Progressive work: People gather around the Merlion statue at the Marina Bay waterfront in Singapore. Under new guidelines, all employers in the country, including SMEs, must fairly consider formal requests from employees for FWAs. — AFP
SINGAPORE: Being more open to flexible work arrangements (FWAs) can help companies be more productive, panellists at a recent roundtable moderated by The Straits Times (ST) say.
Under new guidelines which took effect on Dec 1, all employers in Singapore, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), must fairly consider formal requests from employees for FWAs.
One concern employers have about implementing FWAs is that companies will incur a cost burden, said Faith Li, general manager of the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (Tafep), during ST’s roundtable on FWAs.
The roundtable on Nov 19 was presented by Tafep, with other panellists from the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP), Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) and Royal Plaza on Scotts.
Li added that employers may also worry about not being able to serve customers as effectively if a request for FWAs is accepted. Examples of such arrangements include remote work, staggered work hours, part-time work or job sharing.
IHRP chief executive officer Aslam Sardar said that on the other hand, flexi-work should be seen as an opportunity for organisations to streamline processes through using more technology or cutting down some steps in the workflow.
“I want to encourage organisations and also (human resources) to play a proactive role, working with the business, to look at where we can redesign jobs for the staff, to allow the staff to get that flexibility and help the business gain some benefits in the form of maybe productivity or efficiency needs,” he noted.
The Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangement Requests set the norms and expectations for how staff should request for and use FWAs responsibly, and also how employers should assess a request and respond.
On their part, employees ought to make their formal FWA requests in writing, and follow requirements that employers stipulate.
Formal requests can be defined as requests that are documented. The requests will also contain the information needed for the employer to make an informed decision.
Existing formal and non-formal practices should continue if they work well for both employees and employers.
The guidelines, which apply to employees who have completed probation, adopt a broad definition of FWAs beyond flexi-place arrangements, such as remote or hybrid working, popularised by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The tripartite workgroup that came up with the guidelines aims to sensitise employers, particularly SMEs with less advanced human resource processes, to consider flexi-time and flexi-load arrangements too.
Employers are not required to consider FWA requests from job seekers. However, employers could still state their FWA approach or policy in job advertisements and interviews to manage job seekers’ expectations of the FWAs they can provide.
If no requirements are stipulated by the employer, the guidelines urge employees submitting requests to mention the date of request, type of FWA, duration, frequency, reason, and the start and end dates in their formal request by default.
Employers do not have to agree to every FWA request, said Li. Employees also have a responsibility when submitting requests.
“They need to understand what it means in terms of how they are going to continue delivering on their work outcomes, and how they can continue to work effectively, even as they work flexibly.
“So this could be conversations with their supervisors about what it means to their team, to the clients that they serve,” noted Li.
This also reassures the employer that the employee wants the FWA to benefit not only himself, but also the organisation, she explained.
“There should be trust and two-way communication between the employer and employee when it comes to flexi-work requests.
“And in that way, that’s how successful and sustainable FWAs can be implemented in an organisation,” she said.
Sardar also highlighted the importance of trust, and said employees can build trust with employers by communicating frequently and demonstrating a consistent approach in their work.
With the new guidelines, many SMEs that ASME spoke to were concerned they would be forced to give their workers FWAs, said panellist Ang Yuit, president of ASME.
But many of them came to see that FWA is a tool that can support them in better interactions with staff members, and having this flexibility in their manpower planning could even help them to tap segments of manpower that other businesses may not be accessing – such as housewives and caregivers, he said.
“The reality is that businesses have to keep up with the times, in terms of where the trend is in human capital practice and what the workforce’s expectations are like now,” said Ang.
On the bosses’ part, empathy is important – employers should suspend judgment when someone makes a request, he said.
“More often than not, the individual making the FWA request may be concerned about how they will be perceived and if it will affect their performance appraisal,” said Sardar.
He added that this may affect the take-up of FWAs even if they are available.
Human resource professionals can help to be the bridge between employers and employees in explaining the organisation’s human resource policy, and reassuring employees that there are clear ways of assessing performance within the flexible work arrangements that have been agreed on, he said.
However, employers will have to include the reason for rejection if they say no.
The reason must also be within reasonable business grounds, she added.
Employers can have a further conversation with the employee on what other alternative arrangements could be made.
FWAs can also lead to happier employees, which boosts productivity at work, he said.
Fellow panellist Juliana Ong, Royal Plaza on Scotts’ director of culture and human capital, said the hotel has benefited from implementing FWAs for more than a decade.
“Back in 2008, we attended different job fairs, and we spoke to some women who wanted to come back to work (after a career break),” said Ong.
“We realised that what this group needed was a job with more flexibility in hours, which is why we decided to implement flexible working arrangements to cater to them,” she added. — The Straits Times/ANN
