Industry
watchers say companies in Singapore can do more to ensure workers
achieve a healthy work-life balance. (Yahoo! photo)
Singapore workers are working harder than ever with one in five
clocking eleven or more hours daily, according to a
survey.
Out of 95 employees polled in an online global survey by
international business company Regus, 19 per cent of them said they
have worked eleven or more hours a day.
This is 9 percentage points higher than the global average and 5
percentage points more than Japan, which took the second spot. Most
Singapore respondents were professionals, while the 19 per cent
comprised of senior corporate professionals and business
owners.
The month-long survey held in September cuts across 85 countries
and interviewed 12,000 employees in total.
It also found that 31 per cent of Singapore respondents worked for
nine to eleven hours daily, far lower than Hong Kong’s 48 per cent
and the global average of 38 per cent.
Almost half of the local workers polled said they have taken work
home more than three times a week compared to 43 per cent
globally.
Michelle Lim, chief operating officer of the JobsCentral Group said
this tendency to over-work arises from Singapore employees’
career-driven attitude and values such as being hard-working and
competitive in the workplace.
But she noted that since the survey polled mostly senior managers
and business owners, it is not surprising to find that they put in
many extra hours as they usually have larger responsibilities and
are well-compensated for it.
“However, anecdotally, we also hear of many rank and file workers
who have to put in many hours of over-time on a regular basis. I
think in many cases, it’s an issue of management’s expectations not
being matched with what the workers can reasonably achieve,” she
pointed out.
Regus regional vice-president of the Asia-Pacific region William
Willems noted that working longer hours could be detrimental to the
long term health of Singapore workers and this study “finds a clear
blurring of the line between work and home”.
Over-working, he added, could damage “overall productivity as
workers drive themselves too hard and become disaffected, depressed
or even physically ill”.
When asked what can be done to ensure a work-life balance for such
workers, Lim said that this will depend on the company’s work
culture. The management must believe in having work-life balance
and not penalise workers who seek such a balance, she
said.
“Work demands need to be reasonable and managers need to respect an
employee's right to rest undisturbed and maintain a sane life
outside of the office. In some cases, a bad work-life balance can
be due to inefficiencies.
“If that is the case, it would help if the manager can monitor
excess work hours and take active steps to work out a more
efficient way of doing things,” she noted.
Meanwhile, Willems suggested that businesses could also allow
employees to work from locations closer to home. This, he said,
will give them more control over their time, lessen their stress
from poor work-life balance and groom more productive, committed
and healthy staff.
