Room for employers to be creative with flexible work arrangements

Some bosses have reservations about implementing flexible work arrangements but fear they could lose out on attracting and retaining talented staff if they fail to do So.

- Rosalind Ang

Firms are especially focused on the issue as a tripartite work group is developing guidelines on flexible work arrangements that will be compulsory for employers to follow once they are implemented later in 2024.

Some employers are concerned about whether such work arrangements might affect productivity, particularly if certain types of work are not suitable to be done from home, said Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang on Jan 31.

Ms Gan made her remarks during a visit to news site AsiaOne Online, which has started implementing flexible work arrangements. The 11-member work group developing the guidelines is jointly chaired by Ms Gan, Ms Yeo Wan Ling, director of the National Trades Union Congress' women and family unit and its small and medium-sized enterprise unit, and Mr Edwin Ng, Singapore National Employers Federation's honorary secretary.

"We see that there are opportunities for employers to be creative and also receptive to different types of flexible work arrangements," Ms Gan noted.