One significant work perk is annual leave in Singapore, which is included in the typical employment package for employees. To keep your staff content and productive, as an employer, it’s crucial that you manage annual leave effectively.
Annual leave in Singapore for employees goes beyond customary practice as its entitlements are subject to laws and regulations. Every employee in Singapore should be aware of the number of yearly vacation days they are eligible for.
Annual leaves are one of the fundamental rights and benefits to which all employees in Singapore are entitled. In Singapore, if an employee is protected by the Employment Act and has worked for more than three months, they are entitled to at least seven days of paid yearly leave.
The article gives an overview of annual leave in Singapore and the law regarding Singapore annual leave. Read further to learn more about the Employment Law regarding the employment benefit of yearly paid time-off in Singapore
How Much Annual Leave in Singapore Are You Entitled To?
In Singapore, the Employment Act governs the right to yearly leave. Every domestic or international employee whom the Employment Act covers under a service agreement is entitled to annual leave in Singapore.
This applies to workers recruited full-time, part-time, on a contract, or temporary basis.
A person who has been working for more than three months in the first year of employment is entitled to a minimum of 7 paid vacation days and an additional day for each consecutive year of employment, up to a total of 14 days.
Once you’ve been employed for three months, you can begin applying for paid annual leave in Singapore.
The right of a minimum of 14 days of annual leave in Singapore is legally mandated. Employers can offer extra annual vacation days as part of their employment benefits, for up to 21-28 days.
Annual Leave in Singapore: Years of Service
The Employment Act increases the number of paid annual leave days by one for each year of employment, up to a maximum of 14 days.
The Employment Act does not apply to sailors, statutory board employees, domestic workers, or civil servants. Therefore, the terms and conditions of their employment contracts govern their leave rights.
The table below illustrates the minimum days of annual leave in Singapore employers are legally mandated to provide for your better understanding:
| Year of Service | Days of Paid Leave |
| 1st | 7 |
| 2nd | 8 |
| 3rd | 9 |
| 4th | 10 |
| 5th | 11 |
| 6th | 12 |
| 7th | 13 |
| 8th and above | 14 |
Types of Annual Leave in Singapore
All the employees are entitled to paid annual leave in Singapore. In this section, we discuss the two types of leave privileges and what kinds of paid time-off fall under each type of annual leave in Singapore.
1. Statutory Leave
The minimal amount of annual leave in Singapore each employee working for the organization is entitled to receive, as outlined in the Employment Act, is known as statutory leave.
Each employee is authorized to take this paid leave once each year. The use of statutory leave is subject to any company-specific restrictions and regulations. The types of statutory leave entitlements are as follows:
- Annual Leave
- Outpatient Sick Leave, and Hospitalization Leave
- Paid Maternity Leave
- Paid Paternity Leave
- Shared Parental Leave
- Paid Adoption Leave
- Public Holidays
- Unpaid Infant Care Leave
- National Service Leave
2. Non-Statutory Leave
Non-statutory leave refers to the additional, non-mandatory benefits that some companies might provide. They could also include holidays to which the executive is entitled that are not statutory leave.
The provisions of your employment contract may also affect these rights. The types of non-statutory leave entitlements are as follows:
- Sabbatical
- Birthday Leave
- Compassionate Leave
- Marriage Leave
- Study/Exam Leave
- Mental Health Day Leave
- Unpaid Leave/Leave of Absence
Challenges Faced By Companies Managing Annual Leave In Singapore
Even though you may need your employees in the office, giving them some downtime is often in their best interests because you value their service. But the management of annual leave in Singapore can be frustrating, especially when you lack the manpower for the job.
However, annual leave management is crucial for account management and when paying the employee’s salary. Annual leave management refers to the management of the paid time off from work that employers grant employees within a working year.
These are the two main challenges that every company or employer faces without a proper management system for annual leave in Singapore:
1. Payroll Accounting Mistakes
Payroll management can be tricky because there are many paid and unpaid holidays. So, if your employee requires two weeks of paid leave and one week of unpaid leave, depending on your policy, you might even provide your employees with paid and unpaid leave under the same category.
Manual management of annual leave increases the chances of errors in payroll accounting. It can be hard to manually keep track of employees’ annual leave entitlement or check if someone has used all of their paid leaves.
