Conditions of Employment, 2010

30 December 2010

1. Covering establishments in the private sector with at least 25 employees and the public sector, findings from the 3,410 establishments (with 1,047,300 employees) who responded to the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) Conditions of Employment Survey, 2010 indicate that besides the statutory leave benefits, many employers provided other leave benefits to help their employees cope with family commitments; with compassionate leave, marriage leave and paternity leave being more common. More employers were also offering work-life arrangements, such as part-time work and staggered hours.
   
   Main Findings
2. More employers were offering work-life arrangements. In 2010, 35% of establishments offered at least one form of work-life arrangement to their employees, up from 25% in 2007. Part-time working was the most common, with close to three in ten (29%) establishments offering this in 2010. Less common were options for staggered hours (6.5%), flexitime (6.3%), teleworking (2.8%), homeworking (1.9%) and job sharing (0.6%).
3. In 2010, 10% of employees enjoyed over 21 days of annual leave, up from 9.1% in 2008 and 8.5% in 2006. Nevertheless, about six in ten (59%) employees were entitled to less than 15 days of paid annual leave in 2010, similar to that in 2008 and 2006.
4. Besides the statutory leave benefits, many employers provided other leave benefits to help their employees cope with family commitments. Compassionate leave (87%) was the most common non-statutory leave benefit, followed by marriage leave (69%) and paternity leave (48%).
5. The 5-day work-week pattern continued to be the most common, with 42% of employees in 2010 under such an arrangement. Shift work (18%) was the next most common, followed closely by 6-day (17%) and 51/2-day (15%) work-week. Compared with two years ago when the data were last collected, the share of employees on shift work has risen from 14% in 2008 to 18% in 2010, while the other work-week patterns have seen slight declines in shares. The increase in shift work could reflect the recent increase in clerical, sales & service workers, supported by hirings arising from the integrated resorts.
6. Sickness absenteeism was broadly stable over the years. In 2009, 55% of employees took at least one day of outpatient sick leave, and 4.3% took hospitalisation leave, comparable to the corresponding figures of 56% and 4.1% in 2007. Employees who had taken outpatient sick leave in 2009 consumed an average of 4.7 days, while those on hospitalisation leave took an average of 14.9 days.
7. The report is available online on the Ministry of Manpower’s website at http://www.mom.gov.sg/mrsd/publication.