© Copyright 2013, National Council of Social Service

GUIDEBOOK ON WORK-LIFE

PRACTICES For the social service sector

2

CONTENTS

Foreword........................................................................................................ 3

Chapter 1: The Importance of Work-Life Practices………….............................................. 4

Chapter 2: Examples of Work-Life Practices in the Social Service Sector...................... 6

Flexi-Work Arrangements.............................................................................. 6

Specialised Leave Schemes............................................................................ 8

Employee Support Programmes.................................................................... 10

Featured Organisation – Asian Women’s Welfare Association......................

12

Featured Organisation – Focus on the Family (Singapore)............................

15

Chapter 3: How To Implement Work-Life Practices at Your Workplace........................ 19

Step 1 - Establish the need to implement / modify a Work‐life Strategy.......

19

Step 2 - Assess business needs and employees’ work‐life needs...................

20

Step 3 - Implement work‐life programmes.................................................... 22

Step 4 - Evaluate work‐life programmes........................................................

25

Chapter 4: Resources Available....................................................................................... 26

Work-Life Integration Process........................................................................ 26

Types of Funding Available............................................................................. 26

Stories of organisations that implemented work-life practices..................... 26

Engaging External Consultants....................................................................... 26

Publications and Awards................................................................................ 27

Some Other Useful Websites......................................................................... 27

Acknowledgements....................................................................................... 29

Guidebook on Work-Life Practices for the social service sector

Version 1.0, dated 14 March 2013

FOREWORD

Work-Life Practice is one of the main buzzwords in the workplace today. Typically

this means that the organisation promotes and sponsors specific programmes

designed to help their employees in balancing their work commitment together with

their family and personal goals. The need to strike a balance between work and

personal life has been gaining popularity throughout the developed world and in

Singapore. The Singapore government has been actively promoting the adoption of

work-life policies over the last few years.

The social service sector has not been lagging behind when it comes to promoting

work-life policies. Through this book, we hope to showcase some of the practices.

NCSS sampled a selection of our member Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs)

and found that work-life practices are steadily growing with more organisations

coming on board. These practices are not just growing, but within each organisation,

many are trying new and innovative forms of work-life strategies.

We would like to express our appreciation to the VWOs that have shared with us

their work-life practices. We also would like to thank Employer Alliance (EA) for

giving us permission to use many of the reference material from their website in this

guidebook. We encourage all VWOs to become members of the EA where you get

opportunities for networking and access to the research done by EA to implement

work-life practices in the workplace.

Through this book, we hope that more VWOs will be encouraged to adopt similar

practices and ensure our sector is an attractive one that takes care of its employees

while we work with passion in serving the disadvantaged.

Ms Angela Yak Director Sector Manpower and Corporate Planning Division

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CHAPTER 1

The Importance of Work-Life Practices

Work-life Practices have been gaining a lot of media mention in the last few years

and the Singapore government has been stressing on the importance of maintaining

a healthy workforce In 2004, the then Ministry of Community Development and

Sports (MCDS) commissioned the Singapore National Employers Federation to

conduct a study on work-life strategy in Singapore to quantify the dollar benefits that

these policies have in a local setting1. The study found that almost two-thirds of

employees indicated that they stayed with their present company partly because of

the work-life strategies that were in place. Furthermore almost half the respondents

joined the present organisation for just the same reason.

The study also showed that organisations benefited from the work-life programmes

through an increase in savings and revenue. Savings came from lower costs incurred

when filling vacancies because of retention of staff while revenue increases were

reflected through increased productivity.2

Today’s employees have to shoulder family much more responsibilities that could

include taking care of their children or elderly parents. Work-life practices would be a

boon to these employees helping them to balance work and family life. This in turn

will lead to improved staff morale, and reduction in absenteeism.

Work-life practices can basically be grouped into three different categories as shown

in the diagram below (See Figure 1).

