Singaporeans prefer remote work

The share of Singaporean workers who prefer to work mostly from home has increased between 2021 and 2022, said two Monetary Authority of Singapore economists. — The Straits Times

SINGAPORE: More than seven in 10 Singaporean workers exhibit a stronger preference for remote work, more than their global counterparts, says two International Monetary Fund economists.

In an article featured in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s biannual report on Monday, economists Shujaat Khan and Margaux MacDonald said the share of Singaporean workers who prefer to work mostly from home has increased between 2021 and 2022.

The pair cited a 2022 report by professional services firm PwC, which said that 73% of Singaporean workers indicated a strong preference for a hybrid work model in the next 12 months starting from June 2022. This is substantially higher than the global average of 63%.

The PwC report also revealed that in Singapore, both employees and employers have a higher average desire for remote work relative to almost all other countries globally.

Khan and MacDonald’s article, titled Impact of the pandemic on work from home trends and Singapore’s labour supply, stated that the rate of remote work has stabilised at around 20% in Singapore, slightly above pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels.

Based on their analysis, the remote working trend in Singapore is not as heavily driven by education or gender, unlike its global peers’, but rather, it is influenced by factors such as age, perceived productivity and the specific sectors in which workers are employed. — The Straits Times/ANN