Indranee Rajah points out matters that need to be addressed before childcare leave can be enhanced
Singapore's expanded childcare leave policy may take "at least several months" before it is implemented amid necessary legislative amendments and preparations on employers' side.
This is according to Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, in a recent CNA938 radio interview.
Rajah, who is the chair of the inter-agency Marriage and Parenthood Reset Workgroup, stressed that implementing additional childcare leave is "easier said than done," Channel News Asia reported.
"It's going to take at least several months," Rajah said in the interview.
Singapore's expanded childcare leave was announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in his National Day Rally speech last month.
Under the expanded policy, every working parent with one child aged 12 and below will get eight childcare leave days. Those with two children aged 12 and below will get 10 days, while those with three or more children will get 12 days.
The government also pledged to cover the costs of the updated childcare leave policy, revising the current employer-government shared arrangement.
But Rajah pointed out that there are still "operational issues" that needed to be worked out with employers, unions, and parents before the policy can be implemented.
This includes introducing amendments to the country's Child Development Co-Savings Act, as well as updating employers' IT systems to properly track parents on childcare leave.
"These are the things that have to take place first, and we will announce the start date as soon as we can," Rajah said.
Addressing workload concerns
Meanwhile, the minister also acknowledged concerns that the enhanced leave could cause workload-related issues in organisations, especially when a parent takes childcare leave.
Rajah pointed out that the government already did the first step in addressing this, which is fully covering the cost of the childcare leave.
With the costs already covered, the minister told employers that they can use the funds to pay for colleagues who are covering for the parent taking childcare leave, or hire somebody else to cover for them.
She further advised employers to have contingency plans in case an employee files for childcare leave.
"For example, the job sharing or flexi work arrangements would be helpful," Rajah said.
"In fact, the flexi work arrangements part can benefit anybody - not just parents, but anybody who needs to take time off for unexpected contingencies."
Singapore's enhanced childcare leave policy is part of the government's efforts to better support families. It also recently expanded the country's parental leave policy, where working parents can get up to 30 weeks of government-paid leave.
