Speech by President Halimah Yacob at CFF 20th Anniversary and Great Companies for Dads Awards

Mr Richard Hoon, Chairman of Centre for Fathering, DADs for Life and MUMs for Life

Mr Keith Magnus, Chairman of the Organising Committee and Vice-Chairman of Centre for Fathering, DADs for Life and MUMs for Life

Mr Bryan Tan, CEO of Centre for Fathering, DADs for Life and MUMs for Life

Distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen

Good Evening. My congratulations to the Centre for Fathering (CFF) on its 20th anniversary celebrations.

Fathers, like mothers, play an important role in parenting. They are role models to their children, and contribute to the development of a child’s emotional well-being. Fathers who are actively involved in their children’s lives also reap the benefits of stronger relationships with their children.

Over the past 20 years, CFF has supported more than 50,000 fathers, through various activities such as father-child experiential programmes, parenting talks and fathering workshops. Each year, CFF runs over 200 programmes in schools, prisons, communities and religious organisations as well as companies, reaching some 300,000 families. Its fathering campaigns reach over 4.7 million fathers and family members every year. CFF’s outreach efforts have benefitted many fathers from diverse backgrounds, including those who are underprivileged and incarcerated.

I am also happy to be presenting the inaugural Great Companies for Dads Awards today, to recognise organisations which place an importance to active fatherhood. Singapore has been encouraging our employers, both in the public and private sectors, to provide a family-friendly environment to its employees. Strong support from employers is useful in cultivating pro-family workplaces that encourage parents to spend more time and be more active in their children’s lives. In turn, organisations that have adopted a work-life policy also reap benefits, such as increased staff productivity and higher level of engagements at work.

I am happy to see that many organisations have adopted this mind-set and started to implement pro-family programmes such as additional childcare leave, flexible work arrangements, parenting programmes and Eat with Your Family Day.

The Great Companies for Dads Awards is a commendable effort by the CFF to motivate more organisations to come on board and support our fathers at work through family-friendly policies and work practices. This year, five organisations from across different industries in the public and private sectors are being recognised for the Awards. Eight others will receive letters of commendation for their efforts in encouraging work-life integration in their organisations. Let me share some of their best practices in supporting fathers at work.

Within the public sector, the Ministry of Social and Family Development has led by example in allowing fathers to leverage telecommuting practices. This gives them the flexibility in when, where and how they want to work. To enhance father-child bonding, MSF also have programmes such as “Bring Your Family to Work Day” and “Eat with Your Family Day”.

At Michelman Asia-Pacific, the company has put in place initiatives that strengthen and support families’ ties. Beyond the regular Eat with Your Family Day, the company provided Grab vouchers to their staff so that they can have meals delivered and enjoyed by the family together. These initiatives are curated with the intention of being family friendly, enabling employees to feel less stressed and better able to make decisions and meet work commitments, both professionally and personally.

Another example is Qiren, which has built their office infrastructure with their motto “For family and kids” in mind. The office features family-friendly facilities such as a playground, a library, a nursing room, and even a cereal bar! These were built to add value and meet their staff needs of a space that caters to a conducive work environment.

These are some organisations that have understood the challenges of being a parent, especially a father. I urge more employers to extend their support. As more fathers play an active role in bringing up their children, we need more organisations to create a conducive work environment for fathers so that they can step up at home.

In closing, let me once again congratulate CFF on your significant milestone. Over these years, you have journeyed with tens of thousands of fathers, inspiring and supporting them to become active fathers. Thank you.