SINGAPORE, Nov 28 (Bernama) — Malaysian employees are generally more work-focused during intraday travels, such as trips to and from meetings, according to the latest Regus survey canvassing the opinions of over 22,000 respondents in 100 countries.
The survey found 52.8 per cent of Malaysian employees are kept busy on their emails and 43.3 per cent read up on important work documents, while nearly 75 per cent are busy making phone calls and over 50 per cent spend their time catching up on the day’s news.
But while the commute time has increased, the number of employees in Malaysia looking to remain productive has increased, Regus said, adding these are encouraging signs for Malaysia’s economy, particularly with Vision 2020 on the horizon.
Vijayakumar Tangarasan, Country Manager at Regus Malaysia, said: “Instead of becoming shorter, the global commute has actually increased by a full five minutes each way and now accounts for over an hour a day.
“Although the daily commute represents a productivity drain, workers are keeping active on their portable devices and focusing on catching up on some leisure activities such as listening to music while they travel.
“During intraday travel, they focus on more professional activities instead.”
Nevertheless, he said, people would ideally like to be able to work in a professional, discreet environment, near to home or to wherever their business takes them, so that their commuting time is shorter and their productivity can be maximised.
“Working closer to home means reducing the daily productivity drain represented by commuting and giving workers an opportunity to improve their work-life balance,” he said.
The survey found the world average commute has increased a full five minutes each way since 2012, with the average one-way commute now taking 32.5 minutes compared to only 27 minutes two years ago and accounting for over an hour of time spent travelling into work each day.
— BERNAMA
