About half of the respondents (51%) who voted in our poll feel that stricter penalties should be imposed on employers who discriminate pregnant staff. On the other hand, slightly over a third (35%) felt that subsidies should be given to employers to help companies to cope when their staff gets pregnant. Only 13% were for the idea of raising awareness of employees' rights via campaigns.

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Pregnancy-related complaints have been on the rise lately and it seems that Singaporeans prefer a more pragmatic approach of implementing penalties in order to deter employers from discriminating against pregnant staff or denying them their proper compensation. Subsidies to help employers tide through and cope with the rising costs of hiring additional staff is the next most popular choice of action while raising awareness of staff's rights takes the backseat here.

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