Employers retain right to assess flexible work arrangement requests: Gan Siow Huang

EMPLOYERS should retain and promote flexible work arrangements (FWAs), but they retain the right to decide on such arrangements based on operational needs, said Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang in Parliament on Monday (May 9).

She was responding to Member of Parliament Wan Rizal (Jalan Besar GRC), who had asked if the government planned “to go beyond encouraging employers” to have FWAs as a permanent feature of the workplace.

“Even as we continue to ease safe management measures at the workplace, flexible work arrangements remain relevant and important to businesses,” said Gan, who is also the Minster of State for Education.

Many employers see the value of retaining FWAs as these strengthen business resilience and improve talent retention and attraction, and are keen to continue these arrangements beyond the pandemic, she added.

But Gan noted: “For the provision of FWAs to be a sustainable and effective permanent measure, employers will need sufficient time and support to find the right calibration that works best for their employees while meeting business needs.”

In the next few years, the tripartite partners will strengthen training for companies in how to implement FWAs in a sustainable way that benefits both employer and employee, in areas such as human resource policies or job redesign, she said.

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Tripartite work-life ambassadors will continue to advocate for and support the implementation of FWAs, while more companies will be brought onboard the voluntary tripartite standard on FWAs, which establishes best practices.

“This includes having a clear policy on how to request for flexible work arrangements and expectations on its responsible use, timely communication of outcomes as well as fair and objective evaluation of employees’ flexible work requests,” Gan added.

By 2024, tripartite guidelines will be introduced, requiring employers to fairly and properly consider requests for FWAs. “Together, these efforts will establish the norm that it is acceptable to request for flexible work arrangements, while maintaining employers’ prerogative to assess and decide on these requests based on their business and operational needs,” Gan said.