐life Strategy.......
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Step 2 - Assess business needs and employees’ work‐life needs...................
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Step 3 - Implement work‐life programmes.................................................... 22
Step 4 - Evaluate work‐life programmes........................................................
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Chapter 4: Resources Available....................................................................................... 26
Work-Life Integration Process........................................................................ 26
Types of Funding Available............................................................................. 26
Stories of organisations that implemented work-life practices..................... 26
Engaging External Consultants....................................................................... 26
Publications and Awards................................................................................ 27
Some Other Useful Websites......................................................................... 27
Acknowledgements....................................................................................... 29
Guidebook on Work-Life Practices for the social service sector
Version 1.0, dated 14 March 2013
FOREWORD
Work-Life Practice is one of the main buzzwords in the workplace today. Typically
this means that the organisation promotes and sponsors specific programmes
designed to help their employees in balancing their work commitment together with
their family and personal goals. The need to strike a balance between work and
personal life has been gaining popularity throughout the developed world and in
Singapore. The Singapore government has been actively promoting the adoption of
work-life policies over the last few years.
The social service sector has not been lagging behind when it comes to promoting
work-life policies. Through this book, we hope to showcase some of the practices.
NCSS sampled a selection of our member Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs)
and found that work-life practices are steadily growing with more organisations
coming on board. These practices are not just growing, but within each organisation,
many are trying new and innovative forms of work-life strategies.
We would like to express our appreciation to the VWOs that have shared with us
their work-life practices. We also would like to thank Employer Alliance (EA) for
giving us permission to use many of the reference material from their website in this
guidebook. We encourage all VWOs to become members of the EA where you get
opportunities for networking and access to the research done by EA to implement
work-life practices in the workplace.
Through this book, we hope that more VWOs will be encouraged to adopt similar
practices and ensure our sector is an attractive one that takes care of its employees
while we work with passion in serving the disadvantaged.
Ms Angela Yak Director Sector Manpower and Corporate Planning Division
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CHAPTER 1
The Importance of Work-Life Practices
Work-life Practices have been gaining a lot of media mention in the last few years
and the Singapore government has been stressing on the importance of maintaining
a healthy workforce In 2004, the then Ministry of Community Development and
Sports (MCDS) commissioned the Singapore National Employers Federation to
conduct a study on work-life strategy in Singapore to quantify the dollar benefits that
these policies have in a local setting1. The study found that almost two-thirds of
employees indicated that they stayed with their present company partly because of
the work-life strategies that were in place. Furthermore almost half the respondents
joined the present organisation for just the same reason.
The study also showed that organisations benefited from the work-life programmes
through an increase in savings and revenue. Savings came from lower costs incurred
when filling vacancies because of retention of staff while revenue increases were
reflected through increased productivity.2
Today’s employees have to shoulder family much more responsibilities that could
include taking care of their children or elderly parents. Work-life practices would be a
boon to these employees helping them to balance work and family life. This in turn
will lead to improved staff morale, and reduction in absenteeism.
Work-life practices can basically be grouped into three different categories as shown
in the diagram below (See Figure 1).
1 Ministry of Community Development and Sports (MCDS) Work-Life Strategy Makes Business Sense – the
Singapore Business Case Study of 11 Organisations (Singapore, 2004). 2 Ibid., p. 4.
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Flexible Work Arrangement:
Examples include flexible working hours, five-day work week, part-time work, etc.
Specialised Leave Schemes:
These would include marriage leave, paternity leave, parental care leave, birthday leave, etc.
Employee Support Programmes:
For example, child care services at work, recreational activities for staff, medical and hospitalisation benefits etc.
Figure 1 - The three categories of work-life practices3
Work-life practices can be implemented by all organisations, whether big or small.
Naturally, larger organisations would enjoy greater economies of scale through their
work-life policies. However, smaller organisations enjoyed greater net dollar return
per employee compared to the bigger organisations4. Nevertheless, smaller
organisations would have to implement such programmes with a bit more care and
consideration to total employee size and work arrangements.
Strong management support is a crucial factor for work-life practices to succeed in
the workplace. For more information on how an organisation should go about when
they wish to implement work-life practices within their company, please read
Chapter 3’s “How to Implement Work-life Practices at Your Workplace”.