1 Ministry of Community Development and Sports (MCDS) Work-Life Strategy Makes Business Sense – the

Singapore Business Case Study of 11 Organisations (Singapore, 2004). 2 Ibid., p. 4.

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Flexible Work Arrangement:

Examples include flexible working hours, five-day work week, part-time work, etc.

Specialised Leave Schemes:

These would include marriage leave, paternity leave, parental care leave, birthday leave, etc.

Employee Support Programmes:

For example, child care services at work, recreational activities for staff, medical and hospitalisation benefits etc.

Figure 1 - The three categories of work-life practices3

Work-life practices can be implemented by all organisations, whether big or small.

Naturally, larger organisations would enjoy greater economies of scale through their

work-life policies. However, smaller organisations enjoyed greater net dollar return

per employee compared to the bigger organisations4. Nevertheless, smaller

organisations would have to implement such programmes with a bit more care and

consideration to total employee size and work arrangements.

Strong management support is a crucial factor for work-life practices to succeed in

the workplace. For more information on how an organisation should go about when

they wish to implement work-life practices within their company, please read

Chapter 3’s “How to Implement Work-life Practices at Your Workplace”.

3 For a more comprehensive list of examples for the various categories, please visit Employer Alliance website

4 MCDS, op. cit., p. 4.

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CHAPTER 2

Work-life Practices in the Social Service Sector

This chapter will list some of the work-life practices that the VWOs have

implemented5. We hope to see more VWOs implementing these fine examples.

Flexible Work Arrangement

Flexi-Work/Part-Time work:

Staff are allowed flexible work hours or to work from home to attend to personal emergencies...permanent part-time work arrangement are also allowed to help those who need to spend more time with their families. Down Syndrome Association (Singapore)

An employee may work from home or request for flexible work arrangement in order to manage work responsibilities alongside personal and family needs. Employees can also apply to convert to part-time employment when they need to care for their family or even pursue personal development. Metta Welfare Association

Staff who have young children may convert from full-time to part-time employment. Rainbow Centre

Part-time work arrangement can be arranged for staff who may need to care for their children or elderly relatives. Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association (SANA)

5 Many of the more common work-life practices such as compassionate leave and maternity leave are not

highlighted in this chapter as these are generally instituted in all organisations.

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Staggered Working Hours:

Staff may have differing official working hours to suit their personal needs. Autism Association (Singapore)

Effective 1 May 2012, our general office staff’s work schedule was moved from a 5.5 day work week to a 5-day work week to enable staff to have a better work-life balance. Dover Park Hospice

Staff who need to fetch their children to and from child care can stagger their starting work hours to suit their individual needs. Ren Ci Hospital

We have a 5-day work week (9am – 6pm) and are given time off 30 minutes earlier on Fridays to spend time with our family. Rotary Family Service Centre

Time-Off:

We provide official time-off of up to 2 hours for staff who needs to attend to urgent matters or have a medical appointment. Rainbow Centre

Caseworkers who see clients after normal office hours are given time-off to ensure they have sufficient rest. Rotary Family Service Centre

Sometimes staff may be required to perform work outside their regular working hours. So in recognition of these extra hours they put in, staff are compensated with time-off which may be utilised whenever they need it. Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association (SANA)

Staff are given time-off for rehabilitative services. They are also reimbursed for follow up treatment in physiotherapy and occupational therapy at all government hospitals. Singapore Cheshire Home

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Specialised Leave Schemes

Adoption Leave:

3 days of adoption leave is granted to staff who are married, widowed or divorced PERTAPIS Welfare & Education Centre

Birthday Leave:

All staff are eligible for birthday leave on the day of his/her birthday. Fei Yue Family Service Centre

Child-Care Leave:

On top of child care leave, we also provide up to 5 days of dependent care leave for staff with children above 7 years old. Rainbow Centre

Staff can take up to 6 days of unpaid infant care leave per calendar year for children below the age of 2. Ren Ci Hospital

Dependent Care Leave (elderly parents):

