Singapore — Eight out of 10 people hope to work from home (WFH) after the circuit breaker measures are lifted, according to a survey reported in mothership.sg on Wednesday (April 29).
A survey by start-up EngageRocket, the Singapore Human Resources Institute and the Institute for Human Resources Professionals had more than 2,700 collected responses that they have been putting together since April 13.
The ongoing circuit breaker measures, which began on April 7, were originally scheduled to end by May 4. However, due to a spike in the number of people testing positive for the virus, the Government decided to extend the measures until June 1. This has left many people to remain working from home.
The article also states that of the 3.5 million people that are part of Singapore’s work force, sans foreign domestic workers, at least 15 per cent still commute to work every day.
The survey results showed that while a larger number of people preferred to do more work from home, there are still some issues that must be addressed. One thing considered a “downside” is that at least 46 per cent feel they are less productive when they WFH.
The other challenges of WFH that were showcased were that 22 per cent feel that they were working longer hours than they would in the office. Another 22 per cent also share that being at home had a number of issues like not having enough space, having their family around and generally just being distracted. Another 21 per cent also feel that there was an inability to access the proper tools and resources in the same way that they could in the office.
There are also stress issues. The survey cited that 26 per cent have higher levels of stress about certain issues. Some 67 per cent of WFH employees are concerned about the health and economic impact of the virus on the country, 64 per cent feel concerned about how WFH will affect productivity and performance, while 57 per cent are more worried about the possibility of one of their family members getting the disease.
The survey also showed that the younger generation of workers would find it easier to shift to longer periods of WFH. While 40 per cent of the younger employees did find that they were less productive, at least 49 per cent of the older workers aged 40 to 53 felt the same. Meanwhile, those aged 21 to 30 were not as likely to have productivity issues at all. /TISG