Conditions of Employment 2016

1. More employers are providing ad-hoc flexible work arrangements and leave benefits to help employees cope with personal and family commitments.  Firms that implement work-life initiatives tend to have lower employee turnover. These are the key findings from the “Conditions of Employment 2016” report released by the Manpower Research and Statistics Department, Ministry of Manpower.
   
   Main Findings
   
   More employees now work in firms that offer flexible work arrangements
   
   
2. The proportion of firms which provided unplanned time-off or ad-hoc tele-working for their employees rose from 70% in 2015 to 77% in 2016.  These firms employ 82% of all employees, up from 76% in 2015.
3. The proportion of employees working in firms which offered at least one formal FWA also rose, from 65% in 2015 to 67% in 2016, even though the proportion of such firms was unchanged. 
4. Common forms of flexible work arrangements include giving workers unplanned time-off (75%), allowing them to work part-time (35%) and report earlier or later for work (23%).
   
   More employers offered leave benefits beyond statutory requirements 
   
   
5. More employers were also found to offer leave benefits that are not mandated by law to help their employees cope with personal and family commitments.  Employers were more generous in providing compassionate leave (92%), marriage leave (74%), and study/examination leave (40%).
6.  Implementing work-life practices help with employee retention
7. Based on firm-level data, resignation rates were lower among firms that: (i) offer a larger number of formal flexible work arrangements to their employees, (ii) have a higher proportion of full-time employees on a 5-day work-week, and (iii) have a higher proportion of full-time employees with longer annual leave entitlement.
   
   For More Information
   
   
8. The report is available on the Ministry of Manpower’s website at http://stats.mom.gov.sg/.