As announced by PM at the National Day Rally on 22 Aug 2004, in support of the Government's efforts to promote a more pro-family work environment, the Civil Service will be implementing the following initiatives.

(a) Introduction of a five-day workweek
The Civil Service will introduce a five-day workweek arrangement to enable civil servants to spend more time with their families and strike a better work-life balance. There will be no change in the number of working hours and Government departments will continue to ensure that service standards are maintained. Services to the public, such as counter-services, will remain open from Monday to Saturday. Government departments which are ready to implement this new work arrangement can do so from 1 Sep 2004.

(b) Equalisation of medical benefits for dependants of female officers
Currently, male civil servants can claim medical benefits for themselves and their dependants, while their female counterparts can only claim medical benefits for themselves. To keep pace with the trend that women are increasingly playing a larger role in supporting their families, the Civil Service has revised its medical benefits policy.

From 1 January next year, medical benefits for female officers on the Medisave-cum-Subsidised Outpatient scheme will be equalised such that they will be treated no different from their male counterparts. This means that such female officers can claim
medical benefits for their dependant unmarried children below the age of 18 and for their spouses. The changes will facilitate greater sharing of care-giving responsibilities between married couples. Female officers who are on the older medical benefit schemes would also be able to claim these benefits for their unmarried children below the age of 18.

(c) Longer maternity leave
To provide working mothers with more time to recuperate as well as care for their new-born babies, the Government will extend maternity leave from the present eight to twelve weeks. In support of this, the Civil Service will implement this change with effect from 1 Aug 2004.

Female officers will have the flexibility to take the additional four weeks of maternity leave any time over the six-month period following the birth, subject to mutual agreement with her supervisor. They will be paid for these extensions as long as the children are Singapore citizens.

Twelve weeks of paid maternity leave will also be extended to the birth of a female officer's fourth child if the child is a Singapore citizen. This new policy will apply to births on or after 1 Aug 2004.

(d) Implementation of two-day childcare leave
The Government will legislate two days of childcare leave. Working parents with any child below 7 years of age will be eligible for 2 days of employer-paid Childcare Leave per year, from 1 Oct 2004. The Civil Service will implement this with immediate effect to enable officers to spend more time with their children. The leave provision will not be predicated on any other condition.

Date: 25 Aug 2004