Little ones go to work – just for a day
Little Ones @ Work, a year-old initiative by the NTUC Women’s Development Secretariat (WDS), encourages children of staff to visit their parents’ workplaces for a day to learn how a typical workday pans out. NTUC WDS director Halimah Yacob added that companies which invested in work-life programme had lower absenteeism.
Find out what more parents and children learnt at this year’s programme in the article below.
Parents, kids whip up a treat at work
INSTEAD of making semiconductors, employees of United Test & Assembly Centre (Utac) made sandwiches yesterday - with the help of their children.
The factory and its staff played host for a day to these young visitors under the Little Ones @ Work initiative run by the NTUC Women's Development Secretariat (WDS).
The year-old programme, which encourages children of staff to visit their parents' workplaces for a day, has so far shown 1,800 children how a typical workday pans out in 40 companies.
Yesterday, Little Ones @ Work had an added element: Parents sat in on a workshop on healthy eating habits and regular exercise, and paired up with their children in a competition to make healthy sandwiches.
Said NTUC WDS director Halimah Yacob: 'Since parents and children are together, we want to take them through a learning journey, to teach them about healthy living and eating.'
Apart from letting children see where their parents work, Little Ones @ Work aims to remind managers and supervisors that their employees also play roles as parents and caregivers.
Mr Amarjit Singh, Utac's group vice-president, said he was glad his seven-year-old son Ajaypal had a chance to see his workplace. 'What we do is quite complex, so it's difficult to explain unless they get to see it,' he said.
Madam Halimah added that companies also stood to gain.
She said studies had shown that companies which had invested in work-life programmes had lower absenteeism.
She encouraged other companies to take up the grants to bring Little Ones @ Work to their employees and said the programme would probably reach 50 more companies next year.
Source: 30 December 2009, The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Permission required for reproduction.