Posted: 13 September 2012 1807 hrs
SINGAPORE: Two-thirds of Singapore workers said
their workload has increased when compared with six months ago,
according to a survey by online job portal JobsCentral.
Of them, 83.3 per cent said that their work stress has also
increased in the last six months.
Only 1.1 per cent said that stress level has dropped, while 15.5
per cent indicated that it has stayed the same.
A total of 2,281 respondents took the survey and respondents
consisted of employed individuals from all levels of occupation and
income groups.
Sixty per cent of the respondents reported that they stay in the
office for at least an hour after work hours at least three days a
week.
One in three said they bring their work home to complete, 22 per
cent said they have worked from home while on sick leave, and close
to one-fifth said they have worked while on vacation.
Ms Michelle Lim, chief operating officer of JobsCentral Group,
said: "Singapore's workplace environment is a tough and demanding
one. Workers place career as one of the top priorities in their
lives and often make personal sacrifices for job
advancements.
"On the other hand, employers faced with increasing manpower cost
embark on the unending quest for higher productivity. It is not
surprising that our workers are feeling more stressed and working
longer hours."
She added: "Technology such as 3G and wifi on smartphones, tablets
and laptops means that you can take work with you wherever you may
be. And it also means that employers have the expectation that you
are available even after office hours.
"However, both employees and employers should learn to respect
after-work hours and reasonable allocation of work in order to
avoid burning out in the long-term."
The JobsCentral survey results also found that higher earners have
more "workaholic" tendencies.
They are more inclined to work longer hours, bring work home to
complete, work while they are on sick leave and even while on
vacation.
Of those who said they clock hours after official knock-off time,
most earn more than S$5,000 per month.
In another section of the survey, it showed that almost one in four
Singapore workers said that they feel bullied at work.
Seventy-four per cent of the respondents who said they were bullied
indicated that colleagues are the biggest bully.
Sixty-two per cent of them said that they were bullied by their
superiors and 21 per cent said they were bullied by their
clients.
The largest group of workers (34 per cent) who said they are
bullied are aged 41 to 50, and more females (27 per cent) than
males (21 per cent) also felt the effects of bullying
behaviours.
Administrative staff were found to be more vulnerable to bullying
than PMETs.
Common bullying behaviours reported by respondents include unfair
and biased allocation of workload, verbal abuse and personal
attacks, ostracising, wrongful accusation, abuse of seniority or
power, and gossip.
- CNA
