Grants, incentives to be given to employers that redesign jobs for flexible work: Jasmin Lau

The government is studying which sectors to begin rolling out the policy, but workers in such roles must be prepared for their salaries to vary according to their work output, said Acting Manpower Minister Jasmin Lau.

Acting Minister for Manpower Jasmin Lau (left) at the IPS Young Singaporeans Conference 2026 on Oct 14, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Alyssa Tan)

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SINGAPORE: Singapore will give grants and incentives to employers who redesign job roles around flexible arrangements, said Acting Minister for Manpower Jasmin Lau on Wednesday (Oct 14).

While the government is still studying which sectors to begin rolling out the policy, Ms Lau said that workers in such roles must understand that they may also get paid differently based on the tasks, outputs and outcomes that they deliver.

“We are working on a couple of ideas around flexible load jobs. Different people out there use different terms – some call it fractional jobs, and some people just say it's part-time jobs.

“But basically, we're trying to see whether there's a way to help employers redesign their work,” said Ms Lau at the Institute of Policy Studies’ (IPS) Young Singaporeans Conference 2026.

CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less This means employers would have to bundle the tasks differently, so that workers can each work at a different rhythm, she said during the event at Temasek Shophouse. “It will come with grants and incentives for employers to do so. We don't expect it to be national scale right from the start, because it has to be tested with some employers in some sectors to see whether it works,” said Ms Lau, who is also senior minister of state for digital development and information. The government is working out which industries and roles are most suited for such efforts and to start there first, she said.

This means employers would have to bundle the tasks differently, so that workers can each work at a different rhythm, she said during the event at Temasek Shophouse.

“It will come with grants and incentives for employers to do so. We don't expect it to be national scale right from the start, because it has to be tested with some employers in some sectors to see whether it works,” said Ms Lau, who is also senior minister of state for digital development and information.

The government is working out which industries and roles are most suited for such efforts and to start there first, she said.

Such an arrangement would go beyond just a marriage and parenthood policy or intervention, and would support anyone who needs flexibility in their working life, said Ms Lau, who is a member of the Marriage and Parenthood Reset Workgroup.

The workgroup, chaired by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah, aims to tackle Singapore’s falling fertility rate and will look at factors such as financial costs, work-life support, caregiving, housing, healthcare, preschool and education.

It will release its findings by early next year.

“And it also doesn't have to be permanent. You do these job roles for the period of time that you need, and when you are done with your caregiving duties, or your kids are older, or unfortunately your parents have passed on and you're returning back to the workforce fully, then you move on to a different role,” she said.

“RIGHT TO DISCONNECT”

Ms Lau also addressed the issue of the emerging workplace norm of having the “right to disconnect”, including in the public service.

She called it an “extremely useful practice”, but cautioned against being too prescriptive in dictating working hours for everyone.

“This is personal to me. As a mother of young children, I cannot work during certain hours. Some people can work all the way until 7pm and then go home and then do their own thing,” said Ms Lau, who is a mother of two.

“I can't, because I try to pick up the kids from preschool, and so I shut off work for a while. But I come back to work at 10 or 11 or 12, whatever hours I can do it.

“So I don't want also that we end up in the situation that people lose this flexibility, because now suddenly we're not allowed to work, and it's seen as not kosher to work at certain hours.”

The public service, being a large employer, can be a good role model for this “right to disconnect”.

The leaders must practise it, such as not expecting employees to respond on weekends.

Acting Minister for Manpower Jasmin Lau (left) and Dr Gillian Koh, Senior Research Fellow, IPS (right) at the Young Singaporeans Conference 2026 on Oct 14, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Alyssa Tan)

Ms Lau acknowledged that the current state of the world may cause young people to have self-doubts.

“I think all of us in this time and space feel the pressures of stress, work, lots of anxieties about what's going to happen, anxieties about what the world is turning out to be – which looks nasty all round – and also you feel unsure about yourself whether you can really become the best version of yourself. If you can't, then why would you have another new version of you?” she said.