All confirmed staff are given 6 days leave to take their elderly parents above the age of 65, for medical appointments etc. Fei Yue Family Service Centre

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Extended Annual Leave:

All staff in the organisation enjoys a higher annual leave entitlement as compared to the usual normal 14 days of annual leave entitlement. This is in line with the organisation’s effort to ensure that staff maintain a proper work life balance. Beyond Social Service

In appreciation of staff who have worked a long time in the organisation, staff annual leave will increase from 14 days to 18 days and thereafter to 21 days after they have served 10 years. PERTAPIS Welfare & Education Centre

Family Care Leave:

Staff are eligible to have 3 days of Family Care leave to take time off to look after their children/parents/parents-in laws when they fall ill or accompany them for medical appointment. Dover Park Hospice

Staff are given 2 days of Family Care leave should their immediate family members (parents, parents-in-law, grandparent, spouse and siblings) fall sick. Staff are also given 3 days leave for each sick child up to a maximum of 9 days. Ren Ci Hospital

Other Forms of Leave

Staff are entitled to Pilgrimage Leave (42 days), Wedding Anniversary Leave, Maid in Absence Leave (3 days) and Examination Leave (7 days). Yayasan MENDAKI

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Employee Support Programmes

Buddy System:

We encourage a Buddy System for new staff, whereby they are attached to a senior staff member in our organisation. The objective is not only to acclimatise new staff to the work environment but also to provide support for staff by assisting one another when they face any personal or family issues and need to take urgent leave. PERTAPIS Welfare & Education Centre

Discounted Child-Care Fees:

Staff are given a special rate when sending their children to our child-care centres. PERTAPIS Welfare & Education Centre

Festive Celebration:

The staff organises a Christmas celebration every year to foster relationship and interaction amongst all. Singapore Cheshire Home

Flexible Benefits

To encourage leisure and personal development, staff are eligible to claim a certain amount a year for flexible benefit on items such as Traditional Chinese Medicine consultation and medication, fitness, holiday reimbursement, and fees for enrichment courses. Beyond Social Services

A $100 fund can be used for courses conducted after office hours as well as during office hours. Yayasan MENDAKI

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Medical & Insurance Coverage:

We provide group personal accident and hospitalisation and surgical support in terms of an insurance coverage which will assist the family of our staff should anything happen to him/her. This is in addition to the mandatory Work Injury provided for all staff. Staffs are also provided with co-pay medical claim for their general wellbeing should they fall sick. PERTAPIS Welfare & Education Centre

Newborn and Hospitalisation Gifts

Staff are given $100 upon the birth of each child. Staff who are hospitalised will also be provided a hamper. Yayasan MENDAKI

Overseas Trips:

Our organisation organises annual outings for staff and their family members, who enjoy subsidised rates to places like Bintan and Malaysia. Metta Welfare Services

Staff Recreational Clubs:

Staff can enjoy recreational activities after work or during lunch hours through indoor activities such as pool table, karaoke etc. The SANA Recreational Club also organises regular activities to keep staff engaged. Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association (SANA)

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Featured Organisation – ASIAN WOMEN’S WELFARE ASSOCIATION

The Asian Women’s Welfare Association (AWWA) provides a wide range of services

to the community – from family service centres that provide assistance to families, to

special education schools for the disabled, and community homes for the elderly.

They have always advocated a strong family culture within the organisation and this

can be seen by the range of work-life policies that help their 300 staff juggle between

family and work. “At AWWA, we believe that the employees are our greatest

asset…and hence, we need to look after our people, and look after them well”, said

Ms Yasmin Hannah, HR Manager.

There are individual leave schemes that many AWWA staff enjoy that allow them to

be with their family in time of urgency or crisis. Celebratory events such as AWWA

Family Day and movie nights are occasions when staff can bring their families along

to share fun and bonding time with the rest of the AWWA family.

