KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 — A recent survey by the UCSI Poll Research Centre found that a significant proportion of Malaysian employees find themselves working beyond their prescribed hours of duty.
When asked how often this happens, more than half of respondents said it occurred at least once a week.
“The result shows that almost three-quarters of respondents had to work beyond their normal working hours, in which 57 per cent at least once a week and 15 per cent every day,” said the centre linked to UCSI University in a statement.
As for the number of hours spent working in one day, more than half of the respondents mentioned that they work over eight hours per day — with 7 per cent of the respondents saying they work more than 10 hours per day.
The poll also revealed that only four in 10 respondents said that they enjoyed their work.
“The balance 28 per cent of respondents mentioned that their work is tiring, and 27 per cent found their job being a burden due to a lot of responsibilities.
“Meanwhile, 5 per cent of respondents felt like quitting their job,” it said.
Out of those polled, 22 per cent mentioned that they often missed personal events, while 54 per cent had missed their personal events sometimes.
The poll also revealed that most respondents did not get eight hours of sleep due to their work life.
“About 18 per cent of respondents mentioned that they slept less than six hours, 65 per cent slept between six and seven hours and only 17 per cent slept more than eight hours,” it said.
As for how they perceived their work-life balance, about half of respondents said that they have a good work-life balance, while 25 per cent said they do not have a work-life balance.
When asked how they would like management to provide a better work-life balance for them, 46 per cent of respondents said they wanted more support for both physical and mental health.
Another 40 per cent wanted better working hours and 39 per cent said management should help employees to meet their personal needs.
Other suggestions included providing a healthy work environment, for employers to be flexible with work schedules, setting realistic expectations, to encourage regular breaks, and offering paid time off.
The poll on work-life balance was conducted online between March 22 and April 30 and saw the participation of 856 Malaysian working adults based in various parts of the country.
UCSI Poll Research Centre said the survey comprised 55 per cent male and 45 per cent female respondents, with 53 per cent aged between 18 and 34, 37 per cent aged between 35 and 50, and the remaining 10 per cent above the age of 50.
Survey participants were largely from the private sector, at 47 per cent, followed by government sector workers at 33 per cent. The remaining 20 per cent worked on their own.
The income rate of the poll respondents shows that 50 per cent earn less than RM5,000 and 40 per cent earn between RM5,000 and RM10,00. The remaining 10 per cent earn more than RM10,000.
