Five organisations from the public and private sectors have been selected as winners of the Great Companies for Dads Awards 2021.
Launched by the Centre for Fathering (CFF) and DADs for Life, the Great Companies for Dads Awards is Singapore’s first award to recognise outstanding organisations with policies and practices that support fathers and help them thrive in the workplace. It is organised in partnership with Families for Life and in support of the Made for Families initiative.
These organisations received the awards from President Halimah Yacob at a ceremony on 3 March 2021 (pictured). They hail from industries such as manufacturing, education, property and government. The winners are City Developments Limited, Ministry of Defence/Singapore Armed Forces (MINDEF/SAF), Michelman Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd, Ministry of Social and Family Development and Singapore Management University.
In addition, another eight companies received letters of commendation for their efforts in encouraging work-life integration in their organisations. These include:
- Maha Bodhi School
- Qiren Organisation
- Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (S) Pte Ltd
- Eu Yan Sang (Singapore) Pte Ltd
- Kemin Industries (Asia) Pte Ltd
- Kim Choo Kueh Chang Pte Ltd
- Samsui Supplies & Services Pte Ltd
- Autobahn Motors (S) Pte Ltd
Centre for Fathering celebrates 20 years of empowering fathers
The Great Companies for Dads Awards was launched in conjunction with the 20th Anniversary of CFF. Over the past 20 years, CFF has equipped over 50,000 fathers through activities such as father-child experiential programmes, shared parenting talks and fathering workshops.
Each year, CFF runs over 200 programmes conducted in schools, prisons, communities and religious organisations as well as companies, reaching 300,000 families. Its fathering campaigns such as Celebrating Fathers, Back to School with Dad and Eat With Your Family Day reach over 4.7 million fathers and family members annually.
CFF has reached out to fathers of ethnic communities such as the Malay-Muslim and Indian communities, parents of new-borns, as well as often overlooked groups such as incarcerated fathers and fathers of families in distress and youths at risk – benefitting over 1,000 underprivileged and incarcerated fathers with our programmes since 2017.
Awarding father-friendly workplaces
The award winners were judged based on the following criteria:
- Family-friendly policies above and beyond government-stipulated requirements. Example: additional family care leave above the two weeks of mandated paternity leave, flexible work arrangements etc.
- Companies with programmes that promote father’s wellbeing or activities that promote father-child or family bonding. Example: father’s support group, family day activities, father-child bonding activities etc.
- Companies that run CFF or DADs for Life programmes/activities including participation in Back to School with Dad, Eat with Your Family Day, Celebrating Fathers and other programmes such as fathering, father-child and parenting workshops.
The awards were judged by a distinguished panel which includes Mr Douglas Foo, President, Singapore Manufacturing Federation; Dr T. Chandroo, Chairman, Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Mr Per Magnusson, Chairman, Singapore International Chamber of Commerce; Mr Aubeck Kam, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Manpower; Mr Richard Hoon, Chairman, Centre for Fathering and DADs for Life and Mrs Laura Hwang, Chairman, ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC).
“Employers play a critical role in supporting families, as better work-life integration leads to increased productivity, greater staff engagement and lower turnover. The Great Companies for Dads Awards motivate organisations to continually help their employees, especially Dads who tend to be overlooked compared to Mums, achieve balance between work and family,” said Speaker of Parliament Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, who is also the patron for CFF and DADs for Life.
Mr Bryan Tan, CEO of CFF and DADs for Life, added, “These thirteen organisations have put in place excellent human resource policies and practices that support parents, specifically Dads. With such support in place, fathers will also be able to take on greater parental responsibilities and become a more involved and engaged father, which is critical to a child’s well-being. They will be able to partner with Mums in raising their children and in process, strengthen their marriages. This paves the way for Singapore to be known to the world as being Made for Families!”
“Employers play a huge role in the ecosystem of support towards building strong and resilient families. The Great Companies for Dads Awards is an excellent platform to recognise organisations that have invested in family-friendly policies and initiatives to help their employees balance work with fulfilling their roles as parents. We hope that more organisations will be inspired to follow their example and promote policies and activities involving fathers,” shared Families for Life Council Chairman, Mr Ishak Ismail.