AWWA’s Leave Schemes

There is a slew of personal leave care that AWWA has implemented for their staff

covering many different aspects. There is an Adoption Leave scheme, which allows

female employees to take 4 weeks paid leave. And under the enhanced child care

leave, employees with Singapore citizen child below the age of 7 years are eligible for

an additional 3 days leave, on top of the usual 3 days leave that all employees are

eligible.

While embracing many of the more common leave such as marriage, maternity,

paternity and caregiver leaves, AWWA has come up with a few rather unique ones as

well. Under the Religious Rites Leave, one working day leave is provided to all staff in

connection with the death of an immediate family member. This leave is to be

utilised within one year of the demise of said family member.

Another unique example is AWWA’s HDB Leave Scheme. Staff who have applied for a

HDB flat are given one day leave when they need to make an appointment with HDB

to collect their keys.

Health and Medical Schemes

To help their staff maintain a healthy lifestyle, AWWA organises events like annual

health screening and health-related lunch talks at low or no cost to staff. Fruit Day

happens once a month in AWWA when their REClub distributes fruit to all staff. On

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Picture 2: Swimming pool at AWWA

Picture 1: Fruit, milk and juice

vending machine at AWWA

top of that, AWWA also has a fruit vending machine which carries cut fruits like

papaya and pineapple together with yogurt, milk and fruit

juice.

AWWA’s clients make use of gym and swimming pool

facilities during their classes in the daytime. But after

school hours, these facilities are open to all AWWA staff

to enjoy. The school hall is also converted into a

badminton court or dance floor after office hours for

staff to come together and enjoy sporting activities.

AWWA offers comprehensive medical and insurance

coverage for their staff. Medical and dental benefits are

combined so that staff has the flexibility to utilise their

benefits and not be restricted to either medical or

dental needs only. Staff who are suffering long-term

illness can rest assured of being looked after. For

instance, one staff who needed heart surgery had to

extend her sick leave period beyond the 60 days. AWWA

extended her leave period and kept her position open until she was ready to come

back to work after 4 months.

Organisation-Wide

events

Every year, all AWWA

staff are given one day

off in September,

together with a special

gift, to thank them for

their hard work and

efforts throughout

the year. This special

day is known as

AWWA Appreciation Day. Other events

such as the AWWA Family Dinner and

Annual Movie Night have also become part of the organisation’s calendar of annual

work-life events.

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Staff Development & Welfare

Developing staff to their fullest potential is something AWWA strongly believes in.

They have put in place a comprehensive buddy and mentoring system to help new

staff integrate smoothly into AWWA’s culture. Sponsorships and scholarships for

trainings and further studies allow their staff to develop in the academic areas. There

is also a special fund set aside for all their social workers and counsellors to have

their own counselling session if there is a need to prevent burnout.

AWWA has shown how a VWO is able to make full use of its facilities so that not only

their clients and students benefit, but staff as well. More than 73% of AWWA’s staff

were satisfied with the level of work-life balance in their organisation, as reflected in

a staff climate survey done in 2011. AWWA can be a good role model for the other

VWOs to take reference from. If you wish to find out more details on AWWA’s

practices, please contact Ms Yasmin (yasmin@awwa.org.sg).

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Featured Organisation – FOCUS ON THE FAMILY SINGAPORE

Focus on the Family Singapore (FOTFS) is a charity that is dedicated to helping

families thrive. They provide family life education through talks and workshops,

resources on a wide array of important issues for the family and personal

counselling. This dedication to helping families transcends into helping their own

staff too. As explained by their CEO, Ms Joanna Koh-Hoe, “You can’t build loyalty

from a purely monetary relationship. The employee that buys into the organisation is

better able to sell the whole organisation, and not just its products and services”. A

wide range of work-life policies are practiced at FOTFS while still being flexible

enough to offer customized solutions to each staff’s needs. With a staff strength of

around 30, FOTFS makes sure that all their work-life policies are inclusive and caters

to all employees regardless of gender, life stage or length of service.

Flexible Work Arrangements

FOTFS is constantly on the lookout for new and practical work-life programmes to

benefit their staff.

