Talent retention, productivity gains: Industry leaders make the case for flexible work arrangements
Source: Business Times
Article Date: 01 Jan 2025
Clearer frameworks and open dialogue can help businesses turn flexibility into wins, say experts.
Being more open to flexible work arrangements (FWAs) can help companies be more productive, said panellists at a recent roundtable moderated by The Straits Times.
Under new guidelines which took effect on Dec 1, all employers in Singapore, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), must fairly consider formal requests from employees for FWAs.
One reason employers may cite for not accepting such requests could be that the company will incur a significant additional cost burden, said Faith Li, general manager of the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (Tafep).
The roundtable on Nov 19 was presented by Tafep, with other panellists from the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP), Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) and Royal Plaza on Scotts.
Li added that employers may also assess that they will not be able to serve customers as effectively if they accept certain FWA requests.
Examples of such arrangements include remote work, staggered work hours, part-time work or job sharing.
Aslam Sardar, chief executive of IHRP, said that, on the other hand, flexi-work should be seen as an opportunity for organisations to streamline processes by using more technology or cutting down some steps in the workflow.
“I want to encourage organisations and also (human resources) to play a proactive role, working with the business, to look at where we can redesign jobs for the staff, to allow the staff to get that flexibility and help the business gain some benefits in the form of maybe productivity or efficiency needs,” he noted.
Clearer frameworks for implementing flexible work arrangements
The Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangement Requests set the norms and expectations for how staff should request for and use FWAs responsibly, and also how employers should assess a request, and respond.
On their part, employees ought to make their formal FWA requests in writing, and follow requirements that employers stipulate. Formal requests can be defined as requests that are documented. The requests will also contain the information needed for the employer to make an informed decision.
Existing formal and non-formal practices should continue if they work well for both employees and employers.
The guidelines, which apply to employees who have completed probation, adopt a broad definition of FWAs beyond flexi-place arrangements, such as remote or hybrid working, popularised by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The tripartite workgroup that came up with the guidelines aims to sensitise employers, particularly SMEs with less advanced human resource processes, to consider flexi-time and flexi-load arrangements too.
Employers are not required to consider FWA requests from job seekers. However, employers could still state their FWA approach or policy in job advertisements and interviews to manage job seekers’ expectations of the FWAs they can provide.
If no requirements are stipulated by the employer, the guidelines urge employees submitting requests to mention the date of request, type of FWA, duration, frequency, reason, and the start and end dates in their formal request by default.
Employers do not have to agree to every FWA request, said Li.
However, employers will have to include the reason for rejection if they say no. The reason must also be within reasonable business grounds, she added. Employers can have a further conversation with the employee on what other alternative arrangements could be made.
Employees also have a responsibility when submitting requests.
“They need to understand what it means in terms of how they are going to continue delivering on their work outcomes, and how they can continue to work effectively, even as they work flexibly. So this could be conversations with their supervisors about what it means to their team, to the clients that they serve,” noted Li.
This also reassures the employer that the employee wants the FWA to benefit not only himself, but also the organisation, she explained.
“There should be trust and two-way communication between the employer and employee when it comes to flexi-work requests. And in that way, that’s how successful and sustainable FWAs can be implemented in an organisation,” she said.
Sardar also highlighted the importance of trust, and said employees can build trust with employers by communicating frequently and demonstrating a consistent approach in their work.
On the bosses’ part, empathy is important – employers should suspend judgment when someone makes a request, he said.
“More often than not, the individual making the FWA request may be concerned about how they will be perceived and if it will affect their performance appraisal,” said Sardar.
He added that this may affect the take-up of FWAs even if they are available.
Human resource professionals can help to be the bridge between employers and employees in explaining the organisation’s HR policy, and reassuring employees that there are clear ways of assessing performance within the flexible work arrangements that have been agreed on, he said.
How offering more flexibility can benefit businesses
With the new guidelines, many SMEs that ASME spoke to were concerned they would be forced to give their workers FWAs, said panellist Ang Yuit, president of ASME.
But many of them came to see that FWA is a tool that can support them in better interactions with staff members, and having this flexibility in their manpower planning could even help them to tap segments of manpower that other businesses may not be accessing – such as housewives and caregivers, he said.
“The reality is that businesses have to keep up with the times, in terms of where the trend is in human capital practice and what the workforce’s expectations are like now,” said Ang.
FWAs can also lead to happier employees, which boosts productivity at work, he said.
Fellow panellist Juliana Ong, Royal Plaza on Scotts’ director of culture and human capital, said the hotel has benefited from implementing FWAs for more than a decade.
“Back in 2008, we attended different job fairs, and we spoke to some women who wanted to come back to work (after a career break),” said Ong.
“We realised that what this group needed was a job with more flexibility in hours, which is why we decided to implement flexible working arrangements to cater to them,” she added.
Employees can choose to work 22 hours a week according to a roster that suits their needs, such as five half days or three full days, she added. There are even staff who work two weeks and then take the next two weeks off.
Other arrangements include working from home once a week, or staggered work hours, which means either starting earlier and ending earlier, or starting later and ending later.
Implementing more varied working arrangements in a workplace of 240 staff is not without challenges.
Ong said it requires many conversations with employees and those in leadership roles to discuss what kinds of structure would be fair for all employees, regardless of whether they work part-time or full-time.
“One of the challenges we face is heads of department who may not know how to implement FWAs – that’s when we look at how to break down the scope of work so that the work arrangements will work out,” she said.
“There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution for flexible working arrangements,” she noted.
Sardar said employers can tell if FWAs are working through metrics such as employee engagement scores and higher staff retention.
In a hotel’s case, customer service scores are an indicator of success as well.
Ong said: “For us, employee engagement levels have gone up a lot since we started implementing FWAs. Right now, we’re consistently at 90 per cent, and since we’re in hospitality, happy employees translate to happy guests as well.”
To help employers who may not have gone down the route of FWAs, Li said there are the tripartite guidelines that employers can refer to and adapt for their own business needs.
Tafep also conducts free briefings on the guidelines, with more than 3,000 employers attending since the start of 2024.
Ang said the starting point for employers should be to check whether they have a policy for FWAs.
“If you don’t, the tripartite guidelines can become that baseline to help you adopt and implement the policies,” he said.
Employers should also engage employees to let them know the possible ways they can take up FWAs, as not all types of work flexibility may apply in an organisation, said Ang.
“You’ll have to be clear on what works for you as an organisation to support your business needs and then communicate it to the employees.”
This article, which was written by Rosalind Ang, was first published in straitstimes.com on Dec 3, 2024. The roundtable, held at SPH Media in Toa Payoh North, was moderated by ST assistant business editor Joanna Seow.
Source: Business Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.
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