Singapore banking giant to reduce work week to encourage pregnancies

SINGAPORE, OCT 30: By next March, most of the bank’s 8,000 employees can expect to be working five days a week, instead of five-and-a-half, but they will work extended hours on weekdays, the Straits Times said.

Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong has been preaching the need for Singapore to arrest its declining fertility rate, describing the high number of unmarried women and the small families of those who are married as "grave problems." He has offered a number of incentives for couples to have children, including a baby bonus, and employers have been encouraged to be more flexible with work hours to give couples more leisure time.

The Singapore fertility rate has fallen below 1.5 children per woman, well down on the 2.15 figure deemed necessary to replace the population. DBS said the "focus on family" was a stimulus for it to introduce a five-day week.

The reduction also brought the bank in line with global practices in the industry, matching the working week of international banks in Singapore. At least one other Singapore bank was working towards more flexible hours, the report said.