Downturn making 58% Malaysian professionals work harder, longer hours

KUALA LUMPUR: The economic downturn is making most Malaysian professionals work up to 10 hours more a week, a survey by international recruitment consultancy Robert Walters found recently.

Twenty-five percent of respondents from Malaysia claim they were putting in between eight and 10 hours overtime a week because of the downturn. They were among the 58% who said they are clocking at least an hour more a week, although a good number of people (42%) say their working hours remain the same – downturn or no downturn.

The findings were from an online web poll where professional candidates from 17 countries including Japan, Singapore and China, were asked whether they were working harder as a result of the downturn, Robert Walters said in a statement dated June 15. It did not specify how many of the total 2,600 respondents were from Malaysia.

“You might expect people to work harder in a recession but what is interesting is the amount of extra hours professionals are working. The fear of redundancy obviously has an effect; many people feel that by putting in more hours, they will be less likely to lose their jobs should further cost cutting prove necessary. In addition, where job cuts have already taken place, those left are inevitably required to take on more work,” Ross Mckenzie, country manager of Robert Walters Malaysia said.

Professionals in Hong Kong seemed to be hardest hit by the downturn and were found to be working the longest hours. One third of respondents (33%) said they were working on average between 8 and 10 hours per week, the survey found.

Some 23% of respondents in Singapore and Japan claimed to be working between eight to 10 hours extra a week, slightly better than Malaysia, but less cushier compared to the 20% in China and Thailand.

In Thailand, however, only 8% of the respondents say they are working the same number of hours following the downturn.

Globally, 55% of some 2,600 respondents said they were working more hours per week: 24% of respondents said they were putting in at least three hours extra per week and one fifth (21%) of all respondents said they were staying in the office between eight and 10 hours more per week.