More firms embrace flexible work arrangements: MoM report

Proportion of firms offering at least one formal FWA increased by 3% to 53% in 2018.

Offering flexible work arrangements (FWAs) has been proven to be crucial in reducing resignation amongst employees, a report by the Ministry of Manpower (MoM) revealed. In relation, firms have been more open to FWAs as the proportion of firms not offering formal FWAs slipped from 50% in 2017 to 47% in 2018.

MoM revealed that the increase in FWA arrangements have been observed in all broad sectors, led by services which saw a drop of 3.6% in firms that have not been offering formal FWAs Manufacturing (-2.6%) and construction (-1.8%) also observed declines.

The study also found that the the proportion of firms offering at least one formal FWAs have increased from 50% in 2017 to 53% in 2018. Additionally, the proportion of firms offering at least 1 ad-hoc FWAs also rose from 75% in 2017 to 84% in 2018.

“With more than half the proportion of firms providing at least 1 formal FWA and a good majority providing at least 1 ad-hoc FWA, this reinforced the fact that firms are providing a greater variety of FWAs,” MoM explained.

Amongst the formal FWAs, MoM regarded that part-time work remained the most prevalent, with 2 in 5 firms offering this arrangement to their staff in 2018. This was followed by flexi-time or staggered hours (29%) and formal tele-working (8.4%).