3 For a more comprehensive list of examples for the various categories, please visit Employer Alliance website
4 MCDS, op. cit., p. 4.
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CHAPTER 2
Work-life Practices in the Social Service Sector
This chapter will list some of the work-life practices that the VWOs have
implemented5. We hope to see more VWOs implementing these fine examples.
Flexible Work Arrangement
Flexi-Work/Part-Time work:
Staff are allowed flexible work hours or to work from home to attend to personal emergencies...permanent part-time work arrangement are also allowed to help those who need to spend more time with their families. Down Syndrome Association (Singapore)
An employee may work from home or request for flexible work arrangement in order to manage work responsibilities alongside personal and family needs. Employees can also apply to convert to part-time employment when they need to care for their family or even pursue personal development. Metta Welfare Association
Staff who have young children may convert from full-time to part-time employment. Rainbow Centre
Part-time work arrangement can be arranged for staff who may need to care for their children or elderly relatives. Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association (SANA)
5 Many of the more common work-life practices such as compassionate leave and maternity leave are not
highlighted in this chapter as these are generally instituted in all organisations.
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Staggered Working Hours:
Staff may have differing official working hours to suit their personal needs. Autism Association (Singapore)
Effective 1 May 2012, our general office staff’s work schedule was moved from a 5.5 day work week to a 5-day work week to enable staff to have a better work-life balance. Dover Park Hospice
Staff who need to fetch their children to and from child care can stagger their starting work hours to suit their individual needs. Ren Ci Hospital
We have a 5-day work week (9am – 6pm) and are given time off 30 minutes earlier on Fridays to spend time with our family. Rotary Family Service Centre
Time-Off:
We provide official time-off of up to 2 hours for staff who needs to attend to urgent matters or have a medical appointment. Rainbow Centre
Caseworkers who see clients after normal office hours are given time-off to ensure they have sufficient rest. Rotary Family Service Centre
Sometimes staff may be required to perform work outside their regular working hours. So in recognition of these extra hours they put in, staff are compensated with time-off which may be utilised whenever they need it. Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association (SANA)
Staff are given time-off for rehabilitative services. They are also reimbursed for follow up treatment in physiotherapy and occupational therapy at all government hospitals. Singapore Cheshire Home
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Specialised Leave Schemes
Adoption Leave:
3 days of adoption leave is granted to staff who are married, widowed or divorced PERTAPIS Welfare & Education Centre
Birthday Leave:
All staff are eligible for birthday leave on the day of his/her birthday. Fei Yue Family Service Centre
Child-Care Leave:
On top of child care leave, we also provide up to 5 days of dependent care leave for staff with children above 7 years old. Rainbow Centre
Staff can take up to 6 days of unpaid infant care leave per calendar year for children below the age of 2. Ren Ci Hospital
Dependent Care Leave (elderly parents):
All confirmed staff are given 6 days leave to take their elderly parents above the age of 65, for medical appointments etc. Fei Yue Family Service Centre
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Extended Annual Leave:
All staff in the organisation enjoys a higher annual leave entitlement as compared to the usual normal 14 days of annual leave entitlement. This is in line with the organisation’s effort to ensure that staff maintain a proper work life balance. Beyond Social Service
In appreciation of staff who have worked a long time in the organisation, staff annual leave will increase from 14 days to 18 days and thereafter to 21 days after they have served 10 years. PERTAPIS Welfare & Education Centre
Family Care Leave:
Staff are eligible to have 3 days of Family Care leave to take time off to look after their children/parents/parents-in laws when they fall ill or accompany them for medical appointment. Dover Park Hospice
Staff are given 2 days of Family Care leave should their immediate family members (parents, parents-in-law, grandparent, spouse and siblings) fall sick. Staff are also given 3 days leave for each sick child up to a maximum of 9 days. Ren Ci Hospital
Other Forms of Leave
Staff are entitled to Pilgrimage Leave (42 days), Wedding Anniversary Leave, Maid in Absence Leave (3 days) and Examination Leave (7 days). Yayasan MENDAKI
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Employee Support Programmes
Buddy System:
We encourage a Buddy System for new staff, whereby they are attached to a senior staff member in our organisation. The objective is not only to acclimatise new staff to the work environment but also to provide support for staff by assisting one another when they face any personal or family issues and need to take urgent leave. PERTAPIS Welfare & Education Centre
Discounted Child-Care Fees:
Staff are given a special rate when sending their children to our child-care centres. PERTAPIS Welfare & Education Centre
