Recently, a survey found that Malaysians are divided in their preferences in working from home and working in the office, with a third each strongly supporting a different stance. So, do Malaysians like to work from home or in the office?

As reported by Malay Mail, the survey – “Are We Ready To Be Back In Office?” by market analysts, Ipsos discovered that 33% of the country’s population prefer working from home completely whereas another 32% prefer to work in the office.

Only 1% difference.

Work From Home vs. Office

The survey found that 74% of employees want flexibility in the amount of time they spend going to the office as they would feel more connected, productive and stress-free.

In fact, 71% of employees agree with being more productive with a flexible work schedule.

On the other hand, 64% of employees want to be back in the office because they miss being around their co-workers. There are also 42% that say working from home is a difficult place to be productive. 

On top of that, 42% of employees feel more burned out working from home, while 39% feel disengaged from work when working from home.

“Flexibility is the answer”

Meanwhile, the survey also reported 73% of employees agree that employers should be more flexible in terms of requiring employees to go to the office.

Another 40% said that if their employers expect them to work away from home full time, they will consider looking for other jobs. 

Therefore, Lars Erik Lie, Associate Director at the Ipsos Public Affairs department said giving flexibility to the employees is the answer to the employees’ needs.

According to him, the employees need productivity, engagement, and a stress-free environment. Lars added that employers who fail to understand this need are at the risk of losing their talents. 

Thus, beyond an attractive perk, workplace and schedule flexibility will be a default requirement post-pandemic.

– Lars Erik Lie, Associate Director

The transition from working in the office to work from home came abruptly in 2020. While some can quickly adapt to the work from home environment, some could not. 

Which do prefer?

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