Survey Shows Most of Malaysian Employees Want Workplace Flexibility

According to a survey, one out of three Malaysians is not prepared to return to their offices. They prefer to work from home in the post-pandemic's new normal.

Titled Are We Ready To Be Back In Office?, the survey found that 33% of Malaysians prefer to work from home fully, and another 32% prefer working away from home. The survey, conducted by market analysts Ipsos, also said that Malaysians prefer to work more than half their working week (2.8 days) from home.

Lars Erik Lie, Associate Director at the Ipsos Public Affairs department, said that as the pandemic has become under control, more employees face the choice of whether to return to the office. Employers will eventually need to decide how long and in what form they would allow their employees to work from home. 

Lars said that Malaysians are split in their preferences, with a third each heavily supporting work from home or away from home. He said that it all boils down to providing the flexibility of the workplace and work schedules to workers. 

Workplace flexibility is the future

The survey also showed that Malaysian employees desire the flexibility of the workplace and schedule to feel more productive, connected, and stress-free. 

Based on the survey, 74% of workers want flexibility in their time spent going to the office, while 71% believe that they are more productive with a flexible work schedule. 

But, 64% of workers say they miss being around their colleagues, as 48% say that working from home is a challenging place to be productive. 

Ipsos also found that 42% of employees feel more burned out working from home and 39% feel disengaged from work when working from home. 

According to Ipsos' survey, most employees prefer the flexibility of the workplace and schedule.

What employers must do to keep their employees

Meanwhile, Ipsos' survey showed that Malaysian workers also expect their employers to be more flexible in terms of going to the workplace. They said that forcing employees to move back to full-time work will encourage them to find alternative work. 

Lars said that Malaysian workers believe flexibility is the answer to their needs for productivity, engagement and a stress-free environment. 

He added that employers who did not understand this need are at the risk of losing employees. Thus, beyond an attractive job perk, workplace or schedule flexibility will be a default requirement in post-pandemic Malaysia. 

Ipsos' survey showed that 73% of workers agree that employers should be more flexible in terms of requiring employees to go to the workplace. 40% of respondents said that if their employers expect them to work away from home full-time, they will look for other jobs.

Source: Malay Mail

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