Data on Employers Reducing Scope of Work-from-home Policies

Ms Lee Hui Ying asked the Minister for Manpower (a) how many employers with work-from-home policies during the pandemic have since reduced the scope of these policies; and (b) whether this has been offset by an increase in employers implementing flexible work arrangements or adopting tripartite standards for work-life harmony.

Dr Tan See Leng: The proportion of employers offering scheduled tele-working 1 fell from 56.5% in 2021 to 38.4% in 2024, suggesting some scaling back as more employees returned on-site to work post-pandemic, though this remains significantly higher than 6.9% in 2019 before the pandemic.

Apart from tele-working, employees may require different types of flexible work arrangements (FWAs) based on their needs, such as flexi-hours or flexi-load arrangements. In 2024, 72.7% of employers offered at least one type of FWA 2 , which increased from 52.7% in 2019. More employers are also providing a greater variety of FWAs to their employees, with 54.4% of employers offering at least two FWAs in 2024 compared to 20.2% in 2019.

In addition, the Tripartite Standard (TS) on Work-Life Harmony was launched in April 2021 and more than 2,100 employers have since adopted TS.

Note(s) to Question No(s) 102:

1 Scheduled tele-working refers to an arrangement implemented on a sustained basis where employees perform work in places other than the office and the job is performed using information and communication technologies.

2 This refers to Scheduled FWAs, which are pre-arranged and consist of part-time work, flexi-hours, staggered hours, teleworking for an extended period of time, homeworking, job sharing and compressed work week.