70 peratus pekerja, berada lebih lama di pejabat

R2D2

All work, no play

WORK-LIFE BALANCE: Happy employees are loyal employees. Sadly, more than half our working population may not be whistling their way to work anytime soon as a recent survey reveals that our work-life balance is completely out of whack, writes Audrey Vijaindren

ALMOST 70 per cent of employees spend between two and five hours working beyond their official work hours every day, with 63 per cent admitting to not spending enough time with their family due to long working hours.

A survey by Jobstreet.com among 954 employees across various industries in Malaysia two months ago, shockingly revealed that nearly 54 per cent of the respondents don't even get the chance to finish their annual leave entitlement.

"More and more executives are staying back late in the office, due to the increasing demands of their work, particularly meetings. Many are forced to attend evening discussions, or clear their work after office hours because of meetings, crises or other interruptions during the day," said Corporate Coach Academy chief executive officer Michael Heah.

"It's a critical time for both employers and employees to do something about this before they suffer burnout, develop health problems or put a strain on their relationships.

"Although many employees are aware that they're spending too much time working, most are afraid to convey their unhappiness to their bosses.

"Unfortunately, it's not in our culture to tell our superiors how we feel or what we want," he said.

Nearly 75 per cent of the survey respondents stay late at the office to complete their heavy workload, with a majority stating that they're not paid for the extra hours they put in.

Only 25 per cent of respondents don't get any interruptions from work during their holidays, while 78 per cent ensure their handphones are contactable by their bosses at all times. Almost all respondents get emergency texts from their bosses.

Heah commented that Asian employers tend to be more demanding than Westerners because they themselves are workaholics.

"The reasoning that 'If I can do it, why not you?" causes many employers to force these expectations and feelings of guilt onto their employees. Just like how they are afraid to tell their immediate bosses how they feel or what they want, these people inculcate the same behaviour in their subordinates. Hence, this syndrome perpetuates in the workplace like an ingrained work culture for all to follow.

"Having said that, most organisations are doing a lot of 'fire-fighting' because business has become more challenging. This gives rise to many unnecessary activities, which affect lives, in and out of the workplace."

The work-life balance survey also revealed that the top reasons respondents gave for working overtime were unreasonable deadlines and an overloading of work.

The majority of respondents felt companies needed to provide flexi working hours, allowing them the option of choosing from a range of start and end times.

Another suggestion was for companies to have a policy encouraging employees to work less than 40 hours a week, rather than making it compulsory to work from 9am to 6pm daily.

About 60 per cent indicated that their company did not carry out any initiatives to promote work-life balance at all.

Vokuro

Akal almost every day balik lewat dari sepatutnya kecuali akak ada appointment dengan kawan lah lepas kerja. Akak balik lewat bukan sebab kerja namun sebab akak nak elak jam. Biasa lepas dinner baharu akak balik rumah.

maxim

malas aih nak balik lambat..gaji tetap camtu gak..baik balik umah wat keje lain

cmf_blingblings

Sebab kat rumah tak dok line internet

Atifan

aku blk lmbt sbb bos tahan nak marah2 semua staff dia..sabo je la..hari angin baek xpa..mai hari angin taufan memang semua kena walaupun bkn salah ktorang...boss always right

ultra78

Aku balik ontime. Sebab kalau balik lewat pun company tak menghargai usaha yg dicurahkan.

Esperanza

I pun balik keje lepas 2-3jam abes waktu keje... yg bestnye extra hours tu nanti bila dah cukup bole claim as annual leave gittuew.. Asalkan xkena keje sabtu ahad sudahh...

card_reader

okey la tu kerja dok opis, nie kerja dok opis kejap je pastu buat kerja luar sampai balik.....

TanSriJess

kwn aku punya punch card

last in

first out

Innrukia

Aku & GM yg terawal blk kat ofis

lurve82

Aku biasa msuk 15min awal...blik 45min lewat...ok la cover blik aku buat benda2 lagha time keje...

BurningTimes

Akak bila habis kerja, lepak2 dahulu dengan kawan2 dekat ofis. Sembang2 buang masa dahulu, minum air, kemudian baharu gigih balik rumah.

aechae

boss aku x galakkn duk lama2 kt kilang/lab...

utk production workers plg lama smpi pkul 7 je bleh stay if rpoduction hbs lmbt

utk ktorg ni smpi 6.30 je....if byk job sat nnt pkul 6.15 manager pn call tnya bila mau blk...

cecari

Vokuro posted on 29-12-2013 03:25 PM
Akal almost every day balik lewat dari sepatutnya kecuali akak ada appointment dengan kawan lah lepa ...

takdak sapa kesah hang nak balik lewat ka awal ka di sini ummah vokuro oii

mbhcsf

why not?   tak ada sapa pun paksa balik awal kan?...subjective.

a_gen2

yg satu pihak suruh kerja lebih masa nak cover harga barang naik... satu pihak pulak kata beri lebih masa untuk anak2... tak ke pening mana satu nak ikut..

kasibiman

Masuk 7.15

balik 7-9 pm

kasibiman

Annual leave record takat jemahat 27 disember: unutilised 18 hari

karayukisan

dtg on-time, balik pun harusla on time juga. bkn boleh claim ot punggg...

cepheid

ramai je datang lambat balik awal. antaranya RA aku