SINGAPORE — Enhancements to the existing Age Management and Work-Life Grants under WorkPro — first launched last year — will focus on creating healthy workplaces for mature workers and encourage more flexible work arrangements to attract and retain back-to-work locals.
The changes, which will take effect from 1 July, was announced by Senior Minister of State for Health and Manpower Dr Amy Khor at the Age Management Seminar 2014 held today (18 June).
To help employers foster healthier workplaces under the Age Management Grant, the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and Health Promotion Board (HPB) have launched a new standardized Health and Wellness Programme that will identify suitable health-related workshops for mature workers.
WDA and HPB will also introduce a Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) Facilitator’s Course improve workplace health programmes.
The Work-Life Grant will also be enhanced to encourage more employers to implement flexible work arrangements (FWAs) for locals to better meet both work responsibilities and personal needs.
Currently, companies would receive S$40,000 after implementing FWAs. Under the enhancements, employers will now be eligible for a S$10,000 incentive to pilot new FWAs and an additional S$10,000 after implementing FWAs company-wide to a total funding of S$40,000.
Employers now recieve S$40,000 per year for a 30 per cent of workers using FWAs. To cater to different levels of FWA utilization, the revised scheme will give employers a cash incentive of up to S$25,000 per year for 20 per cent utilization rate and potentially up to S$120,000 in total if companies sustain or improve FWA utilization rate over 3 years.
Recognizing the commendable efforts of six companies at the seminar for implementing age management practices, Dr Khor said: “I hope that more employers will take advantage of the assistance schemes available to better achieve our goal of helping our workers work for as long as they want to and can.”
WorkPro was launched in April last year to make the workplace more age-friendly and has since attracted 1,000 companies, benefitting over 4,800 workers, noted Dr Khor
A year-long campaign titled ‘Tap into a Wealth of Experience’ was also launched at the seminar to highlight the value and experience older workers can add to the workplace.
“We will age age at some point, and the efforts taken today to create age-friendly workplaces will not only benefit mature workers of today, but also the younger ones who will become the mature workers of tomorrow,” said Dr Khor.
source: todayonline.com