Festive Celebration:
The staff organises a Christmas celebration every year to foster relationship and interaction amongst all. Singapore Cheshire Home
Flexible Benefits
To encourage leisure and personal development, staff are eligible to claim a certain amount a year for flexible benefit on items such as Traditional Chinese Medicine consultation and medication, fitness, holiday reimbursement, and fees for enrichment courses. Beyond Social Services
A $100 fund can be used for courses conducted after office hours as well as during office hours. Yayasan MENDAKI
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Medical & Insurance Coverage:
We provide group personal accident and hospitalisation and surgical support in terms of an insurance coverage which will assist the family of our staff should anything happen to him/her. This is in addition to the mandatory Work Injury provided for all staff. Staffs are also provided with co-pay medical claim for their general wellbeing should they fall sick. PERTAPIS Welfare & Education Centre
Newborn and Hospitalisation Gifts
Staff are given $100 upon the birth of each child. Staff who are hospitalised will also be provided a hamper. Yayasan MENDAKI
Overseas Trips:
Our organisation organises annual outings for staff and their family members, who enjoy subsidised rates to places like Bintan and Malaysia. Metta Welfare Services
Staff Recreational Clubs:
Staff can enjoy recreational activities after work or during lunch hours through indoor activities such as pool table, karaoke etc. The SANA Recreational Club also organises regular activities to keep staff engaged. Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association (SANA)
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Featured Organisation – ASIAN WOMEN’S WELFARE ASSOCIATION
The Asian Women’s Welfare Association (AWWA) provides a wide range of services
to the community – from family service centres that provide assistance to families, to
special education schools for the disabled, and community homes for the elderly.
They have always advocated a strong family culture within the organisation and this
can be seen by the range of work-life policies that help their 300 staff juggle between
family and work. “At AWWA, we believe that the employees are our greatest
asset…and hence, we need to look after our people, and look after them well”, said
Ms Yasmin Hannah, HR Manager.
There are individual leave schemes that many AWWA staff enjoy that allow them to
be with their family in time of urgency or crisis. Celebratory events such as AWWA
Family Day and movie nights are occasions when staff can bring their families along
to share fun and bonding time with the rest of the AWWA family.
AWWA’s Leave Schemes
There is a slew of personal leave care that AWWA has implemented for their staff
covering many different aspects. There is an Adoption Leave scheme, which allows
female employees to take 4 weeks paid leave. And under the enhanced child care
leave, employees with Singapore citizen child below the age of 7 years are eligible for
an additional 3 days leave, on top of the usual 3 days leave that all employees are
eligible.
While embracing many of the more common leave such as marriage, maternity,
paternity and caregiver leaves, AWWA has come up with a few rather unique ones as
well. Under the Religious Rites Leave, one working day leave is provided to all staff in
connection with the death of an immediate family member. This leave is to be
utilised within one year of the demise of said family member.
Another unique example is AWWA’s HDB Leave Scheme. Staff who have applied for a
HDB flat are given one day leave when they need to make an appointment with HDB
to collect their keys.
Health and Medical Schemes
To help their staff maintain a healthy lifestyle, AWWA organises events like annual
health screening and health-related lunch talks at low or no cost to staff. Fruit Day
happens once a month in AWWA when their REClub distributes fruit to all staff. On
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Picture 2: Swimming pool at AWWA
Picture 1: Fruit, milk and juice
vending machine at AWWA
top of that, AWWA also has a fruit vending machine which carries cut fruits like
papaya and pineapple together with yogurt, milk and fruit
juice.
AWWA’s clients make use of gym and swimming pool
facilities during their classes in the daytime. But after
school hours, these facilities are open to all AWWA staff
to enjoy. The school hall is also converted into a
badminton court or dance floor after office hours for
staff to come together and enjoy sporting activities.
AWWA offers comprehensive medical and insurance
coverage for their staff. Medical and dental benefits are
combined so that staff has the flexibility to utilise their
benefits and not be restricted to either medical or
dental needs only. Staff who are suffering long-term
illness can rest assured of being looked after. For
instance, one staff who needed heart surgery had to
extend her sick leave period beyond the 60 days. AWWA
extended her leave period and kept her position open until she was ready to come
back to work after 4 months.
Organisation-Wide
events
Every year, all AWWA
staff are given one day
off in September,
together with a special
gift, to thank them for
their hard work and
efforts throughout
the year. This special
day is known as
AWWA Appreciation Day. Other events
such as the AWWA Family Dinner and
Annual Movie Night have also become part of the organisation’s calendar of annual
work-life events.
