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Speaker 1: Hi, we're back with our Ask Me Anything segment where

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Speaker 1: we take a work-related question that you've sent. So let's start.

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Speaker 1: Today's question was sent in by Sandra. Sandra requested and

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Speaker 1: submitted an application to work from home for 2.5 days

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Speaker 1: under the new flexible working arrangement guidelines. Just to recap,

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Speaker 1: this new policy kicked in last December and employees may

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Speaker 1: submit a request.

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Speaker 1: For flexible working arrangements, but this is still subjected to

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Speaker 1: the employer's approval. Now, Sandra is asking for this because

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Speaker 1: she says her husband will undergo cataract surgery soon and

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Speaker 1: she needs to be home during the day to care

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Speaker 1: for him while fulfilling her work duties.

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Speaker 1: Sandra says that her request was rejected and her boss

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Speaker 1: told her to apply for the 2.5 days, but this

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Speaker 1: time of annual leave instead. The reason given, encourage employee

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Speaker 1: to clear annual leave.

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Speaker 1: Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I think the challenge here that Sandra faces is really

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Speaker 2: what qualifies as leave and what qualifies as flexi work.

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Speaker 2: With the new FWA kicking in, I'm sure we will

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Speaker 2: have a lot more of these sorts of requests because

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Speaker 2: it's becoming unclear to people when should we be asking

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Speaker 2: for flexible work and when should we be taking leave.

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Speaker 2: So I think for me, the difference here is really

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Speaker 2: from an employee perspective, the difference.

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Speaker 2: Here are 3 things. One is our attention to our work.

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Speaker 2: Are we able to dedicate and devote our attention fully

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Speaker 2: to our work. And also, the second thing is our

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Speaker 2: availability to respond to contingencies to request on the job.

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Speaker 2: And the third thing, of course, is the capacity to

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Speaker 2: complete the work that we said we would do. So

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Speaker 2: I think when we think about flexible work arrangements, we

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Speaker 2: have to take these 3 things in mind.

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Speaker 2: So that we know whether it's, are we still able

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Speaker 2: to perform, to cope, to pay attention to our work

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Speaker 2: while we are away, let's say in Sandra's case, away

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Speaker 2: from the workplace.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so the three factors again just to recap, attention

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Speaker 1: to work, availability to respond and capacity to complete. So

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Speaker 1: these three factors need to be taken into account. Yes,

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Speaker 2: because when you are working from home

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Speaker 2: Still at work, right? So you'll definitely need to be

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Speaker 2: within reach from your team, from your bosses. You need

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Speaker 2: to be able to pay attention to your work and

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Speaker 2: you need to generate output, right? So in her case,

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Speaker 2: I'm just wondering like why the company would recommend for

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Speaker 2: her to take annual leave. It could be because they

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Speaker 2: might find that they are not sure whether she needs

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Speaker 2: to devote more of her time and attention to caregiving,

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Speaker 1: whether she's available to respond when they need her to.

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Speaker 2: Correct. So on one hand, we can see as like

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Speaker 2: they are rejecting her flexible work arrangement request, but on

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Speaker 2: the other hand, they could really be just helping her

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Speaker 2: to prioritize what's really important. Like if care for your

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Speaker 2: husband is really important and you have to be there,

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Speaker 2: then maybe it's better to devote yourself to the care,

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Speaker 2: rather than try to split yourself both ways, right? But

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Speaker 2: of course, for a lot of us, we feel like

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Speaker 2: we can manage everything and that's why we want to

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Speaker 2: do the flexible work arrangement. So if that's the case,

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Speaker 2: then maybe Sandra really ought to just have a discussion

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Speaker 2: with the HR to explain why.

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Speaker 2: Like why taking leave would be overkill, or be too

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Speaker 2: much for her situation and how she's still able to

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Speaker 2: cope with her work capacity, to respond on time, and

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Speaker 2: that her attention would not be diluted too much if

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Speaker 2: she's providing care for her husband. Flexible work arrangements should

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Speaker 2: not be a decision, like a judgment, right, like or

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Speaker 2: it's stamped already. I think it should be more of

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Speaker 2: a discussion. Both sides need to engage in conversation to

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Speaker 2: explain why certain things are

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Speaker 2: done.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. So on that point, if the flexible working arrangement

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Speaker 1: is rejected.

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Speaker 1: Sandra could perhaps also still have a conversation with her

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Speaker 1: superior and to say, you know what, could I maybe

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Speaker 1: take some time off? Let's say my husband has to

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Speaker 1: go for a follow-up checkup, can I take some time

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Speaker 1: off on this day, and then I'll come back and

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Speaker 1: work another 2 hours or 3 hours. I think like

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Speaker 1: you say, it's always a discussion. They might actually be

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Speaker 1: open to letting you be away from the keyboard for

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Speaker 1: 2 or 3 hours and then come back and pick

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Speaker 1: up the

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Speaker 1: work.

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Speaker 2: So the guideline is there, but we need to learn

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Speaker 2: how to communicate and converse properly. Employees really need to know.

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Speaker 2: How to put up a case and to explain how

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Speaker 2: they can still be productive. At the same time, employers

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Speaker 2: also need to start to realize that, hey, I'm not

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Speaker 2: able to get 100% of an employee, right? Even if

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Speaker 2: today someone goes to work sitting in front of the

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Speaker 2: computer at the workplace, you may not be getting 100%

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Speaker 2: attention from that person, right? So the employees also on

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Speaker 2: the other hand, need to know that, OK, what's the

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Speaker 2: bare minimum that I'm willing to accept, to say that

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Speaker 2: if today you're out of sight, I still know that

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Speaker 2: you're performing even though your attention might be divided. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So this is something that I think we will need to.

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Speaker 2: Figure it out along the way,

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Speaker 1: right? There's going to be a lot of teething issues,

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Speaker 1: I think surrounding the new flexible working arrangement guidelines and

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Speaker 1: we're working on a longer podcast so that we can

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Speaker 1: discuss this in greater detail. But Sandra, thank you for

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Speaker 1: your question and we really hope that your husband will

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Speaker 1: recover very, very soon. If like Sandra, you have a

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Speaker 1: work-related question, do write to us. We are at CNA

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Speaker 1: podcasts at Mediacorp.com.sg. You can also find us on Spotify,

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

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Speaker 1: The team behind the Work It podcast is Christina Robert,

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Speaker 1: Joann Chan, Juani Johari and Saye Win. Sound mixing is

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Speaker 1: by Carrie Lim, video by Reza Rahman and Hanida Amin.

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Speaker 1: I'm Gerald and I'm Tiffany. Here's wishing you a good

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Speaker 1: work week ahead.