However, she said that the journey into partnership, marriage and then parenthood is “extremely beautiful” and comes with a “combination of heartache, sometimes tears … sometimes indescribable joy”.

“You can't put it in words, and I think it makes for such a great life adventure,” said Ms Lau.

She shared that when she meets elderly people in neighbourhoods and asks them what they think of most often, they tell her most of the time that they think about their children and wish they could see them in their childhood again.

“They never talk about their work, careers, their houses. Never,” said Ms Lau.

HUGELY PERSONAL ISSUE

In her opening remarks, Ms Lau said that anything about family, parenthood and having children is "hugely personal" and that she did not like to talk about it as national policy.

"Every time we talk about it as national policy, we are told, 'don't preach to young people what you want them to do, whether people are having children or not is personal, and it's not something that the government should get involved in'," she said.

Ms Lau said that while she has gone through the joys of parenting, that does not mean that everybody will make the same choice, adding that it comes from her “very specific individual personal context”.

She added: "To me, actually if we didn't have children anymore, then I shouldn't be in this job, none of us should care anymore about topics like housing or the future or the environment, because there is no Singapore.

“There is no point in all of this if we didn't have a next generation or grandchildren come after us.

"We might as well just say we'll have a good life while we can, and then the future will figure itself out in whatever way people choose to do so. Then there's no purpose and meaning in any of us in public service, because there's no Singapore and there's no future."

She said that shaping the future of Singapore society is something that drives many in government, adding that some people, particularly women, feel very deeply about the issue of family and parenting.

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人力部代理部长刘嘉敏表示，政府正在研究从哪些行业开始推行这项政策，但从事这些工作的工人必须做好准备，他们的工资会根据工作产出而有所不同。

人力部代部长刘嘉敏（左）于2026年10月14日出席新加坡国际政策研究所（IPS）2026年新加坡青年大会。（图片：CNA/Alyssa Tan）

这段音频是由人工智能工具生成的。

新加坡：人力部代理部长刘嘉敏周三（10月14日）表示，新加坡将向重新设计灵活工作安排的雇主提供补助和奖励。

刘女士表示，虽然政府仍在研究从哪些行业开始推行这项政策，但从事此类工作的员工必须明白，他们的薪酬也可能根据他们完成的任务、产出和成果而有所不同。

“我们正在研究一些关于灵活工作安排的想法。不同的人使用不同的术语——有些人称之为零工，有些人则称之为兼职工作。”

“但基本上，我们正在尝试看看是否有办法帮助雇主重新设计他们的工作，”刘女士在新加坡政策研究所 (IPS) 2026 年新加坡青年大会上说。

CNA游戏猜词游戏：逐行破解单词；流行词游戏：用给定的字母组成单词；迷你数独：小巧的谜题，强大的脑力挑战；迷你填字游戏：小方格，大挑战；单词搜索：尽可能多地找出单词。显示更多 显示更少 她在淡马锡店屋的活动上表示，这意味着雇主需要以不同的方式安排任务，以便员工可以按照不同的节奏工作。“政府将为雇主提供补助和激励措施。我们并不期望一开始就能在全国范围内推广，因为需要先在一些行业的一些雇主中进行测试，看看效果如何。”刘女士说道。她同时也是数码发展及新闻部高级政务部长。她表示，政府正在研究哪些行业和岗位最适合此类举措，并首先从这些行业和岗位入手。

她在淡马锡店屋的活动上表示，这意味着雇主必须以不同的方式安排任务，以便每个员工都能以不同的节奏工作。

“我们会为雇主提供补助和奖励，鼓励他们参与。我们并不指望它一开始就能在全国范围内推广，因为需要先在一些行业的一些雇主中进行试点，看看效果如何。”刘女士说道，她同时也是数码发展及新闻部的高级政务部长。

