Over 40% Singapore workers choose unemployment over jobs that didn’t allow work-from-home & flexible work hours arrangement

Are Singaporean workers prioritizing life over work? A new study appears to point in this direction.

A recent survey of employees is showing that they’re serious about their preferences when it comes to work, with a significant number, over 40 per cent, saying they would not take a job that did not allow a work-from-home arrangement.

Four out of every five of the workers who participated in a recent Randstad survey said that flexible work hours are important for them, and 41 per cent said they would refuse a job that did not allow them to choose their own working hours.

Only three out of five of those polled said their employers allowed them to have flexible working hours.

One thousand workers in Singapore from 18 to 67 years old were polled in February and March of this year for the bi-annual 2022 Randstad Workmonitor survey.

The Covid-19 pandemic appears to have played a big part in changing peoples’ perspectives, leading to a shift in priorities to finding happiness and meaning at work more than before.

Almost all the respondents, a whopping 94 per cent, said that post-pandemic work-life balance is important, with the study showing that 41 per cent would prefer unemployment over a job where they are unhappy.

Moreover, more than half—or 52 per cent—say they would resign from a job that prevented them from enjoying life.

Seventy-seven per cent said working remotely is important to them, but only 52 per cent said they have this option. Should a job posting disallow WFH arrangements, 42 per cent said they would not accept it.

Interestingly, 44 per cent of those polled said they would not mind a lower pay as long as their work contributed to society. This number is ten per cent higher than the global average, the Randstad survey shows.

Furthermore, 43 per cent said they would say no to a job that is not aligned with their values regarding social and environmental issues, with the same number saying they’d reject a job from a firm that refuses to make “a proactive effort to improve their diversity and equity.”

There is a marked difference in responses according to the age of the participants.

Ms Jaya Dass, the Managing Director at Randstad Singapore and Malaysia, said “Employers that want to retain their employees should consider offering more flexible work models to meet the changing talent expectations that are brought about and exacerbated by the pandemic.

In addition to offering flexible work arrangements, companies should reconsider the purpose of the office as a collaborative space that fills up the communicative gaps of remote work, rather than resign to closed-off work cubicles.” /TISG

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