Main image via Shutterstock
There goes everything you thought you knew about the working culture in Malaysia. You, like many others, probably thought that there is no way that Malaysians work longer hours than our peers in Singapore and Hong Kong. And till this moment so did we.
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But the results are in and the numbers don’t lie. In the inaugural Malaysia’s Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality survey, it was revealed that Malaysians work on average 15 hours more than their contracted hours each week compared to employees in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia.
It gets worse! The same survey also revealed that…
#1 Companies in Malaysia have the second highest number of lost days (67 days) of work time per employee per year due absence and presenteeism, costing companies an estimated RM2.7 million per year!
#2 Wait… presentee… what? Presenteeism, is when employees attend work despite feeling ill. This is linked to job demands, heavy workloads, understaffing, overtime, and looming deadlines.
#3 64% of Malaysian employees perform less than 150 minutes of physical activity a week, highest compared to Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. 12.5% of Malaysian employees are obese.
#4 90% of surveyed Malaysian employees do not eat a balanced diet. 86% of Malaysians eat fever than five servings of fruits and vegetables per day.
#5 Malaysia has the highest adult smoking rates at 11% compared to Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
#6 29% of Malaysian employees are at risk of having a heart or kidney condition, cancer, diabetes, or high blood pressure.
#7 Malaysia showed the highest percentage (56%) of employees slept less than seven hours a night. 67% reported at least one sleep problem.
#8 53% of Malaysian employees report at least one dimension of work-related stress.
#9 18% of Malaysian employees report that they are exposed to bullying at work, 4% report that they are bullied ‘often or always’, and 12% of Malaysian employees experience high levels of anxiety or depressive symptoms.