Flexible work schedules such as compressed work schedule are available to all FOTFS

employees. Staff under this scheme work the same number of hours as the rest, but

over a shorter period. For example, a staff may work for 10 hours per day instead of

8 hours, thus reducing their actual working days from 5 to 4 days per week.

Tele-commuting are also available to all staff. This work arrangement allows staff to

attend to long-term family commitments (for example being a primary caregiver for

elderly parents or young children) while remaining gainfully employed. Staff are

equipped with remote access to the organisation’s shared server, thus ensuring easy

access to handle any work exigencies.

FOTFS’s Leave Schemes

FOTFS has in place is the renewal and sabbatical leave schemes. Staff who has served

at least five years in the organisation will be entitled to five additional days of annual

leave. On top of the additional leave, staff also receive a $200 travel voucher. This is

a nice way to reward staff for their loyalty and at the same time gets staff re-

energised. Staff with 10 years will have 10 additional days of annual leave and a $400

travel voucher.

Children entering the schooling system for the first time is not only a stressful time

for the kids, but also for the parents. To help ease this period, FOTFS has the First

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Picture 3: Family Corner at FOTFS

Picture 4: The Family Resource Library

Day of School Time-Off. This enables staff to take time off from work and bring their

child to school. Staff can make up for the lost work hours at a later time at their own

discretion.

Supporting Their Employees

For a small VWO, FOTFS has a very wide range of facilities and programmes to ensure

staff well being. Expectant and young mothers have a Lactation Room that provides

them with a quiet and private room to nurse, lactate or rest.

For parents who need to bring their

children to the office the Family Corner

in the office is a useful spot for young

children to play and relax. The Family

Resource Library provides a

comprehensive range of publications on

family life and work-life issues. Staff are

then able to make full use of the

organisation’s expertise on family matters

to enhance their own personal and family

matters. Staff who need more than just reference material for their family issues may

in fact make use of the organisation’s very own counselling resources.

Birthdays are a special

occasion for staff at FOTFS.

Apart from a birthday card,

it also comes with a cake

and voucher worth $50. This

simple gesture is meant to

show how much the staff

are valued and appreciated

by the organisation.

FOTFS is a forward looking

organisation when it comes

to ensuring their staff’s

needs in both work and

personal life are taken care of. “We have seen staff retention improve since 2009”,

says Ms Shelen Ang, Head of Corporate Services, “[and] work-life balance was also

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ranked the highest among all components in our staff engagement survey in 2012.”

As a winner of the Singapore’s Work-Life Excellence Award, FOFTS is well-placed to

be a fine example of how a small VWO can also promote work-life policies, at the

same time, delivering quality services to its clients. To find out more on FOTFS’ work-

life practices and how maybe your organisation could emulate some of their

practices, please contact Ms Rachel Lee (Rachel.Lee@family.org.sg).

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CHAPTER 3

How to Implement Work-life Practices

at the Workplace6

A successful Work‐life Strategy requires the management supervisors and employees to play their parts. Work‐life programmes succeed in organisations where there is a workplace culture based on reciprocity and trust, with the responsibility for work‐life integration shared among the organisation, supervisors and employees.

The organisation:

Develops and communicates a Work‐life Strategy suitable for its business and its employees;

Makes its work‐life programmes available to as many of its employees as possible, subject to business needs;

Has a sound performance management system that allows it to evaluate all its employees (including those on flexible work arrangements) objectively;

Trains its supervisors to support Work‐life Strategy.

Supervisors:

Support the organisation’s Work‐life Strategy; Help tailor an employee’s flexible work arrangements in consultation

with the employee and other relevant departs in the organisation, e.g. HR; and

Evaluate employee performance by outcomes and deliverables rather than hours clocked and physical presence in the office.

Employees:

Familiarise themselves with the organisation’s work‐life programmes and makes use of them appropriately;

Work with their immediate supervisors to design flexible work arrangements and other work‐life programmes that do not compromise business outcomes; and

6 All information in Chapter 3 is adapted from the Employer Alliance’s website page on work-life

integration.

