A line manager who is empathetic and happy for you makes it much easier, while a manager who behaves like the employee taking leave is an imposition sends a different signal, she said.
“So, learning how to create better workplace norms and cultures, I think, is a very important part of this.”
EFFECT ON FAMILY PLANNING
For many working parents, the attitudes they observe at work are precisely what stall plans to grow their families.
One mother who declined to be named said she would be open to having a third child, but finds her current workplace unsuitable for such an endeavour.
After a change in management when she was pregnant with her second child, her work hours have become less flexible and her bosses are less understanding.
Her manager, for example, asked her not to take childcare leave at the last minute so often.
“How would I know that my child will be sick?” asked the mother, who works as an operations executive. “It doesn’t make sense for me to plan my leave, as if I know my child will be sick next month.”
She also felt that the company was not fair in their appraisal of her performance when she was pregnant.
During her appraisal, her manager said she was not reliable because she missed a work event, even though he knew that she missed the event because she experienced bleeding during her pregnancy and went to see a doctor.
“I had a hard time towards the end of my pregnancy, and I don’t think they understood,” she said, adding that she sometimes felt guilty for missing work, but wanted to prioritise her health and her child.
“With the flexibility that I used to get from my old management, I think I would have another kid. But with this kind of situation, new management and so many new people around me at work, I don’t think so,” she said.
She is not alone in her hesitation to expand her family because of rigid work hours and intolerant bosses.
Dr Tan Poh Lin, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, said work-life balance and office culture are “critical” factors affecting Singapore’s total fertility rate, which hit a record low of 0.87 last year.
She said couples typically want to be financially stable and hence prioritise career progression.
“In the event that work-life balance is poor and families are forced to choose, many would choose having fewer children,” she said.
Associate Professor Mu Zheng noted that workplace conditions can affect fertility at several stages: whether young adults have the time and energy to form relationships, whether couples feel ready to have their first child, and whether parents feel capable of having another.
“Importantly, workplace pressures may affect fertility not because people no longer value parenthood, but because they perceive it as increasingly difficult to combine being a good parent with being a good employee,” said Assoc Prof Mu, who is from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) department of sociology and anthropology.
WORKPLACE CHALLENGES FOR PARENTS
Long hours, in-office requirements, frequent travel and a lack of flexibility are common sticking points for parents working in Singapore.
There is also a pervasive expectation that staff remain contactable outside of office hours, several parents told CNA.
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