Minor Issues

Longer working hours are taking a toll on employees' physical and mental health, as they juggle career, family and other commitments

- Abel Ang

We spend a lot of time at work. According to the Ministry of Manpower, Singapore workers spend 43.3 hours at work per week, among the highest in Asia. As economic, geopolitical and technological clouds gather, it is no surprise that people are putting in longer hours at work, to get more face time with their bosses, in an effort to increase job security.

With longer hours on the job, workers are experiencing more stress and mental health issues in coping with work, family and commitments, such as the care of older parents.

The 2018 bestseller by Stanford Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer poses a timely question. His book, Dying For A Paycheck, asks whether it is worth it for workers to lose their health, and possibly their lives, in pursuit of a monthly salary.

Prof Pfeffer makes the case that long hours, economic insecurity and the conflict between work and family can be toxic to employees.

He accuses corporations of pursuing profitability at all costs by squeezing the maximum productivity from their workers. In doing so, companies are hurting employee engagement, increasing worker turnover and destroying workers' physical and emotional health.

The deleterious effects of workplace stress on health are so severe that doctors have assessed that unemployment and increased job demands have a greater effect on worker deaths than the inhalation of second-hand cigarette smoke.

According to the book, work-related health risks are systematic and can be linked to cardiovascular disease, poor mental health and suicide.

Interestingly, the book has a Singapore connection. Professor Joel Goh from the National University of Singapore collaborated with Prof Pfeffer to quantitatively research the linkage between work and health, and the impact on premature worker death.