BOSSES of small businesses in Singapore are worried that the Government's plan to extend maternity leave to four months will add to already rising business costs.

Companies with leaner workforces say they may not be able to find the staff to cover the duties of women employees who take the full four months off, and could be forced to recruit and train temporary replacements who may not be up to mark.

'It'll be painful...Everything is about rising costs and we've got to bring in someone else to do the job,' said Mr Thomas Chiam, owner of Friends Restaurant.

'It's a double whammy and SMEs will feel it even more,' said the entrepreneur, who hires 100 staff, of whom about one-fifth are women.

Mr Chiam's views were echoed by many of the 20 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that The Straits Times spoke to on the issue, as well as five prominent business groups.

The firms interviewed employ between five and 200 staff and their workforces are at least 20 per cent female. Five of the firms are helmed by women.

The Government is extending maternity leave from 12 weeks to 16, a move that comes just four years after leave was upped from eight to 12 weeks.

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.