In this article, we will quickly summarize why smart offices become more and more important even in this world that is full of remote and distributed work.

Smart offices help build relationships among employees 

PwC’s US Remote Work Survey shows just 13% of executives are prepared to let go of the office for good.

Meanwhile, 87% of employees say the office is important for collaborating with team members and building relationships — their top-rated needs for the office.

A smart office provides collaboration tools for staff to have collaborative work smoothly. 

Big Companies are seeking smart offices

LEGO and LinkedIn are committed to transforming their smart offices to support hybrid offices.  They provide lots of virtual technology and office management system in their workplaces.  

Coca-Cola also has already redesigned their office in Singapore. The aim is they want to offer some multi-functional communication tools and technology for employees, allowing them to communicate and collaborate with various colleagues and support remote colleagues back in the office work seamlessly.   

Smart office further develops towards sustainability 

Some smart offices already use renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions. 

David Watkins, solutions director at Virtus data centres, says that in addition to the data centre sector as a whole having its own net-zero by 2030 pledge, pressure to hit that target comes from customers. 

Smart offices not only drive environmental protection, but it is also a big business 

In order to promote smart offices, it is necessary to establish some data centres to store relevant data to enable the smooth implementation of electronic management. 

Google and Microsoft have committed to three-quarters of data centre energy consumption being renewable or carbon-free by 2025. 

The push for data centre sustainability can also be big business. The green data centre market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.5 per cent from $36bn in 2021 to $55bn by 2027. 

Work more flexibly in a smart workplace 

As mentioned above, a smart office allows remote workers and office workers to work together and provides lots of flexible facilities for them to work. 

According to a report from Omdia, 48% of the total workforce will work in a mobile or hybrid fashion over the next 2 years. The reason is employees think that working in a flexible workplace makes them happier at work so improving their work quality and productivity.     

Meeting rooms are not useless at all 

Based on The Economist poll, only 10% of respondents think meeting rooms are useless in the post-pandemic office. Meeting rooms are here to stay in the hybrid working era.

For how to create a perfect smart office, there is no standard answer, and neither is its office space. To summarize some reports, in terms of building the size of meeting rooms, you can refer to the following article. 

Step by Step: Determine the right office size and system for your new office – ONEs Blog 

A smart office can help to reduce the operation cost 

Some companies use a variety of flexible work equipment to replace fixed office facilities such as hot desks. Thus, this can help them to reduce their budget for buying furniture and pay lower rent while saving space.

Takeda Pharmaceuticals has reduced the number of fixed workstations by hot desking in order to create more meeting rooms and community spaces. Its redesigned workspaces were made available to employees at the beginning of this year.

As Inc. studies found out that 40% of an office’s dedicated desk space sits unused on a given day, hot desking can highly help companies to reduce their office costs by freeing up these dedicated workstations.

Creating work targets and a working guideline  

With the help of smart office, employees can follow some work guidelines for hybrid work, this can ensure they have positive work performances.   

In HP Teradici’s survey, 85% of respondents said existing company policies have already changed to reflect the new hybrid working environments, which means including setting some hybrid work guidelines for employees.  

Providing a full working guideline for your employees can make sure them to have specific work targets and ensure their productivity.   

An office management system is a must for any smart offices

One of the HR challenges is management procedures and 15% of respondents agree on this point, according to HP Teradici’s survey. 

The reason is the admins usually take much time for monitoring the staff’s performance or manage office resources, which makes the admins can’t focus on their work and difficult to maintain good performance.   

Therefore, business leaders should think about how to optimize their employees’ work process and Omdia’s report suggests organizations should plan and deliver technology to help their workers be productive from wherever they are.    

One of the best solutions is for companies should implement some office management systems, for example, meeting room booking. 

Few suggestions for office management systems 

The followings are the popular choice for your office management system: 

• ONES: A system provides a comprehensive set of office management functions, including hot desks, room booking service, visitor management, and hardware configurations. 
   
  ONEs work with Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Viva. Also, ONEs can work the IoT sensors, therefore the misused rooms will be auto-released, preventing office resources from being wasted. 
  
• The Receptionist: It creates a personalized check-in experience that makes a great first impression. However, it is just a visitor management system and does not provide other office management systems.   

• Envoy: A company dedicated to optimizing visitor management systems. The initial activation plan is free, but it has some restrictions.     

• Robin: Offers all the basic visitor management features, such as custom permissions and floor plans. A free trial is available, but some features are restricted.   

• Condeco: A system that provides a variety of office management systems, including room booking, hot desks, and a visitor management system. It can be chosen at various prices depending on the needs of the office.  
   

Contact us: hello@ones.software, or visit ONES Software official website for more information: https://ones.software/. 

The post 10-minute summary of smart office for 2023 first appeared on ONEs Blog.

