Work-life balance to be improved for public sector

[Cheekg98]

Civil servants shd have better work-life balance since usual working hrs is from 9 am to 5 pm? so is this still required ?

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By Dominique Loh, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 24 July 2007 1723 hrs Photos 1 of 1

 

SINGAPORE: Civil servants can look forward to a better work-life balance. An advocate and ambassador will be appointed in every public sector agency to help find the middle ground between the two worlds.

 

The "happy worker is a good worker" mantra is now being fully embraced by the government.

 

And it is going beyond its five-day work week policy introduced three years ago.

 

Teo Chee Hean, Defence Minister and Minister In Charge of Civil Service, said: "The Work-life Advocate will by its very name be a champion for work-life and pro-family measures.

 

"He will take steps to ensure that work-life policies are in place, and more importantly that these policies work for the employees as well as the organisation.

 

"To signal the government's commitment, the Deputy Secretary of the Ministry will be the Work-Life Advocate."

 

Said Sim Gim Guan, Work-Life Advocate, Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts, "There are many aspects, depending on which stage they're in, especially for the new grads who are joining us.

 

"One of the things that we want to look at is providing opportunities for them to socialise, within the ministry as well as the rest of the stat boards."

 

International human resource experts say there are several emerging trends when it comes to work-life balance.

 

The first is the aging workforce. This is a global trend, not unique to just Singapore.

 

Here, Singapore scores well for its policies in hiring older workers.

 

The second is the increasing role of women in the workplace.

 

The Employer Alliance, a network of companies committed to enhancing work-life integration, notes more businesses have taken the lead to make the work environment more pro-family.

 

Men are now also demanding such policies. Having these policies means a more competitive edge.

 

Said Claire Chiang, Chairperson, Employer Alliance, "As a parent, they are worried. So they would like, maybe, a work design, where they can have some hours at work, some hours at home, or they can work at home.

 

"This way, they can give the best to both and it is possible with enabling technology. Companies have shown such examples. They have not had a drop in productivity, but have in fact shown overall enhancement of work performance."

 

"One thing that Singapore can learn... look at the European Union, the US experience, other countries and look at what is the relationship between individual businesses and what the government can set the pace for," said Arlene Johnson, Vice President, WFD Consulting.

 

HR experts say there are 25 years worth of research in work-life balance that Singapore can tap into, when implementing the many options available. - CNA/yy

[Ahhuat]

hallo.. im a civil servant and ive never worked 9am to 5pm!! Normally 7am to 630pm or 7am to 7pm...

 

and pls let's not start about the civil service pay rise.. what we got was a one off bonus pegged to our performance.. while ur PM and gang get a permanent pay rise.. ours was just a one off for the yr 2007. next yr onwards no bonus!

 

perhaps the only civil servants working 9am to 5pm and also fly around for holidays paid with ur money are ur PM and gang.. so if anyone got the guts.. go vote them out and leave the small fry civil servants alone..

 

so many ppl no guts to talk to P*P but got so much guts to whack the civil servants...

[Cheekg98]

my friend in pvt sector works 14 hr a day ... sometimes work past the clock without sleeping.

[Kopisiao]

ask your friend to come join us in the civil service then. slightly shorter hours, 8am to 8pm. can still go home sleep, not bad. work-life still can barely balance.

[Requiemdk]

I'm a civil servant and I fully agree with what ahhuat mentioned.

 

Work-life balance? How to when your work is your life... Slack a bit and someone else will come around to replace you liao lor, then you really got no life in this island

[Cheekg98]

[Albeniz]

On a normal day, I work from 8am to 6.15pm.

Is this acceptable?

[Cheekg98]

v balanced work-life

[Coolbluewater]

I used to work for public sector. On normal day, is around 7.45 am to 6pm or 6.30pm, sometimes, 7.30pm depends, then go home shower, eat dinner, and continue till 2 to 3 am. Day time is to handle politics, after office hour is for you to catch up with the work you have not done during office hours. Even overseas vacation also must check email everyday, if not kenna complain.

[So_nice]

i work 0800-1930 and 1930-0800. but i have to come 1 hour earlier and leave like 2-3 hours later then usual!!

 

where the fuk is the work-life balance? they have been talking for years already. still the same.

[Albeniz]

v balanced work-life

 

At least I can come back to post in MCF on a regular basis.

[Darth_mel]

Work-life balance is only for those overpaid civil servants who go around playing golf, talking c*ck like this guy, por lum-p*r of those rulers from rich countries like Brunei and go for vacation at taxpayers' expense.

[Ahhuat]

my friend in pvt sector works 14 hr a day ... sometimes work past the clock without sleeping.

 

yup.. i do that as well.. cos after 7 i bring my work home.. i have to leave at 7 cos office closes...

 

and i work weekends too..

 

point being.. let's not generalise that civil servants work 9-5.. unless ppl are civil servants themselves...

 

if got guts to talk big.. go talk to the top civil servant and tell him how to run stuff... lay off us small fries!

[Ahhuat]

all this improvements are just for the top civil servants.. just like the pay rise.. only for them...

 

but ST reported that it is for civil servants..

 

only true civil servants know the real situation...

[Cheekg98]

wow ! so means more pay and now less working hrs ???

[Nighthawkcity]

ya.. at wee hours..

same here..

[Ahhuat]

yalor

 

high pay which can buy 5 foreign PM for the price of 1

 

and now less time

 

mebbe good ol lee should just retire and let me run the country

[So_nice]

i guess so. but probably only for those elite class civil servants. for small flies like us..next life bah