By Annie Yap

GMP will still be somewhat affected by the new maternity leave policy, but the impact is not unmanageable. Because we practise a culture of empowerment and delegation, we ensure the seamless flow of productivity with little disruption.

However, some companies, particularly SMEs, might perceive the new policy as a bane to their business. They are concerned about the impact on manpower and productivity should key members of their staff have to go on maternity leave. In addition to temporarily losing an employee to maternity leave, the work flow is disrupted. The new policy would be more effective if employers have flexible work arrangements already in place. But at the moment, this is not the case for smaller companies.

As such, the government can offer assistance to these SMEs to help implement flexible work arrangements and offer mother-friendly facilities at the workplace.

Changing prevalent mindsets is the most crucial issue when it comes to the success of new manpower laws. SMEs should recognise the value of work-life balance and alternative work arrangements for their staff. The government can step up their campaign to promote the benefits of work-life balance and pro-family practices at the workplace.

Eugene Goh
Country Manager
Wolfson Microelectronics

JUDGING from the general industry response, the newly extended maternity leave may not be too serious a concern for most companies. Just as when maternity leave was extended from eight weeks to 12 weeks (in 2007), the industry over time, will learn to adapt and cope with the new changes.

Then, what the industry anticipated as a daunting task to fill gaps left by working mothers on maternity leave, turned out to be broadly unfounded. Companies with robust and efficient work processes continued to chug along generally uninterrupted and unaffected.

Good resource planning and foresight also helped firms mitigate disruptive work transitions and foster better preparedness. In addition, tools of technology give companies the advantage of better work efficiency to cushion the impact.

With the recent maternity leave extension, the resilience and flexibility of companies will again be tested. While the objectives may be well supported, the government has to be constantly mindful of the challenges that businesses today face.

They play a key role. It is important that they balance the needs of the nation and continue to hone the country's competitive standing on the world stage.

Clinton Ang
Managing Director
CornerStone Wines

THE previous childcare and maternity package was generally only for employees covered by the Employment Act. Employers were 'encouraged' to apply the same benefits across the board. It's good that the government saw the need and responded by extending this new childcare and maternity package to all employees.

Pragmatically, we are not so much concerned about maternity leave as it is essentially the same eight weeks paid by the employer as under the previous scheme - with proper planning, we should have ample time to seek contract/part-time staff to cover the full 16 weeks. There will, naturally, be a slight loss in productivity as a short period of retraining is required but any loss should be marginal as what we do is not rocket science.

Erman Tan
Chief Executive
Asia Polyurethane

YES, it would definitely affect the operations in SMEs. SMEs are already running a tight ship, carefully striking a balance between rising costs and thinning margins. Though the government is actively encouraging Singaporeans to welcome the stork by increasing tax breaks, cash payouts and parental leave, additional costs like engaging temporary staff to cover the duties of staff going for maternity leave are not factored into the operations expenses. If those SMEs are not hiring additional temp staff, then the current pool of staff will be stretched to the fullest limits to cover the duties of mums on maternity leave.

The government's endorsement of family- friendly support initiatives to recognise the challenges facing working mothers, could be further expanded to medical subsidies for pregnant mums-to-be, encourage flexi-hours, flexibility of cashing in the last eight weeks of maternity leave in exchange for monetary benefits, and lastly tax rebates for childcare centres operating in the industrial estates like Tuas and Changi - for the convenience of working mums in these areas.

John Koh
Managing Partner
WMRC LLP

THE extended maternity leave will serve as an additional incentive for working mothers to have more babies, and most employers are willing to cooperate with the government in this aspect of nation building. However, the extended maternity leave would inevitably lead to disruptions for business operations, especially for those mothers holding key positions in companies.

A host of issues need to be addressed including staff replacement, temporary help, client interface, as well as internal operational work flows. Four months represents a good third of a year which most companies would find it hard to do without a capable female staff member. The government might wish to consider implementing maternity 'kickbacks' which could enable firms to reduce their losses owing to those disruptions.

Kenny Yap
Managing Director
Qian Hu Corporation

LONGER maternity leave is a double-edged sword for women. Some SMEs might think twice about employing women who wish to have babies. The extended maternity leave under new manpower laws affects some SMEs operationally, especially those who have only a few employees and most of those employees are multi-tasked.

In addition, a four-month maternity leave will cost them nine months of salary. You need to employ a temporary worker one month before the maternity leave and can only dismiss him or her one month after the mother returns to work.

Although our government subsidises one- month leave, altogether the company will have to spend an additional nine months of salary.

So, by right the government should subsidise seven months' salary instead of one to alleviate the concern. If a woman decided to have a baby for the sake of longer maternity leave, she must have the honesty to tell her child the reason for his or her birth.

My mother went back to work helping my father rearing pigs just two weeks after giving birth to me. I still grew up quite okay and my mum, now at the age of 78, is still strong and cute. So I hope the government can stop thinking about extending maternity leave again in the future. If the maternity leave is extended to, say, six months in the future, it is only fair for the government to subsidise 11 months of salary.

Those women who wish to give birth because they wanted it should be respected and those who give birth because of more leave must have the guts to let their child know about the fact. I respect my Mum.

This article was first published in The Business Times on September 16, 2008.