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Staff Development & Welfare
Developing staff to their fullest potential is something AWWA strongly believes in.
They have put in place a comprehensive buddy and mentoring system to help new
staff integrate smoothly into AWWA’s culture. Sponsorships and scholarships for
trainings and further studies allow their staff to develop in the academic areas. There
is also a special fund set aside for all their social workers and counsellors to have
their own counselling session if there is a need to prevent burnout.
AWWA has shown how a VWO is able to make full use of its facilities so that not only
their clients and students benefit, but staff as well. More than 73% of AWWA’s staff
were satisfied with the level of work-life balance in their organisation, as reflected in
a staff climate survey done in 2011. AWWA can be a good role model for the other
VWOs to take reference from. If you wish to find out more details on AWWA’s
practices, please contact Ms Yasmin ([email protected]).
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Featured Organisation – FOCUS ON THE FAMILY SINGAPORE
Focus on the Family Singapore (FOTFS) is a charity that is dedicated to helping
families thrive. They provide family life education through talks and workshops,
resources on a wide array of important issues for the family and personal
counselling. This dedication to helping families transcends into helping their own
staff too. As explained by their CEO, Ms Joanna Koh-Hoe, “You can’t build loyalty
from a purely monetary relationship. The employee that buys into the organisation is
better able to sell the whole organisation, and not just its products and services”. A
wide range of work-life policies are practiced at FOTFS while still being flexible
enough to offer customized solutions to each staff’s needs. With a staff strength of
around 30, FOTFS makes sure that all their work-life policies are inclusive and caters
to all employees regardless of gender, life stage or length of service.
Flexible Work Arrangements
FOTFS is constantly on the lookout for new and practical work-life programmes to
benefit their staff.
Flexible work schedules such as compressed work schedule are available to all FOTFS
employees. Staff under this scheme work the same number of hours as the rest, but
over a shorter period. For example, a staff may work for 10 hours per day instead of
8 hours, thus reducing their actual working days from 5 to 4 days per week.
Tele-commuting are also available to all staff. This work arrangement allows staff to
attend to long-term family commitments (for example being a primary caregiver for
elderly parents or young children) while remaining gainfully employed. Staff are
equipped with remote access to the organisation’s shared server, thus ensuring easy
access to handle any work exigencies.
FOTFS’s Leave Schemes
FOTFS has in place is the renewal and sabbatical leave schemes. Staff who has served
at least five years in the organisation will be entitled to five additional days of annual
leave. On top of the additional leave, staff also receive a $200 travel voucher. This is
a nice way to reward staff for their loyalty and at the same time gets staff re-
energised. Staff with 10 years will have 10 additional days of annual leave and a $400
travel voucher.
Children entering the schooling system for the first time is not only a stressful time
for the kids, but also for the parents. To help ease this period, FOTFS has the First
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Picture 3: Family Corner at FOTFS
Picture 4: The Family Resource Library
Day of School Time-Off. This enables staff to take time off from work and bring their
child to school. Staff can make up for the lost work hours at a later time at their own
discretion.
Supporting Their Employees
For a small VWO, FOTFS has a very wide range of facilities and programmes to ensure
staff well being. Expectant and young mothers have a Lactation Room that provides
them with a quiet and private room to nurse, lactate or rest.
For parents who need to bring their
children to the office the Family Corner
in the office is a useful spot for young
children to play and relax. The Family
Resource Library provides a
comprehensive range of publications on
family life and work-life issues. Staff are
then able to make full use of the
organisation’s expertise on family matters
to enhance their own personal and family
matters. Staff who need more than just reference material for their family issues may
in fact make use of the organisation’s very own counselling resources.
Birthdays are a special
occasion for staff at FOTFS.
Apart from a birthday card,
it also comes with a cake
and voucher worth $50. This
simple gesture is meant to
show how much the staff
are valued and appreciated
by the organisation.
FOTFS is a forward looking
organisation when it comes
to ensuring their staff’s
needs in both work and
personal life are taken care of. “We have seen staff retention improve since 2009”,
says Ms Shelen Ang, Head of Corporate Services, “[and] work-life balance was also
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ranked the highest among all components in our staff engagement survey in 2012.”
