According to a survey by International Firm in 2011, work-life balance ranks as one of the most important workplace attributes ahead of salary at the workplace among 110 employees in Singapore. However, a more recent survey by global recruitment & Payroll services provider, Randstad reveals that striking a perfect work-life balance has always been a challenge for most of the employees in Singapore. The coupling of increased workloads with technology that keeps them constantly connected to their jobs finds an increasing number of workers feeling overwhelmed, discouraged and depleted. Another survey by recruitment firm Hays in 2010 confirms that majority of Singaporeans think that work-life balance is possible and achievable but with a flexible employer. Evidently, there is a growing need to implement work-life strategies in Singapore. In this light, Singaporean government has launched grants as ways to encourage companies to have a positive workplace with work-life strategies. The Work-Life Grant consist of two components: Developmental Grant and FWA Incentive.
Aimed to help the implementation of flexible work arrangements (FWAs), the Work-Life Grant is open for companies who wish to implement the said “flexi plans” by introducing flexi-time, flexi-place and part-time work at their workplace. The most common flexible work arrangements are flexible hours or flexi-time schemes. (e.g changes to start and finish times) and changes to work patterns (e.g job sharing which is a structured form of part-time work, with various models).