Wanted: work-life balance

The good news is more bosses are taking steps to boost staff wellness
By Mavis Toh 13 Sep 2009

BOGGED down in that job? Account manager X.Y. Lee thinks she is, and has finally decided to quit. As soon as she steps into the research firm where she works, at 8.30am, she finds it hard to leave her desk. Ms Lee, 27, gets at least 200 e-mail messages and 20 phone calls each day.

Last year, unable to cope with the work stress, she even turned to a psychiatrist. 'I was very depressed and stressed out, and had constant mood swings,' she said. 'I have now decided to quit.' She is serving out her one month's notice.

In looking for a new job, she has added a criterion to her checklist: work-life balance. 'The firm I join needs to be supportive of work-life balance and care about its employees' well-being,' she said. Increasingly, Singaporeans like Ms Lee are putting more emphasis on life beyond work. The good news is, so are many employers.
A Singapore Institute of Management survey this year said some 80 per cent of the 750 managers polled placed health and work-life balance above job and pay on their priority lists. This, at a time when jobs are not easy to come by.

Stress can be disruptive. The Straits Times recently reported that young office workers in China used unorthodox stress relief activities. Some formed groups and prowled supermarkets, swiping biscuits, defizzing soft drinks and crushing noodle packets. Others turned to stress-eating.

Meanwhile, more companies in Singapore are doing something about staff wellness. The Health Promotion Board (HPB) said the proportion of private-sector workplaces that have Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) programmes increased from 45 per cent in 2003 to 59 per cent in 2006. Almost all public-sector organisations have ongoing WHP programmes.

Mr Dhirendra Shantilal, Kelly Services' senior vice-president of Asia-Pacific, explained: 'Good employee wellness programmes help attract and retain top talent and healthy, productive employees - all key factors in the success of any business.' Employees are more likely to perform better when their physical and mental health is robust, he added.

Mr Josh Goh, the GMP Group's assistant director of corporate services, said that many corporate wellness programmes now include gym membership, yoga and pilates classes, health talks, fruit days and grooming classes.

At Singapore Airlines (SIA), staff are encouraged to join recreational and sporting activities to maintain wellness and to relieve stress. A runners' club, a cabin crew performance arts circle as well as a community service club have been set up.
Mr Goh from GMP noted that big organisations tend to have more of such programmes because they have the resources.

But in April this year, the HPB introduced a WHP grant for small and medium-sized enterprises to extend more financial support to them. The grant co-funds up to 90 per cent of the cost incurred for health promotion activities, capped at $10,000 for each application.

Read the full story in Sunday's edition of The Straits Times

Majority of GreatLink Choice Products Redeemed

TODAY - Sep 01, 2009 (Page 10)
Insurance company Great Eastern said the majority of its GreatLink Choice products have been redeemed. The affected policies involve a series of structured products and the redemption offer closed last Friday.

As of Aug 28, Great Eastern said some 62 per cent of its GreatLink Choice Series 1 and 2 policies were redeemed. The company also saw 99 per cent redemption of policies from Series 3, 4 and 5. Great Eastern expects the number to go up as more redemption forms are still in transit from various collection points. It is also following up with some policyholders who have not responded to the offer because they are overseas.

Under the redemption offer, policyholders of the affected products will receive the money they have invested, minus the total annual payouts they have received so far. This means they will recover almost all their invested capital.

The move, which affects 18,000 policyholders, could potentially cost the company $594 million.

Channel NewsAsia

Cashback scam: agent jailed

Sep 1, 2009

Cashback scam: agent jailed

By Khushwant Singh

A PROPERTY agent was jailed for two weeks on Tuesday for her role in a cashback scam in 2004.

Wong Siu Teng, 33, had pleaded guilty last week to conspiring with another agent, Nick Goh Chong Liang, and rogue lawyer David Rasif, to cheat Standard Chartered Bank by inflating the purchase price of a flat in Jurong so as to obtain a higher mortgage for the buyers.

In documents prepared by Rasif's law firm, the price of the flat was falsely listed as $260,000.

Without telling the flat-owners, Wong had raised the sale price to $212,000 so that she could pocket $2,000 on top of her commission.

Such property cashback scams were rampant before the authorities clamped downon it about four years ago.

Investigations are still continuing. Last Wednesday, 22 people were charged for their alleged involvement in these scams.

For their roles in such scams, Goh had earlier been sentenced to five years and five months in jail, while Tan was jailed for five years.

Rasif, who went missing in 2006 with about $12 million of his clients' money, is still on the run.