‘His whole body clock is gone’: Man shares his brother’s company makes him work from 10 pm to 6 am once or twice a week, and it’s destroying his health

SINGAPORE: A man took to Reddit to share that his brother is being worked to the bone under a gruelling new shift system that is taking a toll on his health and sleep.

Posting on r/askSingapore on Thursday (July 17), the man explained that his brother was already working long hours from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Recently, however, his company introduced a new shift system that now forces him to return for additional late-night work.

According to him, his brother is now required to return to work on certain nights from 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., and sometimes even as late as 6 a.m.

Despite the overnight hours, the company reportedly expects employees to return to the office later that same day. If the night shift ends before 3 a.m., they must report back by 10:30 a.m. If it ends after 3 a.m., the return time is 1 p.m.

The company allegedly tries to compensate by allowing staff to leave at 3 p.m. the day before their night shift. However, the man claimed that this does not provide adequate rest, as most workers still have to go home, settle down, and prepare for the overnight session.

“He [my brother] reaches home maybe at 4+ p.m., eats, showers, tries to sleep, then has to wake up for night work, and then, the next day, still goes back to the office. It’s not real rest; it’s just delaying the burnout,” the man said.

“His whole body clock is gone, sia. Even his eating is weird already. Skips dinner, eats breakfast after shift, and wakes up feeling like crap. He doesn’t even know when to eat or sleep properly anymore.”

The man also highlighted that the company has a “loophole” to make it seem that their employees are not exceeding daily work hour limits.

“They split the night work over two days in the system: 10 p.m.– 12 a.m. = ‘yesterday’, 12 a.m. onwards =’next day’” he explained

“So, technically, they did no more than eight hours a day, but the guy is getting like three to four hours of sleep max between shifts. How is that normal? And they only give 1:1 time off. No matter what time you worked or how long you stayed up, it’s just one hour for one hour, even if your entire day and night are ruined.”

Although the company claimed that these night duties would only happen once or twice a week, the man argued that even a single overnight shift is enough to mess up someone’s sleep and leave them drained for days.

He also shared that his brother, who used to be energetic and sociable after work, has completely changed. “He used to always hang out and chill after work. Now he cancels last minute, is always tired, and his mood is different. He’s not even himself anymore. It feels like he’s burning out and nobody cares.

Worried about the long-term impact on his brother’s health, the man ended the post by questioning whether such working conditions are acceptable or sustainable in Singapore.

“HRs of SG, is this normal meh???” he asked. “Just posting because maybe others out there are going through this also. This kind of setup is not right and damn rubbish, leh. It’s slowly destroying people.”

“Update resume and find another job with normal working hours, bah.”

Many were shocked by the post, with several Reddit users calling the company’s shift system outright abusive and totally “unsustainable.”

“I hope this is a joke. If not, it’s abuse,” one user said. “What in the world is this. Which company is this???!!!” another wrote.

Some also urged the man or his brother to report the situation to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), saying no employee should be forced to work under such exhausting and unreasonable conditions.

One user said, “I do wish he would inform the authorities. This shift work is not sustainable. If it’s not your brother, it will be his colleagues who will report this eventually, the earlier, the better.”

Another added, “Classic SME skirting written law with grey areas. Just complain to MOM only.”

Meanwhile, a third user suggested quitting altogether. “I remember seeing some studies about how nocturnal shift work ruins your health, and night shift workers have more health issues. Although I don’t think you need to see the data, your bro is already experiencing it himself.”

“Update resume and find another job with normal working hours, bah. Even if he can mentally tolerate it, he’s gonna end up with more physical health issues if this continues. It sounds like the company just wants to justify their arrangement without giving any F about the well-being of their staff.”

In other news, a frustrated tenant has taken to an online forum after her landlord withheld about 30% of her security deposit at the end of a long-term lease.

In a post on the r/askSingapore Reddit forum on Tuesday (July 15), the woman shared that she had only received roughly 70% of her deposit back, with the rest allegedly retained for “repairs.”

Read more: ‘We haven’t received proper receipts for the deductions’: Tenant says landlord kept 30% of deposit without clear justification

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