Eldercare Leave for Employees

Mr Desmond Choo asked the Minister for Health (a) how many companies currently provide eldercare leave to their employees; (b) whether there has been an increase in consumption of such leave; and (c) how can the Ministry encourage more companies to provide such leave.

There is no mandatory reporting to the Government on the take-up rate of parent care leave across the private sector. According to the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM's) Conditions of Employment Survey 2016, 19% of employers1 provided paid parental care leave for employees to take care of their parents when sick in 2016, up from 6% in 2008.

The Government encourages employers to provide more family-friendly practices, including family-related leave benefits, via a few ways. First, the Civil Service has introduced two days of parent care leave per year. Around four in 10 civil servants utilised the parent care leave in 2016.

Second, MOM's Work-Life Grant funds each company up to $160,000 over four years to implement Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs)2 to help employees better manage work and family responsibilities, which may include caregiving for aged parents.

Third, MOM also launched the Tripartite Standard on FWAs in October 2017 to encourage more employers to publicly commit to offering FWAs in their companies. As of 2016, 67% of employees work in companies that offer at least one formal FWA, up from 56% in 2011. Close to eight in 10 employers also provide unplanned time-off or ad hoc teleworking for their employees to attend to personal matters.

The Ministry of Health will continue to work with other Ministries and tripartite partners to encourage employers to adopt family-friendly practices, and to strengthen support for working caregivers.