Work-Life Grant scheme in Singapore to be extended and enhanced
According to The Straits Times, the Singapore government is enhancing the Work-Life Grant in a bid to help women juggle career and childcare responsibilities. Aimed to help employers adopt flexible work arrangements, the Work-Life Grant, which started in 2013 and is due to expire at the end of this month. However, it will be extended and enhanced from 1 July, as announced by second minister for manpower Josephine Teo on Sunday (4 March).
Some of the key enhancements include:
- Simplified application criteria
- Increasing the coverage of the employer payments
- Higher grant per employee
Simplified application criteria
First, the criteria for employers to apply for the grant have been simplified. Employers no longer require at least 20% of all employees to be on flexible work arrangements to qualify for the grant.
“This was in response to feedback from companies on the difficulties they face in meeting this criteria,” Teo said at an event to celebrate International Women’s Day at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront.
“Under the enhanced Work-Life Grant, the employer will receive some funding so long as one or more employees adopt flexible work arrangements,” she added.
Increasing the coverage of the employer payments
Second, employers will receive S$2,000 per year over two years for each employee on flexible work arrangement – up to 35 employees. This is higher than what the current scheme offers, which is S$2,000 per employee per year for the first five employees, and S$1,500 for the subsequent 20.
Higher grant per employee
Third, employers that provide job sharing for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) can receive S$3,500 per employee, up from a maximum of $2,000 per employee under the current scheme.
Teo said that the higher grant per employee will provide more upfront support to help employers take the first step to encourage their employees to adopt flexible work arrangements. She added that the government has set aside a budget of S$30 million over two years for this scheme.
In the interim, an underlying $110 million will be put aside in the following three years for the new Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG), which bolsters chose efficiency arrangements in accordance with the business change maps (ITMs).
The give will cover part particular arrangements in the retail, sustenance, coordinations, exactness building, discount and finishing ventures, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a report by The Straits Times.
Moreover, the allow will help subsidize wide based arrangements that cut crosswise over ventures, for example, advanced client relationship administration and human asset administration frameworks.
In the report, service's Senior Minister of State, Sim Ann said: "For organizations that need easier answers for enhancing efficiency, pre-checked profitability arrangements are an attempted and tried approach to accomplish brisk outcomes."
Open to applications from 1 April, the PSG will at first consolidate three existing stipends, with additional to be included after some time. These are Spring Singapore's Innovation and Capability Voucher, the National Parks Board's Landscape Productivity Grant, and the Infocomm and Media Development Authority's help for pre-perused arrangements under the SMEs Go Digital Program.
The PSG gives financing backing of up to 70%. Concede tops have been raised and redone for every industry, Sim said. The PSG is for arrangements and gear picked by the organizations responsible for each ITM – for instance, a computerized requesting and installment framework for the sustenance business. As more organizations set up answers for help, the PSG will cover more things and parts, for example, tourism, farming and expert services.Other allows and conspires are likewise being united.
Then again, the current Capability Development Grant (CDG) and Global Company Partnership (GCP) plans will be joined into the Enterprise Development Grant, from the final quarter of this current year,
Sim remarked: "It will give more comprehensive help to organizations that can make utilization of a similar concede to update, improve or wander abroad, or any blend of these procedures."
Under the two existing plans, the most extreme help for nearby little and medium-sized undertakings (SMEs) was raised from half to 70% in Budget 2012 for a long time, at that point stretched out for an additional three years. This higher help level will be broadened again till the finish of money related year 2019.
Non-SMEs will get financing of up to half, contrasted and a comparable level under the GCP and up to 30 for every penny under the CDG.
From 1 April, different concede plans for exchange affiliations and chambers (TACs) will be joined into a solitary Local Enterprise and Association Development program. The current plans are Spring and IE Singapore's Lead; Spring's Lead+; Spring's TAC-Collaborative Industry Projects; and the Singapore Tourism Board's Association Development Fund.
As per senior pastor of state for exchange and industry Koh Poh Koon, a different development plot for SMEs is being stretched out to consortiums.
A*Star's Growing Enterprises through Technology Upgrade activity now offers Operation and Technology Roadmapping for SMEs.
This aides SMEs in altering long haul development procedures for new items or administrations. It additionally gives them procedures to evaluate customer request, difficulties and potential markets.
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