Households will be able to engage part-time migrant worker services to look after their children and elderly, under the expanded Household Services Scheme (HSS). The Government aims to implement the expansion from the second half of this year.
Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang gave the update in her speech at the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) Committee of Supply on 7 March 2022.
MOM introduced the commercial Household Services Scheme (HSS) in 2017. The scheme provides companies the ability to hire migrant workers that provide part-time home cleaning services.
The scheme gives households more options, especially those that need domestic help for only a few hours per day or week, said Ms Gan.
She added that the HSS’ expansion seeks to help Singaporeans balance their work and family commitments.
Ms Gan was responding to NTUC U SME and U Women and Family Director Yeo Wan Ling’s call to give households more support in their domestic services and caregiving needs.
Ms Yeo also asked about the safeguards that the Government would put in place to ensure HSS workers are qualified to provide child- and elder-minding services.
In response, Ms Gan said: “Today, there are already private companies that provide such services. We will study the industry best practices as we expand the scope of HSS companies. MOM will also be conducting engagements with stakeholders, such as households and HSS companies to work out the implementation details over the next few months.”
Ms Gan also urged more companies to adopt the Tripartite Standards on Flexible Work Arrangements.
Today, one in four employees work in a company that has adopted the standard.
The standard specifies practices that employers should implement at the workplace to help their employees better manage their work-life needs through flexible work options.
In 2021, 73 per cent of companies that adopted flexible work arrangements indicated that they were likely to continue offering them post-COVID, added Ms Gan.
“We applaud the many employers who have made the shift towards flexible work arrangements,” she said.
Ms Gan agreed with Ms Yeo that flexible work arrangements can be used enable more women to continue their careers.
Ms Gan added that MOM will work with NTUC and employers to see how flexible work arrangements can be sustained even as the Safe Management Measures are relaxed.
“We have made much progress in flexible work arrangements in the last two years and we must not lose momentum. Similar to the trend in other parts of the world, flexible work arrangements will become the norm of future workplaces,” she said.
Additionally, Ms Yeo had raised concerns regarding work-from-home, which would be difficult to implement for most frontline workers and those involved in shift work. There are also employers who find it challenging to implement flexible work arrangements due to the nature of their business.
In response, Ms Gan suggested that these employers consider other alternative forms of flexibilities such as flexi-shift scheduling, staggered work hours and job sharing.
