SINGAPORE - Women here are more willing than men to let nature take its course when it comes to family planning, but are more reluctant to change their lifestyles to have children, a research has found.

The survey on working adults aged between 23 and 38 years old was conducted by jobs portal JobStreet.com, to understand what motivates and deters Singaporeans from setting up a family.

Based on a list of suggestions, shorter workdays from 9am to 5pm were cited as the best incentive for parents to have more children.

70 per cent of respondents say they leave the office by 7pm daily on the average.

Heavily subsidized childcare facilities at every office building is another incentive that was well-received by respondents.

Said one parent interviewed by the jobs portal, "As we do not own a car, it takes me 1.5 hour each time to drop my daughter at her childcare center several MRT stations from home and get to work on time.

"I then have to leave office by 6pm to beat the evening crowd in order to pick her up by 7pm when the center closes.

"If every office building has childcare facilities, I can easily drop off my daughter at childcare on the ground floor and then go directly up to my office.

"If I feel the need to look in on her, I can just pop down during breaks. After work, it is a simple matter of collecting her on my way out."

The survey revealed that the most common support system for working parents was to place their children at infant care or childcare centers.

Working parents also indicated a preference for close members of the family such as stay-at-home moms or relatives as compared to engaging a nanny or domestic helper.

About 400 men and 600 women participated in the survey. 50 per cent indicated that they do not have children.

Amongst those with children, 10 per cent indicated that they have three children or more.

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