As a winner of the Singapore’s Work-Life Excellence Award, FOFTS is well-placed to
be a fine example of how a small VWO can also promote work-life policies, at the
same time, delivering quality services to its clients. To find out more on FOTFS’ work-
life practices and how maybe your organisation could emulate some of their
practices, please contact Ms Rachel Lee ([email protected]).
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CHAPTER 3
How to Implement Work-life Practices
at the Workplace6
A successful Work‐life Strategy requires the management supervisors and employees to play their parts. Work‐life programmes succeed in organisations where there is a workplace culture based on reciprocity and trust, with the responsibility for work‐life integration shared among the organisation, supervisors and employees.
The organisation:
Develops and communicates a Work‐life Strategy suitable for its business and its employees;
Makes its work‐life programmes available to as many of its employees as possible, subject to business needs;
Has a sound performance management system that allows it to evaluate all its employees (including those on flexible work arrangements) objectively;
Trains its supervisors to support Work‐life Strategy.
Supervisors:
Support the organisation’s Work‐life Strategy; Help tailor an employee’s flexible work arrangements in consultation
with the employee and other relevant departs in the organisation, e.g. HR; and
Evaluate employee performance by outcomes and deliverables rather than hours clocked and physical presence in the office.
Employees:
Familiarise themselves with the organisation’s work‐life programmes and makes use of them appropriately;
Work with their immediate supervisors to design flexible work arrangements and other work‐life programmes that do not compromise business outcomes; and
6 All information in Chapter 3 is adapted from the Employer Alliance’s website page on work-life
integration.
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Engage themselves in their work and add value to the organisation throughout their period of employment.
Figure 2 – Four steps to a successful Work‐life Strategy
Step 1 - Establish the need to implement / modify a Work‐life Strategy
Work‐life Strategy is a business strategy – to make it work, top management as a
whole needs to buy into it and align organisational processes to it. Organisations
have implemented work‐life programmes for one or more of the following reasons:
Attract and/or retain talent
Raise morale
Increase productivity
Establish the need to
implement / modify a Work‐life Strategy
Assess business needs and
employees’ work‐life needs
Implement work‐life
programmes
Evaluate work‐life
programmes
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Save on real estate and overhead expenses
Reduce healthcare costs
Provide work flexibility in response to changing employee needs
Increase commitment
Combat burnout
Be an Employer of Choice
Stay ahead of the competition
Once the need for implementing Work‐life Strategy has been established,
organisations can then move on to set targets and a timeframe in which to achieve
these targets.
Step 2 - Assess business needs and employees’ work‐life needs
Assess your business needs
To make sure that targets are practical, an organisation should be clear about what
its business needs are. Business needs include corporate values, objectives and/or
operational standards that cannot be compromised for any reason. These may be
broken down according to an organisation’s functional and business units, which may
each have different business needs due to the nature of their work.
For example, if a business revolves around customer-facing services (e.g. in a retail
outlet) it may be possible to implement flexi-time with some creative scheduling, but
it may not be possible to implement flexi-place. On the other hand, if there is a need
for 24-hour operations (e.g. in a hospital), rotating 12-hour shifts with more days off
might be appropriate, but a flexi-time would not. Organisations with a good
understanding of its own business needs and process will be better able to customise
a successful Work-life Strategy.
Assessing your employees’ work-life needs
Different organisations have different employee profiles and these employees have
differing needs. An organisation’s employee profile and employees’ needs also
change over time. Therefore, there is a need to regularly assess employees’ work-life
needs so that an organisation’s Work-life Strategy remains relevant. This may be
done through an annual review.
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There are different ways to find out what employees are grappling with in terms of
managing work commitments alongside personal and family needs. Three common
methods include workforce profiling, employee surveys and focus groups. These are
often used to complement one another.
1) Workforce profiling
Workforce profiling refers to mining information within an organisation, especially its
existing employee records. It provides an indication of the areas of priority for work-
life programmes. Tracked regularly, it can yield information about trends and
changes which may be used to adjust work-life programmes. Some questions may
include:
a. How many employees are / have
i. Near retirement?
ii. Young parents?
iii. Parents of more than one child?
iv. Single Parents?
v. Elderly parents?
vi. Dependants with healthcare needs?
vii. Men or women?
viii. Married or single?
b. Which part of the business is it most difficult to recruit employees for? What
could be the reasons?
c. What are the prevalent health problems and costs?
d. What is the absenteeism rate?
e. How much medical leave is being consumed?
