‘Tis the season to be...working?

62% of Singaporeans will work during the holidays this year, but is it worth squandering the festive season?

According to a release, three-fifths of Singapore workers will work during the Christmas and New Year break this year, yet over two-fifths believe very little will be achieved. Regus asked over 12,000 business people in 85 countries about their intentions to work during the end of year holidays. The survey reveals that although a third of business people will go to the office during the festive season, their levels of productivity are expected to be low, providing little value to their employers and wasting employees’ precious home and family time commuting.

Key findings include:
· 62% of Singapore business people will work during the end of year festive period.
· A third of Singapore respondents working over the break (33%) will travel into the office to do so;
· 45% of Singapore respondents believe that workers will not get very little done in this work time;
· Almost half of Singapore business people (48%) think that staff working over the holidays mostly tend to use this time to catch up on unfinished tasks;

William Willems, Regional Vice-President for Regus Australia, New Zealand and South-east Asia: notes “The holiday season is a special time for people to devote to their families and friends without neglecting their work duties. However, our research suggests many people are not taking full advantage of the break and, if they are also travelling into the office to work, are unnecessarily squandering precious time with their loved ones.

“As the developed world faces economic difficulties and rapidly developing countries deal with the challenge of sustainable growth, businesses are under enormous pressure to keep a full head of steam, so it is not surprising that workers use this time to catch up on unfinished work. But are workers choosing to power through the break really producing the best value for their efforts?

“With the holiday season approaching, businesses are ever more focused on how to achieve or improve the work/life balance they offer so that workers can spend time with their loved ones. Particularly workers making the effort to travel in to work with limited transport options and in some cases adverse weather conditions could benefit from using a work location closer to home, reducing time wasted in commuting and maximizing the time they can spend with their families during the break,” said Willems.