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Singaporeans wish to continue working from home post Circuit-Breaker, says survey

More than 80 per cent of employees in Singapore wish to continue working from home (WFH) post-Circuit Breaker, says a survey by EngageRocket,  a company that helps organisations make better people decisions using real-time data.

More than two million employees are now telecommuting and it has profoundly affected their work, with a potential reshaping of the future might be forming, reveals the “Pulse of the Singapore Workforce Survey”.

Engage Rocket conducted the survey in partnership with the Institute for HR Professionals (IHRP) and the Singapore HR Institute (SHRI).

WFH will likely be a standardised option

The result is that WFH is desirable for most Singaporeans, although they admit that it has imposed their productivity.

The key insights from the survey are:

  • 80 per cent of employees wish to continue working from home half their time or more post-Circuit Breaker, while 10 per cent do not want to work from home after the Circuit Breaker.
  • But more than four in 10 (​46 per cent) ​report lower productivity, taking more time to achieve the same as before.

Also Read: e27’s remote staffers sharing their work-from-home experience

Younger employees are less likely to have their productivity affected by working from home — 40 per cent of younger workers aged 21-30 years old indicated that they are less productive than before working from home, compared to 49 per cent of employees aged 40-53 years old.

The main challenges faced by workers with low productivity are:

  • Practical aspects such as family presence, distractions, and space constraints (22 per cent)
  • Working longer hours than usual (22 per cent)
  • Inability to access resources and tools that they could have in the office (21 per cent)

Mayank Parekh, CEO of IHRP, said: “​These are early days yet and we will need to see the results over a longer period. However, beyond doubt, COVID-19 will have a profound impact on the future of work.

For instance, it has ended the debate on whether or not companies should offer to telecommute. The next step for many companies, however, is to couple this flexibility with employee engagement programmes that helps to alleviate the productivity challenges​,” he said.

Mental health issue with WFH

The result of the survey also reveals that a quarter of workers report more stress, mostly driven by concerns around:

  • The health and economic impact on the country (67 per cent),
  • Their impacted productivity and performance due to working from home (64 per cent), and
  • The possibility that a member of their family might contract COVID-19 (57 per cent)

Alvin Goh, Executive Director at SHRI, added: “​Mental health plays an important role in the way we deal with stress, how we relate to others, and the decisions we make in our daily lives. Without positive mental health, it will be almost impossible to realise one’s full potential, work productively, or handle the stress that comes with life. Thus, with the preliminary results, there is a greater need to focus and assist our workforce in overcoming the pressures that they currently face.”​ ​

Maintaining employees’ engagement

According to the survey’s result, engaged employees are more confident of and committed to working towards the company’s success in a crisis.

  • Among promoters, 95 per cent agree or strongly agree that they are confident about the future of their organisation
  • During crises like this, strong leadership and communication are critical. 94 per cent of promoters report being well-taken care of by their organisation, along with 88 per cent of them reporting that they have strong management support. 95 per cent of promoters also indicated that their organisation communicates with them effectively throughout the ongoing pandemic.

Measuring employee engagement and workforce attitudes are ​a business imperative​, and it has become even more critical during an economic downturn or a crisis.

Also Read: Why remote working is the future for startups

​Research shows that engaged employees are more likely to actively participate in crisis management to support and benefit the organisation. High-performing and high-potential employees will be the key to any company’s recovery.

Takeaways

With the trend shifting towards favouring flexibility in work settings, employers have to take action now to ensure that these business-critical employees do not resign when the job market stabilises.

“​While ensuring business continuity is important through such crises, the need to engage employees effectively is a critical factor determining how quickly companies can rebound when the economy recovers​,” added Leong Chee Tung, Co-founder and CEO of EngageRocket.

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Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

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