Impact of Increase in Paternity Leave on Employability, Productivity and Family Relationships of Employees

Mdm Deputy Speaker, international research shows that paid parental leave, which includes paternity leave, benefits employers in terms of talent attraction, employee retention and productivity. Paternity leave is also associated with stronger relationships between fathers and their children, as well as with their wives.

The Government has progressively enhanced parental leave schemes to better support parents and, particularly fathers, in playing a bigger role in raising their children. In 2017, we made the second week of Paternity Leave mandatory and increased Shared Parental Leave from one to four weeks. Fathers can now take up to eight weeks of leave in total in their child's first year, to bond with their newborns and care for their wives.

However, supporting the caregiving needs of parents must be balanced with the manpower and operational needs of employers, as I had explained in my Committee of Supply (COS) speech last week. A more sustainable approach is for companies to develop a family-friendly culture. We are heartened that some companies in Singapore are leaning forward to offer additional paternity leave, on top of legislated provisions. There are also other ways to provide more flexible leave options for staff; many companies have signed up to the Tripartite Standards on Unpaid Leave for Unexpected Care Needs.

We welcome these progressive companies to share their experiences and best practices with other companies. As the needs of companies vary, employers, in partnership with their employees, are best placed to assess and implement the family-friendly arrangements suited to the company's context. We will continue to work with tripartite partners to review the scope for more parental leave provisions and build a Singapore that is Made For Families.

Thank you, Madam. I should first say we all welcome the Leader back to the House and we are glad she has recovered well. I have two clarifications. One is, I am just wondering whether the Government is going to review our parental leave policy, not immediately overnight, but, eventually, try to equalise it. I worry what message we are sending to our society when we say that mothers have 16 weeks of maternity leave and fathers have two weeks. Then, we are saying who is supposed to look after our children.

In line with that, the second clarification is, there are studies now that show that our policies reinforce the gender stereotypes. So, I hope the Government can study some of these studies that are out there and also do additional studies to see whether our policies really do reinforce the gender stereotypes.

Mdm Deputy Speaker, I thank the Member for his clarifications. I would say that we agree that it is very important for fathers to be involved, especially at the early stage when the children are just born, for them to bond with the children and to be there for the wife and the family. As I had indicated at COS and earlier, we will continue to work with the tripartite partners to review the scope for more parental leave provisions.

I think the key adjustment that we need to make is a mindset change. It is a mindset change partly on the part of fathers, partly on the part of employers. Employers are key. We have found, for example, if we look at the statistics for the taking of parental leave, that there has been an improvement, but it is still not where we want it to be. For example, in 2016, the take-up rate was 47%; in 2017, it was 53%; in 2018, it was 53%; in 2019, it was 55%. You can see that it is improving, but it is not where we would like it to be.

Firstly, we hope that more and more fathers will see themselves playing a vital role when their children are born and take up the paternity leave. The second part of the equation is also how the employers respond. This is very important because if someone applies for paternity leave and you find that the supervisor is not supportive or the colleagues are not willing to cover, it makes it very difficult for the father to take that paternity leave as well.

That mindset shift is something we are in transition because we see more fathers wanting to be involved; employers need to be on board. Which is why both at COS and now, I am reiterating, as indeed Mr Ng is, that it is actually better for your organisation if you are family-friendly. It is better for your organisation if you support fathers to take paternity leave, and, of course, mothers as well. This is something that we need to work with the tripartite partners on. Mr Louis Ng can be reassured that this is an area of work we will continue to look at.