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Conditions of Employment, 2008

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Many employers are going beyond the basic statutory requirements to provide various family-friendly leave benefits. The use of flexible working arrangements has also increased though they are still not widely prevalent in Singapore. These are the key findings from the "Conditions of Employment, 2008" report by the Ministry of Manpower's Research and Statistics Department on the results of the Labour Market Survey conducted in mid 2008.

Main Findings

2.   The proportion of private sector employees on flexible working arrangement increased from 5.1% in 2006 to 7.4% in 2008. Including the public sector, the proportion of employees on flexible working arrangements was higher at 9.4% in 2008, lifted by a notable percentage of public sector employees on staggered hours.

3.   A large proportion of establishments granted non-statutory leave benefits such as compassionate leave and marriage leave to their employees. 85% of establishments granted compassionate leave while 70% gave marriage leave. A significant proportion of establishments also granted paternity leave (47%) to their employees.

4.   The 5-day workweek continued to be the norm, with a higher proportion of employees now on this arrangement than two years ago (from 43% in 2006 to 44% in 2008). The 6-day workweek (18%), 5½-day (15%) and shift work (14%) accounted for less than one in five employees each in 2008.

5.   Over the years, there has been a rise in share of better qualified workers who typically enjoy more favourable leave benefits. This has led to an increase in the proportion of employees who are entitled to at least 15 days of paid annual leave from 31% in 1992 to 39% in 2008 in the private sector. Including the public sector, the share was slightly higher at 41% in 2008. 

6.   56% of employees took outpatient sick leave and 4.1% took hospitalisation leave in 2007. This was broadly comparable to 52% and 4.5% respectively in 2005. Employees who had taken outpatient sick leave in 2007 on average consumed 4.6 days of sick leave, comparable to 4.7 days in 2005.  The corresponding figure for those on hospitalisation leave was 16.3 days, up from 14.9 days in 2005.

7.   The report is available online on the Ministry of Manpower's website.