2) Employee surveys
Employee surveys reveal attitudinal information that may be used to gauge
employee sentiments. Tracked regularly, this can provide information in employee
sentiments that may signal deeper concerns in at the workplace. Some areas to
survey may include:
a. Issues related to job scope and responsibilities – this may reveal concerns
about work and stress and indicate work flexibility options
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b. Non-work commitments and aspirations, e.g. the number of dependents,
plans to attain higher education – this can provide information about which
work-life programmes to prioritise
c. A list of existing / upcoming work-life programmes – this can provide
information about which programmes are or will be popular
d. Job satisfaction / motivation / engagement / work-life harmony levels
3) Focus groups
Focus groups provide more open-ended responses than surveys, and allow
moderators to delve more deeply into a topic to elicit and understand different
qualitative views. They are essentially interviews with several people (generally 6 –
10) at the same time. It involves an organised discussion with a selected group of
individuals to gain information about their views and experiences of a topic, e.g. a
particular work-life programme. The moderator plays a very important role, and
good leadership and interpersonal skills are required to moderate a group
successfully and elicit useful information.
Step 3 - Implement work‐life programmes
Design work-life programmes
Work-life programmes fall into 3 broad categories:
1) Flexible Work Arrangements
A successful Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA) need not be implemented for all
employees in an organisation. An effective FWA takes into account the nature of the
employee’s job and his/her personality – if either or both are unsuitable for the
arrangement, implementing it would be counter-productive. Typically, immediate
supervisors are in the best position to determine the suitability of the arrangement.
FWAs are the most impactful of work-life programmes as they shape the day-to-day
operations of an organisation and the daily routines of its employees. An
organisation can often reap benefits from a well-implemented FWA, saving on costs
and ramping up efficiency and productivity.
Before embarking on any FWA, it would be useful for employees to conduct a self-
assessment and consider the pros and cons of their request. They must also consider
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which FWAs are appropriate given the requirements and/or limitations of their
specific job duties and responsibilities. An example of a self-assessment
questionnaire by World At Work is provided in this attachment: World at Work FWA
assessment questionnaire.
2) Leave Benefits
Leave benefits refer to those over and above statutory requirements (i.e. annual
leave, childcare leave, maternity leave and sick leave). Such leave may be (i) paid or
unpaid, and (ii) subsumed under the annual allotment of leave benefits.
3) Employee Support Schemes
Employee Support Schemes (ESS) help employees manage the non-work aspects of
their lives, especially the “time stress” that so many of them face. These programmes
may involve the innovative use of existing organisation resources, simple gestures of
appreciation for employees and their family, dependent care support, health and
wellness programmes, flexible benefits and time-saving services.
Such schemes need not be costly. For example, companies that already provide a
service as a business could extend it to their employees at marginal cost, e.g.
transportation, laundry, childcare, etc. This can make a big difference to employees
and in turn, employee engagement.
Develop a communication plan
The successful implementation of work-life programmes hinges on proper
communication of these programmes to employees – in order to use these
programmes, employees need to be aware of their availability. Studies have also
shown that awareness of work-life programmes is as important as utilisation of work-
life programmes when it comes to improving employee engagement and turnover.
A variety of communication channels may be used according to the norms of each
organisation, and effectiveness of the channels. Some common modes of
communication include townhall / team meetings, emails, intranet, message boards,
memos, department lunches, etc.
In addition to building awareness about work-life programmes,
communication channels can also contribute to:
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Sustaining a work-life culture, e.g. posters and placards of an organisation’s
work-life values could adorn corridors, pantries and meeting rooms
Transmitting work-life corporate values , e.g. handbooks on corporate values
and organisation’s work-life programmes could be given to all new recruits
Improving and invigorating the organisations Work-life Strategy, e.g. feedback
channel could be used in regular evaluation of existing work-life programmes
or to monitor shifting work-life needs
Some considerations for an effective communication plan include:
Define objectives (short-term, e.g. introducing a specific work-life programme,
and long-term, e.g. developing a culture of flexibility)
Identify target audience (including segments that might resist the new
initiative)
o Customise strategy for buy-in
o Identify key message for each segment of the target audience
o Anticipate audience’s concerns
o Prime audience for new initiative
o Educate and train middle managers
o Explain benefits of new initiative
Select channels for communicating and promoting the new initiative
Build in a feedback mechanism so that it is possible to evaluate the
communication plan
Measure effectiveness of communication plan
Support from Senior Management
Senior management support for Work-life Strategy is crucial. Supervisors and
employees of all levels will feel more comfortable supporting, participating in and
using the work-life programmes. In this way, the purpose of the organisation’s Work-
life Strategy is better achieved.
