Debate on President’s Address: Louis Ng on need for a ‘reset’ to achieve work-life balance

It is time for Singapore to seriously rethink its policies on work-life balance, said MP Louis Ng in Parliament on Wednesday (Apr 19). He repeated his call to legislate the right to work from home. Mr Ng said it took a pandemic to show that work from home is possible and that it benefited employers, employees, the transport and healthcare systems and even helped to address gender equality. Yet Singapore did not ride this momentum, he said, but is taking a step backwards by planning only to introduce guidelines on flexible work arrangements. Mr Ng also reiterated his call to increase the minimum amount of annual leave entitlement from the current seven days. He also called for a proposed workplace discrimination law to cover discrimination faced by breastfeeding mothers at work, and for a whole-of-Government review to ensure that policies are inclusive for single unwed parents.