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Engage themselves in their work and add value to the organisation throughout their period of employment.

Figure 2 – Four steps to a successful Work‐life Strategy

Step 1 - Establish the need to implement / modify a Work‐life Strategy

Work‐life Strategy is a business strategy – to make it work, top management as a

whole needs to buy into it and align organisational processes to it. Organisations

have implemented work‐life programmes for one or more of the following reasons:

Attract and/or retain talent

Raise morale

Increase productivity

Establish the need to

implement / modify a Work‐life Strategy

Assess business needs and

employees’ work‐life needs

Implement work‐life

programmes

Evaluate work‐life

programmes

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Save on real estate and overhead expenses

Reduce healthcare costs

Provide work flexibility in response to changing employee needs

Increase commitment

Combat burnout

Be an Employer of Choice

Stay ahead of the competition

Once the need for implementing Work‐life Strategy has been established,

organisations can then move on to set targets and a timeframe in which to achieve

these targets.

Step 2 - Assess business needs and employees’ work‐life needs

Assess your business needs

To make sure that targets are practical, an organisation should be clear about what

its business needs are. Business needs include corporate values, objectives and/or

operational standards that cannot be compromised for any reason. These may be

broken down according to an organisation’s functional and business units, which may

each have different business needs due to the nature of their work.

For example, if a business revolves around customer-facing services (e.g. in a retail

outlet) it may be possible to implement flexi-time with some creative scheduling, but

it may not be possible to implement flexi-place. On the other hand, if there is a need

for 24-hour operations (e.g. in a hospital), rotating 12-hour shifts with more days off

might be appropriate, but a flexi-time would not. Organisations with a good

understanding of its own business needs and process will be better able to customise

a successful Work-life Strategy.

Assessing your employees’ work-life needs

Different organisations have different employee profiles and these employees have

differing needs. An organisation’s employee profile and employees’ needs also

change over time. Therefore, there is a need to regularly assess employees’ work-life

needs so that an organisation’s Work-life Strategy remains relevant. This may be

done through an annual review.

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There are different ways to find out what employees are grappling with in terms of

managing work commitments alongside personal and family needs. Three common

methods include workforce profiling, employee surveys and focus groups. These are

often used to complement one another.

1) Workforce profiling

Workforce profiling refers to mining information within an organisation, especially its

existing employee records. It provides an indication of the areas of priority for work-

life programmes. Tracked regularly, it can yield information about trends and

changes which may be used to adjust work-life programmes. Some questions may

include:

a. How many employees are / have

i. Near retirement?

ii. Young parents?

iii. Parents of more than one child?

iv. Single Parents?

v. Elderly parents?

vi. Dependants with healthcare needs?

vii. Men or women?

viii. Married or single?

b. Which part of the business is it most difficult to recruit employees for? What

could be the reasons?

c. What are the prevalent health problems and costs?

d. What is the absenteeism rate?

e. How much medical leave is being consumed?

2) Employee surveys

Employee surveys reveal attitudinal information that may be used to gauge

employee sentiments. Tracked regularly, this can provide information in employee

sentiments that may signal deeper concerns in at the workplace. Some areas to

survey may include:

a. Issues related to job scope and responsibilities – this may reveal concerns

about work and stress and indicate work flexibility options

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b. Non-work commitments and aspirations, e.g. the number of dependents,

plans to attain higher education – this can provide information about which

work-life programmes to prioritise

c. A list of existing / upcoming work-life programmes – this can provide

information about which programmes are or will be popular

d. Job satisfaction / motivation / engagement / work-life harmony levels

3) Focus groups

Focus groups provide more open-ended responses than surveys, and allow

moderators to delve more deeply into a topic to elicit and understand different

qualitative views. They are essentially interviews with several people (generally 6 –

10) at the same time. It involves an organised discussion with a selected group of

individuals to gain information about their views and experiences of a topic, e.g. a

particular work-life programme. The moderator plays a very important role, and

good leadership and interpersonal skills are required to moderate a group

successfully and elicit useful information.