她说，政府正在研究哪些行业和岗位最适合开展此类工作，并决定首先从这些行业和岗位入手。

刘女士是婚姻与育儿重置工作组成员，她表示，这样的安排不仅限于婚姻和育儿政策或干预措施，还能支持任何需要在工作生活中拥有灵活性的人。

该工作组由总理公署部长英兰妮·拉贾主持，旨在解决新加坡生育率下降的问题，并将研究经济成本、工作与生活支持、照护、住房、医疗保健、学前教育和教育等因素。

该机构将于明年初公布调查结果。

“而且这也不一定是永久性的。你可以根据需要从事这些工作一段时间，当你不再需要照顾家人，或者你的孩子长大了，或者不幸的是你的父母去世了，你重新回到职场时，你就可以转到其他岗位了。”她说道。

“断网权”

刘女士还谈到了职场中正在兴起的“断网权”规范，包括在公共服务领域。

她称其为“极其有用的做法”，但也告诫不要过于死板地规定每个人的工作时间。

“这对我来说意义重大。作为两个孩子的母亲，我无法在某些时间段工作。有些人可以一直工作到晚上7点，然后回家做自己的事情，”育有两个孩子的刘女士说道。

“我做不到，因为我得去幼儿园接孩子，所以会暂时放下工作。但我会在10点、11点或12点回来工作，只要我能抽出时间就行。”

“所以我也不希望出现这样的情况：人们失去了这种灵活性，因为现在突然之间我们就不被允许工作了，而且在某些时间工作也被认为是不合规矩的。”

公共服务部门作为大型雇主，可以成为这种“断网权”的良好榜样。

领导者必须以身作则，例如不要指望员工在周末回复。

2026年10月14日，人力部代部长刘嘉敏（左）与新加坡政策研究所高级研究员许嘉莲博士（右）出席2026年新加坡青年大会。（图片：CNA/Alyssa Tan）

刘女士承认，当今世界局势可能会导致年轻人产生自我怀疑。

“我认为在这个时代，我们所有人都能感受到压力、工作压力，以及对未来种种的焦虑，对世界未来走向的焦虑——而世界看起来处处都很糟糕——同时，你也会对自己是否能够成为最好的自己感到不确定。如果你做不到，那你又何必再去塑造另一个自己呢？”她说道。

然而，她表示，从伴侣关系、婚姻到为人父母的旅程“非常美好”，伴随着“心痛、泪水……以及难以言喻的喜悦”。

“这种感觉无法用语言来形容，我认为这真是一次很棒的人生冒险，”刘女士说。

她分享说，当她在社区里遇到老年人并问他们最常想的是什么时，他们大多数时候都会告诉她，他们会想起自己的孩子，希望能够再次看到他们童年的样子。

刘女士说：“他们从不谈论工作、事业或房子，从来不谈。”

这是极其私人的问题

刘女士在开场白中表示，任何关于家庭、为人父母和生育子女的事情都是“极其私人的”，她不喜欢将其作为国家政策来谈论。

“每次我们把它作为国家政策来讨论时，都会有人告诉我们，‘不要对年轻人说教，你们想让他们做什么，生不生孩子是个人选择，政府不应该干涉’，”她说。

刘女士表示，虽然她体验过为人父母的喜悦，但这并不意味着每个人都会做出同样的选择，她补充说，这源于她“非常具体的个人情况”。

她补充道：“对我来说，实际上如果我们不再有孩子了，那么我就不应该从事这份工作，我们也不应该再关心住房、未来或环境等话题，因为新加坡将不复存在。”

“如果我们没有下一代或孙辈，这一切就毫无意义。”

“我们不如就说，趁现在好好享受生活，至于未来如何，就顺其自然吧。这样一来，我们从事公共服务就失去了意义和价值，因为新加坡不复存在，未来也无从谈起。”

她表示，塑造新加坡社会的未来是许多政府官员的动力，并补充说，有些人，特别是女性，对家庭和育儿问题有着非常深刻的感受。

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