Budget 2024 > Latest > Commentary
Ms Carrie Tan (Nee Soon): Mr Chairman, we need Flexible Work to be an imperative, as a country that needs to increase our total fertility rate – at the same time that people are coping with the rising demands of eldercare. One way to leapfrog this is to progress towards work-life integration, instead of getting stuck and caught with “work-life balance”. This goes beyond mere semantics to a fundamental shift in mindset and concept.
“Balance” reinforces the idea that “work” and “life” oppose each other and that there is a need to cut back in order to achieve balance. With the push for higher productivity amidst manpower shortages, “cutting back” of any sort makes companies nervous.
But with “Integration”, the two are melded – potentially mutually enhancing each other. Outdated notions like “going to work” or “clocking in and out” makes both employers and employees calculative when work encroaches into personal time or when personal matters encroach into work time. Such calculativeness is stressful and disempowering for both.
Life does not happen like clockwork, nor does business. Work hours and routine helped organise people and shifts – which was relevant during the industrial era with factory-based work. But now technology and communication tools allow many people to work anytime, anywhere. We do business in the information and digital age, but we are still stuck in the industrial-era mindset when organising our workforce.
Integrating work and life allows for tasks in each domain to get done, whenever it can be done. It enhances a sense of autonomy when employees can optimise their energies and time to organise their tasks in the most convenient and efficient manners that work for them. These will help boost productivity and mental well-being. Research has already shown that employees are willing to work for less pay with FWA. And that is how much people value such trust and autonomy.
What are National Population and Talent Division’s (NPTD)’s and Prime Minister’s Office’s (PMO)’s plans to accelerate work-life integration for a triple-win for employees, employers and Singapore?
Watch the speech here.