Step 3 - Implement work‐life programmes

Design work-life programmes

Work-life programmes fall into 3 broad categories:

1) Flexible Work Arrangements

A successful Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA) need not be implemented for all

employees in an organisation. An effective FWA takes into account the nature of the

employee’s job and his/her personality – if either or both are unsuitable for the

arrangement, implementing it would be counter-productive. Typically, immediate

supervisors are in the best position to determine the suitability of the arrangement.

FWAs are the most impactful of work-life programmes as they shape the day-to-day

operations of an organisation and the daily routines of its employees. An

organisation can often reap benefits from a well-implemented FWA, saving on costs

and ramping up efficiency and productivity.

Before embarking on any FWA, it would be useful for employees to conduct a self-

assessment and consider the pros and cons of their request. They must also consider

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which FWAs are appropriate given the requirements and/or limitations of their

specific job duties and responsibilities. An example of a self-assessment

questionnaire by World At Work is provided in this attachment: World at Work FWA

assessment questionnaire.

2) Leave Benefits

Leave benefits refer to those over and above statutory requirements (i.e. annual

leave, childcare leave, maternity leave and sick leave). Such leave may be (i) paid or

unpaid, and (ii) subsumed under the annual allotment of leave benefits.

3) Employee Support Schemes

Employee Support Schemes (ESS) help employees manage the non-work aspects of

their lives, especially the “time stress” that so many of them face. These programmes

may involve the innovative use of existing organisation resources, simple gestures of

appreciation for employees and their family, dependent care support, health and

wellness programmes, flexible benefits and time-saving services.

Such schemes need not be costly. For example, companies that already provide a

service as a business could extend it to their employees at marginal cost, e.g.

transportation, laundry, childcare, etc. This can make a big difference to employees

and in turn, employee engagement.

Develop a communication plan

The successful implementation of work-life programmes hinges on proper

communication of these programmes to employees – in order to use these

programmes, employees need to be aware of their availability. Studies have also

shown that awareness of work-life programmes is as important as utilisation of work-

life programmes when it comes to improving employee engagement and turnover.

A variety of communication channels may be used according to the norms of each

organisation, and effectiveness of the channels. Some common modes of

communication include townhall / team meetings, emails, intranet, message boards,

memos, department lunches, etc.

In addition to building awareness about work-life programmes,

communication channels can also contribute to:

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Sustaining a work-life culture, e.g. posters and placards of an organisation’s

work-life values could adorn corridors, pantries and meeting rooms

Transmitting work-life corporate values , e.g. handbooks on corporate values

and organisation’s work-life programmes could be given to all new recruits

Improving and invigorating the organisations Work-life Strategy, e.g. feedback

channel could be used in regular evaluation of existing work-life programmes

or to monitor shifting work-life needs

Some considerations for an effective communication plan include:

Define objectives (short-term, e.g. introducing a specific work-life programme,

and long-term, e.g. developing a culture of flexibility)

Identify target audience (including segments that might resist the new

initiative)

o Customise strategy for buy-in

o Identify key message for each segment of the target audience

o Anticipate audience’s concerns

o Prime audience for new initiative

o Educate and train middle managers

o Explain benefits of new initiative

Select channels for communicating and promoting the new initiative

Build in a feedback mechanism so that it is possible to evaluate the

communication plan

Measure effectiveness of communication plan

Support from Senior Management

Senior management support for Work-life Strategy is crucial. Supervisors and

employees of all levels will feel more comfortable supporting, participating in and

using the work-life programmes. In this way, the purpose of the organisation’s Work-

life Strategy is better achieved.

