Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Work life balance

The civil service has appointed a senior officer in each ministry to be responsible for promoting work life balance. I welcome this move.

Many initiatives have been implemented in the work place in past years. They have achieved limited impact.

I like to suggest the following:

* allow employees to work on a part time basis, to be paid proportionately
* allow employees to work from home, based on the work that has been produced
* allow employees to work closer to their homes

These initiatives require the civil service to be more flexible in arranging their work, and be focused on the work done, rather than the time spent in the workplace.

Being a large organisation, the ministries have the opportunity to deploy their workforce in a more flexible manner. We require a change of mindset and willingness to be bold.
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3 comments:

Khiat Han Hwee Adrian said...

Looks like theres always good welfare in the civil services. Good pay, Stable job, almost guaranteed bonus and increments and good welfares.

Poor private sectors workers. Sometimes slog their life away and nobody seems to care about them. My wife just came home. She works till 10pm almost everyday and today, 1am. What worklife balance are we talking about for them?

July 26, 2007 1:27 AM
Anonymous said...

Too bad! the local employers try to squeeze as much out of you.Don't want the job, there is a long queue waiting for your to quit, especailly
"foreign talents" who can work for
24/7. No need night life or family life. If they are allowed to work for 24 hrs.The office can serve as home, sofa as bed and the pantry as kitchen.Everything free and whatever saved can be sent home to build a palace.
So Adrain, bite the bullet and watch the world around you go round and wait for opportunities to spring on.

July 26, 2007 2:00 PM
Anonymous said...

Dear Mr. Tan,

I agree with you that Work Life Balance is very important for all Singaporeans who are inevitably caught in the rat race since enrolment into Primary 1.

While civil service is endowed with good welfare, I strongly urge our Government to conduct audit at all its agencies to ensure that Work Life Balance is not implemented at the expense of their contractors. Since their offices are closed on Saturdays, why expect their operators of canteens, bookshop etc operate on Saturday which in all cases cannot cover their costs when there are little patrons on Saturdays. Such wastage increases costs which are eventually passed to consumers.

The contractor's employees should also deserve Work Life Balance.

July 29, 2007 2:16 PM

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