MOM has previously said that the guidelines acknowledge employers’ prerogative to decide on work arrangements.
In a snap poll of about 140 employers by the Singapore National Employers Federation in late 2025, 13 per cent had no plans to start offering remote work.
The top reasons they gave were difficulty maintaining consistent communication, the nature of business operations, a lack of interaction among employees, and difficulty ensuring equity or fairness across all roles.
Rather than tightening the guidelines, experts agreed that implementation and developing managers’ capabilities should now be the priority.
To lead flexible teams, managers need to know how to set clear expectations, manage workers through outcomes and handle flexible work requests consistently and fairly, said IHRP's Mr Sardar.
Associate Professor Trevor Yu of the Nanyang Business School said: “Much of the stigma persists because of an outdated signal: being seen in the office is equated with commitment, while flexibility is read as lower ambition or reliability.”
He said the next step is to shift organisational leadership and managers from a “permission mindset” to a “performance and job design mindset”.
This means managing talent through deliverables and service standards, and not physical visibility.
To do this, he said employers must make decisions on flexible work transparent and clearly tie them to job requirements, ensure flexible workers are evaluated fairly without “hidden penalties”, and hold line managers accountable for their decisions.
“The guidelines are a strong initiator for reform. They standardise process, but the real challenge now is cultural,” said Assoc Prof Yu.
“If Singapore wants genuine acceptance of flexible work arrangements, the focus has to shift to how work is evaluated, how managers are trained, and how organisations ensure that flexibility does not become a quiet career penalty.”
