Men with Flexible Work Schedules Feel Overlooked

Nearly four in 10 Singaporean men believe their work arrangement has reduced opportunities for career advancement.

By Maggie Mancini

Singaporean men with flexible working arrangements are more likely than women to feel overlooked for promotions, according to a recent study from SG Her Empowerment (SHE). The survey of 1,200 Singaporean workers ages 18 and older—including 510 business leaders—reveals that nearly four in 10 men who took up flexible work arrangements feel they had reduced their opportunities for career development.  

Notably, fathers are twice as likely as mothers to receive backlash from their supervisors for taking parental leave (20% versus 10%).  

The report explains that traditional gender roles encourage Singaporean men and women towards different spheres of responsibility, as 35% of respondents say that men should be the sole breadwinners while 41% say mothers do a better job of caring for young children. These beliefs appear across all generations, with Gen Z employees just as likely as baby boomers to agree. At the same time, eight in 10 respondents think both mothers and fathers should equally step up and take time off work for caregiving responsibilities.  

The report also finds that nearly half (48%) of employees feel that employers are more supportive of women taking flexible roles than men. Among married parents in dual-income households, women in non-flexible roles spend one more hour caregiving each working day than men in similar roles, the report finds. This gap narrows to half an hour with flexible work.  

With the implementation of flexible work across many businesses in Singapore, four in 10 business leaders report increased productivity and efficiency. One in five workers currently taking advantage of flexible work say they would resign if their organisation eliminated flexibility—particularly female directors and individual contributors.  

In rolling out flexible work, employers faced challenges managing expectations around availability and response times (47%) and evaluating flexible work requests fairly (42%). The report indicates that having clear and transparent policies surrounding opportunities for flexible work could mitigate these challenges.  

The report also finds that it’s important for senior leaders to walk the talk—four in 10 fathers who have not utilised paternity leave say that seeing leaders take leave would have encouraged them to do the same.