Work-life Balance

Editor
Today Paper

I refer to Ms Lena Soh Kwee Kim's letter "Work-life balance: Bosses too have part to play" (ST, May 3).

Ms Soh asked bosses to be flexible in giving concessions to all employees to help them deal with stress, work and family demands. I agree with this view.

I wish to share some of our practices in NTUC Income.

We believe that a competent and happy employee is able to give better service to our customers. We encourage our employees to achieve a balanced work-life and a healthy lifestyle. This is done without sacrificing our competitive edge or increasing business costs.

Our employees enjoy the following schemes:

- flexible working hours
- part-time work
- telework, working from home

Our flexible working hours is most popular. Our employees can choose to start work at any time between 7.30 to 9.30 a.m. and to work 8 hours during the day.

About 300 employees, or 25% of the workforce, have opted for a different starting time, according to their individual need.

Last year, we introduced a one month paid leave for an employee who has completed
three years of service. This benefit cost 3% of payroll but is offset by the savings of 3% in employer CPF contribution.

Our employees enjoyed this benefit, as they can spend time with their family and friends, learn a special skill, or take an extended overseas vacation.

Our human resource practices have made a positive impact on our employees, leading to a high satisfaction score and a low turnover rate for our employees.

In our regular survey, our employees voted the work-life balance to be a strong
positive factor in our work environment.

Tan Kin Lian
Chief Executive Officer
NTUC Income