American visiting SG asks if Singaporeans are workaholics

SINGAPORE: A United States citizen who is currently in Singapore on a working visit has asked if everyone in the city-state is a workaholic.

U/Zealousideal_Gur3153 wrote in a post on r/askSingapore on Thursday (Nov 7) that at present, he’s visiting an office that is part of the tech sector.

He observed that many employees stay late at the office consistently, until generally around 7pm, according to coworkers he has talked to.

While some netizens assured him that not everyone in Singapore works this much, others appeared to confirm his observation, with one writing that the “Facetime culture is too big here.”

However, this commenter added that some Singaporean employees compensate by taking extra long lunch and tea breaks.

Some even told the post author that saying at the office till 7 pm is considered the norm or even early.

The standard work hours in Singapore are 9:00 am till 6:00 pm, which means leaving at 7 pm causes a worker to stay an hour longer than that, which is still an hour of unpaid work if there’s no overtime.

The Ministry of Manpower has said that a person who works five days a week or less can only work for nine hours per day. Those who work more than five days per week can only work for eight hours a day.

Shift workers, meanwhile, are only allowed to work for 12 hours per shift.

A commenter on the post characterized Singapore’s work culture as “toxic” with little or no work-life balance. They added that people who buy into the culture of overwork “ruin it for the rest of us and enable exploitation.”

One observed that some Singaporean employees may not necessarily be workaholics but live in “constant fear” of losing their jobs.

However, a commenter wrote that this “overwork is good” mindset is specific to older Singaporeans and that younger workers in the city-state are now prioritizing work-life balance more than their elders.

In 2022, a study found that Singapore is the most overworked country in the Asia Pacific region, with workers clocking in 45 hours per week. This is three hours more than the country ranked number two, China, where employees work 42 hours weekly.

When it came to average annual leave, Singapore ia also among the countries with the fewest days in the region allotted for this, with just seven. Lower still are Thailand and China, which only have an average annual leave of six and five days respectively. /TISG

Read also: SG employee says “I am stuck in a job where I am overworked and very underpaid” but Singaporeans advise “Wait till you get another firm offer”