Colleague asks if it’s fair to reduce salary of mothers who request WFH flexibility to care for their newborn

SINGAPORE: An online user took a work situation with a colleague to a forum on Friday (March 5) to share how a co-worker who has completed maternity leave requested a work-from-home arrangement to care for her newborn.

Given that the nature of their work is not very compatible with a WFH setup and that their workload is shared, the writer asked if it’s fair that their colleague’s salary be reduced.

Bring it up to your supervisor

Some weighed in on the matter, encouraging the writer to bring their concerns up with their supervisor.

“This feels more like you are her supervisor than a colleague,” said one.

“If it is just a colleague relationship, you can sound out to your joint supervisor if you need her to communicate more (in fact communicate with your colleagues as well on that) in order for you to work.

Set expectations that she should catch up for the time she is away or at least be expected to cover for you in future.

Your supervisor might also come in to assist with the predicament with additional resources or divert workload. If you don’t communicate and address it soon, I imagine the situation is just going to get worse for both of you.”

However, others took the writer’s post differently, not happy with how it sounded like they wanted their co-worker to get a lower salary.

“Err, what’s the point of you asking for your colleague’s salary to be cut?” asked one.

“If you’re so salty, wait for this arrangement to continue for a bit before asking your boss to also give you WFH privileges or a raise.

It really doesn’t benefit you if your colleague’s pay gets cut, because then your bosses might take it into their heads that you don’t need a decent increment in the next cycle since your salary is already comparatively high.

“Why do you need to cover her when she’s not in the office?” a third asked. “Isn’t she working from home? And if she’s allowed a 100% WFH arrangement, why would she need to update you on whether she’s in the office or not?”

To this, another commenter tried to read into things, sharing, “I think, OP is not happy that: (1) the colleague asked for WFH 3 days a week and granted, but sometimes WFH whole week, not in the office at all. OP thinks this is not fair.

Will OP be happy if this colleague follows the agreement that WFH is 3 days only a week? I don’t know. (2) This colleague also never updates anyone when she is on leave or MC. OP is not happy so she does the same, never updating anyone, just the boss.”

What does MOM say

According to the Singaporean Ministry of Manpower, a working mother is entitled to 16 weeks of Government-paid maternity leave or 12 weeks of maternity leave.

The latter depends on whether the child is a citizen of Singapore and other criteria.

Read also: Accounts staff says he got fired, but his boss wants him to teach her accounting within 8 days before he leaves