Earlier this year, I was involved in the production of a coffee table book that aimed to show how 50 companies in Singapore implement innovative work-life programmes for their employees. This was produced by TAFEP (Tripartite Alliance for Fair & Progressive Employment Practices) as part of the SG50 celebrations, with the help of Brilliant Agency. The work involved visiting each office and photographing the respective company’s select employees to illustrate their best practice policy for work-life harmony.

The whole shoot was quite a challenge. We would go on location, determine a good spot in the office, direct the employees for the shot, wrap up and then move on to the next location. We shot around 3 to 4 locations per day, as we needed to get all the images done within 3 weeks. It was quite an experience being exposed to the different ways companies try to make a difference in the lives of their employees.

The initiatives ranged from healthy cooking workshops & complimentary breakfasts, to weekend wake boarding sessions, exclusive staff clubhouse and an in-house gym. There were also family-oriented programmes like childcare centres for employees to annual bursary awards for employees’ children. And of course, there’s the work-from-home flexibility and companies setting up infrastructure that facilitate mobile working. Coming from working in a 9-to-5 job for more than a decade, I can absolutely appreciate the significance of these programmes.

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So after 3 weeks of daily shoots and eventual challenges, sometimes starting early on at 6am to going home by 9pm, we were finally able to wrap up. A few weeks later, I got to see the final product, the result to our hard work, and as they say – nothing beats seeing your work on hard copy.

Here are some of the images we took for the book:
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‘Work Happy: Happy Work – Happy Life – 50 Employers Who Make It Look Easy’ is a publication produced by TAFEP (Tripartite Alliance for Fair & Progressive Employment Practices). You can read more about it here.

Big big thanks to the guys from Brilliant Agency: Jon, Natalie, Meena, and Shu – thanks for having me on board! And thanks to Reuben for the assist! You guys rock!