TRUST AND FLEXIBILITY ARE KEY
Some single Singaporeans said that the additional workload will be manageable if employers planned for absences properly and parents do not misuse their childcare leave for their own leisure or breaks.
Ms Lee Qiao Mei, who works in the business sector, said colleagues in her organisation typically take childcare leave for only one or two days at a time.
“It won’t translate to a huge increase in workload. I’m lucky to be in an environment where the management distributes responsibilities well, so it won’t be too much,” the 30-year-old said.
However, she added that trust between colleagues was important, particularly given the flexibility parents have in deciding when to use their childcare leave.
Under Ministry of Manpower (MOM) guidelines, parents can use childcare leave to spend time with their child for any reason and do not need to produce a medical certificate for the child.
“There must be a reasonable level of trust. We must also trust our colleagues to use their childcare leave for the intended purpose,” she said, adding that repeated or clear misuse would create problems.
Others who CNA spoke to questioned whether the flexibility for parents to take childcare leave was fair, especially if parents were able to tap it to go on holidays with their children, while those without children had to dip into their annual leave for holidays or other personal needs.
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