Even before the Government legislated one week of paternity leave for new fathers in 2013, local workplace safety training firm Absolute Kinetics Consultancy was already offering such employees two days’ leave to spend time with their families.
Its slew of pro-family and parenthood perks include allowing staff to leave work one to two hours early once a month to spend time with their loved ones, paying up to S$50 for a meal as long as the employee takes a photo when eating out with his family, and leeway for employees to take urgent family leave when necessary.
The company also offers three more days of annual leave to single parents and a one-time S$200 grant for their children’s school expenses.
“I think we’re pretty unique in the sense that we offer certain benefits that, maybe, other companies might not offer,” said human resource and corporate communications head Alvin Yap.
These benefits were introduced after discussions with staff on what they wanted, he said. “If we can accommodate, we will accommodate.”
Absolute Kinetics, which hires 80 people and also provides telecommunication and food and beverage services, estimates that the pro-family and parenthood benefits cost the company up to S$3,000 per employee each year. In turn, employees are more loyal and motivated, said Mr Yap.
To balance the company’s manpower needs with its pro-family policies, a job-sharing initiative exposes employees to the job scope of colleagues in other roles. For instance, customer service employees know about the job scope of their marketing colleagues, he said.
Absolute Kinetics’ pro-parenthood environment enabled assistant customer service manager Nur Hisham Nuruddin, 32, to take a full week of paternity leave last September when his second daughter was born.
He helped out at home while his wife was recovering from childbirth and took care of his five-year-old daughter when his wife was taking care of the baby.
Absolute Kinetics is looking to offer fathers a second week of paternity leave sometime this year before legislation kicks in, said Mr Yap.
Welcoming the move, Mr Nur Hisham, who was able to take six days of childcare leave last year, said: “With Singapore being such a fast-paced society, the father always misses out on raising the children.
“So with this extra week, maybe he can bond more with the child and help out around the house too.”
news source: todayonline.com