The payroll manager might need help distinguishing between paid and unpaid leave and cannot effectively compensate the person.
2. Employee Confusion
Do your staff members understand how their vacation time builds up or know the rules about vacation time? Your employees might need to be made aware of their rights or how many vacation days they have left, which is one of the significant issues with vacation management.
How We Can Help – Our Professional Payroll Services
After reading our guide, you now have a better understanding of how much annual leave in Singapore you are entitled to as an employee, according to the Employment Act.
As a business owner in Singapore, you are also more aware of the various difficulties faced by companies who employ manual leave management processes.
If you are looking for efficient payroll services, including the management of your employees’ annual leave in Singapore, get in touch with our team of professionals at Premia TNC. They will make the process of annual leave management and payroll processing as seamless as possible.
Our qualified specialists can assist you in developing an effective, error-free compliance payroll system, and we can help you manage the complexity of payroll. We also provide first-rate payroll services and other accounting tasks for your Singapore-based businesses.
In this era of technology, you do not have to worry about your annual leave or payroll management. Premia TNC provides outstanding payroll and corporate secretarial services to automate each step of the payroll and employee leave management process without sacrificing functionality.
You will discover how efficient payroll services may benefit your company’s bottom line and workplace culture. We’ll also share with you the value of hiring the best payroll services in Singapore to expand your company.
Additionally, our services will resolve all your concerns regarding your company’s annual leave management and payroll service. Contact us for a FREE consultation on how we can help you with the management of your annual leave in Singapore.
End-to-End Payroll Management
It can be daunting to manage payroll procedures internally, mainly manually. To manage payroll operations more effectively and efficiently, third-party payroll service providers such as Premia TNC offer creative and scalable solutions.
We provide extensive services such as data collection, annual leave management, and many others to tackle organizational payroll issues.
Management of Annual Leave in Singapore and Attendance
Third-party payroll outsourcing businesses enable you to track and manage employee absence and attendance with the highest degree of accuracy and precision without requiring administrative procedures.
By automating the annual leave in Singapore management system, payroll outsourcing service providers make it easier to manage leaves and attendance.
They offer a thorough annual leave management program that makes it simple for businesses to match employee vacation time, shift schedules, holidays, and attendance with payroll.
Statutory Compliance
By taking care of all statutory compliance and related filing requirements, third-party payroll processing providers assist organizations in maintaining compliance.
These businesses provide statutory compliance services for annual leave management, provident fund, labor welfare fund, and professional tax.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Can unused annual leave in Singapore be carried forward to the next year?
Part IV of the Employment Act requires employers to allow their employees to carry over any unused annual leave to the following 12-month period.
The employer may specify in the employment contract how unused yearly leave will be handled for any other employees who Part IV of the Employment Act does not protect. It might be cashed, carried forward, or forfeited, for instance.
2. What happens to my unused annual leave when I resign?
If you are resigning from your current job but still have many unused annual paid leave remaining, you can utilize them in your notice period to push your final day of employment forward. The employer would have to pay wages earned up until the employee’s last day of work.
3. Are employers entitled to make their workers take annual leave in Singapore?
You should discuss the potential scenarios with your staff and reach a consensus to avoid miscommunications or conflicts.
These considerations range from whether your employees can accept unpaid time off in favor of taking their annual leave in advance to what will happen to their advance leave if they quit or get fired.
4. Why do some businesses find the management of annual leave in Singapore difficult?
Handling annual leave in Singapore is frequently frustrating for small and midsize businesses (SMEs).
It is because small and mid-sized enterprises lack the same human resources as larger companies. They often have to rely on manual leave procedures, which can be cumbersome and prone to mistakes.
When a company’s employee uses its paid annual leave, small companies have a smaller pool of personnel to pick from, which may result in workflow disruptions and lower productivity.
5. Are part-time employees entitled to vacation days?
Yes, as long as the part-time worker has worked for three months. The annual leave entitlement will be calculated proportionally.
6. How does outsourcing payroll help you concentrate on your primary business?
It takes time and effort to manage the payroll process internally because it entails several administrative procedures.
By automating the payroll processes and assisting them in remaining compliant, our payroll outsourcing services give the HR department more time to concentrate on crucial company operations.
Additionally, by giving businesses error-free payroll processes, Premia TNC enables them to pay employees accurately and on time as a third-party payroll outsourcing service provider.