Clear policies and guidelines
Work-life programmes need to be supported by clear policies and guidelines. Policies
and guidelines address the values, eligibility criteria and operational details of the
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programmes. As a rough guide, policies and guidelines for work-life programmes
should:
Stress mutual benefits to both the organisation and its employees
Encourage an approach of mutual trust and accountability to developing and
implementing work-life programmes
Value employees for their contribution to the business, not their choice of
work arrangement
Include an objective, outcome-based monitoring and evaluation mechanism
Step 4: Evaluate work‐life programmes
Measuring the effectiveness of your work-life programmes allows you to determine
whether they have met their objectives. Identifying a successful work-life
programme can help build your business case, while discovering a work-life
programme that did not meet its objectives would allow you to improve on it. Some
data sources that could be mined to evaluate the effectiveness of the work-life
programme include:
Quantitative
Utilisation rate of the work-life programmes
Absenteeism
Measure of employee job satisfaction, engagement, etc.
Voluntary turnover rate
Qualitative
Feedback from employees about the work-life programme in meeting their
needs
Feedback from supervisors on difficulties faced implementing work-life
programmes
Exit interviews
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CHAPTER 4
Resources Available
For more information on work-life practices and work-life integration please visit the
Employer Alliance website at http://www.employeralliance.sg/index.html. Some of
the resources that you can find there include:
Work-Life Integration process
How organisations can go about putting in place a proper Work-Life
Integration Process (as described in Chapter 3) is covered in greater detail
here.
Types of Funding available
The Work-Life Works! (WoW!) Fund is provided to organisations as a one-
time grant to encourage employers to introduce Work-Life strategies at their
workplace. Funding of up to 80% of costs subject to a maximum of $20,000 is
provided under this Fund. Click here for more information and to apply for
the Fund, please visit the MOM website.
Flexi-Works! is an initiative by the Workforce Development Agency (WDA),
National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) and Singapore National Employers
Federation (SNEF) to help companies hire new workers on part-time or
flexible work arrangements. This initiative provides a grant of up to $100,000
to support an organisation’s efforts in implementing flexible work
arrangements.
The Organisational Development Grant (ODG) under the VCF can also be used
to improve organisational and human resource management practices among
VWOs. This grant focuses on improving VWOs’ organisational practices and
internal processes e.g. human resource management.
Stories of organisations that implemented work-life initiatives
Read some inspiring stories of how organisations have made the journey to
work-life integration in their workplace. Take the examples of these
companies and try to emulate them in your own organisation.
27
Engaging external consultants
If your organisation is thinking of engaging an external consultant to provide
advice on establishing a work-life strategy for your organisation, this would be
the site to visit for more information. For a listing of approved consultants,
you should go to the Ministry of Manpower page listed there.
Publications and Awards
Listing of various publications on work-life balance is available for download.
The MOM website also has such information available for download and a
good example would be the Work-Life Harmony Report.
The Work-Life Excellence Award recognises and honours employers who are
committed to implementing a harmonious work-life balance in their
organisation. For more information on the award, please visit the official
website.
Some Other Useful Websites and Information
Flexible working options are outlined in this UK website which also has a
useful guide available for download.
28
The Family Council Secretariat of Hong Kong has resources and information
available too. Furthermore, the HK Labour Department has published a
casebook on work-life practices by various organisations in the territory.
29
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank our following member organisations for their invaluable
contributions towards this guidebook.
Asian Women’s Welfare Association
Autism Association (Singapore)
Beyond Social Services
Dover Park Hospice
Down Syndrome Association (Singapore)
Fei Yue Family Service Centre
Focus on the Family Singapore
Metta Welfare Association
PERTAPIS Welfare & Education Centre
Rainbow Centre
Ren Ci Hospital
Rotary Family Service Centre
Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association
Singapore Cheshire Home
Yayasan MENDAKI
And finally, thank you to Employer Alliance, for their kind permission to use many of
their information.
THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
National Council of Social Service 170 Ghim Moh Road, #01-02 Singapore 279621 Tel: 6210-2500 Fax: 6468-1012 www.ncss.org.sg