Singapore unlikely to make caregiving leave mandatory despite NTUC recommendation: observers

SINGAPORE is unlikely to take the labour movement’s suggestion to make caregiving leave mandatory, with employers saying such a move would be untenable without financial support from the government.

Last Wednesday (Sep 20), the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) called on the government to introduce statutory paid caregiving leave, among several recommendations to help workers who are caring for elderly, disabled or ill family members.

Defining “family members” as individuals related by blood, marriage or adoption, NTUC added that such legislation should cover chronic illnesses and both physical and mental conditions. It did not suggest exactly how much leave should be given.

In response, employers said they understood the increasing necessity of caregiving leave as Singapore’s population ages – but added that the costs of such a policy would be challenging to bear.

“I think businesses will be happy to support their staff... (but) perhaps the government can look into shouldering a greater burden of the costs if this policy is made mandatory,” said Ang Yuit, deputy president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (Asme).

“Businesses have been dealing with a significant uptick in costs since coming out of Covid, and other manpower costs even before that. It wouldn’t be wise to add costs too quickly now,” he added.

If businesses are expected to shoulder the costs of this additional paid leave, employers are likely to turn to alternative sources of manpower, including outsourcing certain job functions, said Dainial Lim, director of immigration consultant Xignam Consulting.

In addition to the financial strain, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will likely struggle to find replacements for employees who have to take time off for unforeseen caregiving needs – an issue which they already having difficulty with, noted Beatrice Liu, chief executive of traditional Chinese medicine provider Oriental Remedies.

Any policy must be clearly defined and designed in a way that will prevent abuse, said Liu. She added that there should be clarity on the extent of familial ties – for instance, aunts and uncles – that should be covered.

To counter the risk of such abuse, stringent guidelines and oversight mechanisms should be developed with input from all stakeholders, said Liu.

Flexible work arrangements instead of leave

In response to NTUC’s recommendations, Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) executive director Sim Gim Guan did not explicitly address the statutory leave requirement, but said: “Employees need to recognise that their employers have to ensure that business needs are met so that the business will continue to do well.”

He stressed that SNEF believes flexible work arrangements “can meet both the needs of the individual and the business, and will be more sustainable”.

Employers and industry watchers also said that legislation may be too blunt a tool, and that flexible work arrangements would be more beneficial for both employers and employees.

Liu said: “This approach allows employees the flexibility to allocate a few hours for caregiving duties while compensating for those hours on alternate days.”

“Having more flexible work arrangements will always be welcomed by workers... but the idea of caregiving leave will probably require more industry and employer buy-in, and higher adoption levels first,” said OCBC chief economist Selena Ling.

Existing statutory leave practices already differ widely across industries, said Associate Professor Walter Theseira from the Singapore University of Social Sciences. Data from the Ministry of Manpower indicated that lower-income workers and those in more operational roles have lower rates of sick-leave utilisation than those in industries such as financial services.

Legislating a one-size-fits-all approach might not work well, said Eugene Tan, associate law professor at the Singapore Management University (SMU). Even without legislation, employers can choose to offer flexible work arrangements and discretionary paid family care leave.

Rather than getting leave, caregivers can be supported in other ways.

Sharon Tan, director of Diamond Aviation, called on the government to expand eldercare services to meet increasing demand so that caregivers can face less disruption to their work.

Possible approaches

If statutory caregiving leave is instituted, observers expect the government to co-fund the costs – similar to childcare leave, where it currently pays half.

“Otherwise, I expect there to be difficulties in having workers actually enjoy such leave,” said Prof Theseira.

But SMU’s Prof Tan thinks it is not clear how much co-funding the government could provide, and for how long.

Another possible approach is to integrate caregiving leave for both parents and children into a common pot of eight days, said Asme’s Ang.

In Australia, full-time employees are entitled to 10 fully-paid leave days per year – but this covers family and child caregiving as well as personal sick leave.

Approaches differ in countries with caregiving leave. Germany has dedicated caregiving leave for family members, but entitlements vary according to the severity of illness, and employees are not fully compensated.

In Japan, workers get 93 days per immediate family member over their lifetime to care for them during serious illness, in up to three instalments. Employees can receive up to two-thirds of their earnings, paid for by employment insurance, if certain conditions are met.

Many countries extend caregiving leave to immediate family members: parents, siblings and grandparents. But some, such as Sweden, also allow employees to take caregiving leave for “persons who he or she have close relationships with”, such as a friend or neighbour.