Clear policies and guidelines

Work-life programmes need to be supported by clear policies and guidelines. Policies

and guidelines address the values, eligibility criteria and operational details of the

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programmes. As a rough guide, policies and guidelines for work-life programmes

should:

Stress mutual benefits to both the organisation and its employees

Encourage an approach of mutual trust and accountability to developing and

implementing work-life programmes

Value employees for their contribution to the business, not their choice of

work arrangement

Include an objective, outcome-based monitoring and evaluation mechanism

Step 4: Evaluate work‐life programmes

Measuring the effectiveness of your work-life programmes allows you to determine

whether they have met their objectives. Identifying a successful work-life

programme can help build your business case, while discovering a work-life

programme that did not meet its objectives would allow you to improve on it. Some

data sources that could be mined to evaluate the effectiveness of the work-life

programme include:

Quantitative

Utilisation rate of the work-life programmes

Absenteeism

Measure of employee job satisfaction, engagement, etc.

Voluntary turnover rate

Qualitative

Feedback from employees about the work-life programme in meeting their

needs

Feedback from supervisors on difficulties faced implementing work-life

programmes

Exit interviews

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CHAPTER 4

Resources Available

For more information on work-life practices and work-life integration please visit the

Employer Alliance website at http://www.employeralliance.sg/index.html. Some of

the resources that you can find there include:

Work-Life Integration process

How organisations can go about putting in place a proper Work-Life

Integration Process (as described in Chapter 3) is covered in greater detail

here.

Types of Funding available

The Work-Life Works! (WoW!) Fund is provided to organisations as a one-

time grant to encourage employers to introduce Work-Life strategies at their

workplace. Funding of up to 80% of costs subject to a maximum of $20,000 is

provided under this Fund. Click here for more information and to apply for

the Fund, please visit the MOM website.

Flexi-Works! is an initiative by the Workforce Development Agency (WDA),

National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) and Singapore National Employers

Federation (SNEF) to help companies hire new workers on part-time or

flexible work arrangements. This initiative provides a grant of up to $100,000

to support an organisation’s efforts in implementing flexible work

arrangements.

The Organisational Development Grant (ODG) under the VCF can also be used

to improve organisational and human resource management practices among

VWOs. This grant focuses on improving VWOs’ organisational practices and

internal processes e.g. human resource management.

Stories of organisations that implemented work-life initiatives

Read some inspiring stories of how organisations have made the journey to

work-life integration in their workplace. Take the examples of these

companies and try to emulate them in your own organisation.

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Engaging external consultants

If your organisation is thinking of engaging an external consultant to provide

advice on establishing a work-life strategy for your organisation, this would be

the site to visit for more information. For a listing of approved consultants,

you should go to the Ministry of Manpower page listed there.

Publications and Awards

Listing of various publications on work-life balance is available for download.

The MOM website also has such information available for download and a

good example would be the Work-Life Harmony Report.

The Work-Life Excellence Award recognises and honours employers who are

committed to implementing a harmonious work-life balance in their

organisation. For more information on the award, please visit the official

website.

Some Other Useful Websites and Information

Flexible working options are outlined in this UK website which also has a

useful guide available for download.

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The Family Council Secretariat of Hong Kong has resources and information

available too. Furthermore, the HK Labour Department has published a

casebook on work-life practices by various organisations in the territory.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank our following member organisations for their invaluable

contributions towards this guidebook.

Asian Women’s Welfare Association

Autism Association (Singapore)

Beyond Social Services

Dover Park Hospice

Down Syndrome Association (Singapore)

Fei Yue Family Service Centre

Focus on the Family Singapore

Metta Welfare Association

PERTAPIS Welfare & Education Centre

Rainbow Centre

Ren Ci Hospital

Rotary Family Service Centre

Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association

Singapore Cheshire Home

Yayasan MENDAKI

And finally, thank you to Employer Alliance, for their kind permission to use many of

their information.

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

National Council of Social Service 170 Ghim Moh Road, #01-02 Singapore 279621 Tel: 6210-2500 Fax: 6468-1012 www.ncss.org.sg