Half Of Workers Log Longer Hours After Pandemic Began

Top reasons cited in poll include blurring of work-life boundaries and heavier workload

- Calvin Yang

One in two Singapore employees has been grappling with longer working hours since the Covid-19 pandemic started two years ago.

A third of those who work overtime put in more than two extra hours a day, a study commissioned by The Straits Times has found.

The top reasons for the extended hours are difficulties drawing boundaries with work-from-home arrangements, increased tasks such as more paperwork, and covering for colleagues who have quit.

But labour experts have pointed out that even though people reported spending more time at work, their actual workload may not have changed much. Instead, those who work from home may have to juggle personal commitments, such as looking after their children, during regular work hours, they added.

Dr David Leong, managing director of human resource firm PeopleWorldwide Consulting, said: “Under such contexts, workers can be stressed and therefore deem that they spent more time at work.”

He noted that some staff are also taking on more responsibilities, with their firms letting go of people amid an uncertain economic outlook.

The poll was conducted this month to capture a glimpse of the amount of time employees devote to work daily after the pandemic hit Singapore.

The findings are not surprising, observers told ST. Overseas, studies have found that Covid-19 has disrupted job schedules, with people more likely to work on weekends and outside of nine-to-five hours.

National University of Singapore senior economics lecturer Kelvin Seah said: “Under the traditional work-from-office arrangement, it is easier to disconnect from work at the end of the day.