Singapore employers urged to support staff who need 2nd job amid virus outbreak

SINGAPORE firms are advised to allow their local employees to seek a second job so that they can supplement their incomes amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Employers that implement job-sharing arrangements, shorter work weeks or temporary layoffs due to the pandemic should support employees who want to take on part-time or temporary work for another employer, the National Wages Council (NWC) said in its wage and training guidelines issued on Monday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) also released an advisory on second-job arrangements on Monday evening, stating that part-time or temporary work outside of the company will help staff with reduced work hours make up for lost income.

"This will help them mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on their livelihood" when there is no work available, the ministry said.

If there is a conflict of interest with the staff's current employment or a conflict in work scheduling, the employee should discuss and clarify with both employers, MOM advised.

Employers are also encouraged to waive any contractual prohibitions against taking on a second job and help their staff resolve conflicts of interest where possible. This is because employers are the ones who initiated the reduced work hours and pay cuts to save costs, MOM said.

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"Employers should be considerate and supportive towards employees' circumstances during this period," it added.

Meanwhile, employees should be transparent to their employers when it comes to the requirements of both jobs, and ensure that they can take on both jobs without compromising the interests of each employer.

This will help prevent downstream disputes over work schedules, salaries and other employment benefits, MOM said.

The ministry's advisory also laid out the key principles on sharing responsibilities between the first and second employers.

As for wage cuts, NWC recommends that such reductions be made in the Monthly Variable Component (MVC), if salaries have to be reduced at all due to the Covid-19 hit to companies' bottom line.

The MVC, which is part of workers' basic monthly wage, is an emergency lever employers can use to lower their wage bill in sudden business downturns, in order to survive and to save jobs.

The nearly 90 per cent of firms with no MVC - mostly the small and medium-sized enterprises - may cut up to an equivalent 10 per cent of basic wages or more for management, NWC said.