According to a survey done by recruitment agency Michael Page, it is said that eight in 10 Singaporeans are happy with their work-life balance. In fact, it also found out that 70 per cent of people responded to work calls and e-mails even outside of working hours, and 84 per cent of them revealed that they do it because they have responsibilities that require them to be contactable.
The recruitment agency’s Singapore Work Happy Survey 2019 focused on different aspects of work and how happy employees are. It was done on 1,328 professionals in the country from various job levels.
Half of the respondents opine that work devices positively impact their work-life balance because it gives them a chance to have flexible work arrangements. In total, 80 per cent of them highlighted that they’re happy with their work-life balance.
“Work-life balance is an essential consideration for all professionals in Singapore. Success at work is now defined by what you can achieve both in and out of the office,” said Michael Page Singapore managing director Nilay Khandelwal.
The survey also found out that 55 per cent of respondents noted that a flexible work environment is vital as it provides them with better work-life balance. In fact, 39 per cent of them said such an environment allows them to be more productive at work, and 6 per cent pointed out that it gives them more family time.
Besides work-life balance, the survey also stated that 59 per cent of employees chat on messaging apps with family and friends, whereas 46 per cent make time to talk to their colleagues on personal matters while at work.
On the other hand, 31 per cent of respondents also noted that they spend time searching for information for personal reasons at work, while 25 per cent engage on social media and 20 per cent send personal-emails. But, employees are generally productive with 91 per cent spending less than an hour a day focusing on personal matters in the office.
As for work connectivity, 86 per cent of those responded noted that they have received a device from work which include laptops (47 per cent), smartphones (30 per cent) and tablets (9 per cent).
If that is not all, 90 per cent of individuals surveyed said that they spend an hour or less travelling to work daily. 46 per cent of them stressed that they view commuting to work as an important part when considering a new job, hinting that office location could play a major role in deciding if they would take a job or not.
Over on social media, netizens rubbish the survey’s findings and said that it’s far from reality. More than 200 comments were received in ST’s Facebook page where many of them highlighted that those who surveyed are just happy with their big pay check, and not so much about work-life balance. They added that Singapore is a stressful city for people to live in and it has very less leisure as well.
Apart from that, some commented that the survey result is fake as the sample size is too small and Michael Page has picked the wrong kind of respondents. They also said that the respondents were most probably foreign talents, and the recruitment agency should be “sued” for releasing “fake news”.
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