Lots of Singapore companies are considering reducing operational costs and pulling back business spending in order to face the tightening financial conditions. Hot desking is one of the arrangements that can help to save your daily expenses.

Flexible work in Singapore

The ministry of manpower in Singapore recently published the “Tripartite Statement on Flexible Work Arrangements(FWA)”, which encourages companies to sustain and promote flexible work arrangements as a permanent feature of the workplace.

One of the reasons for implementing FWA is it can allow employees to work more flexibly. This can not only allow people to achieve work-life balance but also help companies to retain talents and improve productivity.

Another reason why flexible working stays in Singapore is that it can highly reduce operational costs.

Hot desking save your operational cost

Office space is likely one of your businesses’ largest investments. However, office resources are usually wasted due to low utilization and misuse such as no-shows. The data from Inc. shows that as much as 40% of an office’s dedicated desk space is unused on a given day.

A flexible work approach is a much more attractive prospect when it comes to budgeting. The least expensive and most flexible solution for flexible working is hot desking.

Hot desking can reduce their office operating costs by 30% while saving 15% to 25% on the amount of space they require. You just show up and take the first position that opens up, so look for a location that isn’t really busy so that you have no trouble grabbing a seat.

For unlimited access, budget $200 to $500 per month; if you only need it sometimes, choose day tickets. Dedicated desks, where you can keep your excess items and an external display, start at $400 per month.

When fewer people are required to work in physical offices each day, savings from utilities like heat and electricity can be also spread and put toward a strong digital infrastructure.

Mr. Chen Chun-You, a Singaporean tech entrepreneur who founded the e-payment service Sapphiro, said flexible working can help him to rent prime housing at a lower rate in a remote place.

Meanwhile, his company income would not be reduced as the online management platforms support the company to still work in high efficiency.

How much can you save when using hot desking in Singapore?

Based on the article from Officefinder, according to data released by the authority, in the first 3 months of 2021, the median rent for traditional office space in Singapore was between $2.51 and $7.95 per square foot per month with a total of 665 leases concluded.

That means an average office space with 2,000 square feet that can contain around 10 employees in Singapore will cost around $5,020 to $15,900 a month. When compared to the previous quarter in 2020, the number of office leases increased by 10.46% in Q1 2021.

Therefore, if a company that has around 10 employees is willing to implement hot desking, it can save on average $9,036 to $28,620 in office operating costs per year.

In conclusion, a hot desking arrangement with a hybrid working system can be used to reduce office space. Once space is reduced, the cost of rent will go down. Costs associated with lighting, heating, and maintenance will also be decreased.

Learn more about how hybrid working helps you, and implement your own All-in-one smart office system.

The post How much can a Singapore company save by using hot desking? first appeared on ONEs Blog.

60% of Malaysian employees believe that the quality of work has improved and 55% felt that their productivity has enhanced.   

What you should know

• 60% of Malaysian employees believe that the quality of work has improved and 55% of them felt that their productivity has enhanced. 
• Over 79% of respondents said hybrid and remote working has improved various aspects of it. 
• A comprehensive office management system is a key enabler of growth in the hybrid workplace.

Improve employee well-being 

Cisco research examined the impact of hybrid working on five categories of well-being – emotional, financial, mental, physical, and social well-being – with over 79% of respondents saying hybrid and remote working has improved various aspects of it.

Flexible working hour makes 79% of Malaysian employees have improved work-life balance, and 72% of respondents believe their physical fitness has improved with remote working.  

Also, 80% of respondents indicate that remote working has improved family relationships as it has shortened working hours than before. 44% of respondents reporting customizing their work schedules has helped them spend more time with friends, resulting in stronger friendships. 

Workplace Flexibility matters

Leaders need to rethink how to cultivate an inclusive culture, place employees – their experience, engagement, and well-being – at the center, and modernize their networking and security infrastructure to provide a seamless, secure and inclusive employee experience,

Hana Raja, managing director, Cisco Malaysia

Cisco Malaysia managing director Hana encourages leaders should focus on the well-being of their employees in the future, including providing flexibility. The reason is that flexible work allows employees have more time to take rest so to improve the quality of work.

Hybrid work also fulfills different types of co-workers’ needs, such as new co-workers, as they always need to ask for help. Thus, hybrid work not only improves the overall well-being of employees but also helps to increase their productivity as hybrid work implements technology to support employees to work. 

Enhances employee productivity 

A hybrid working style includes providing collaboration tools for employees to work remotely and an office management system for employees to use when they return to the office.

The benefits of working with technology are that it provides employees with excellent technical support, and more easily to solve simple and tedious daily tasks.

The last two years have shown us that work is no longer where we go, but what we do. In a hybrid normal, employees and employers in Malaysia are experiencing tangible benefits from improved employee well-being to better productivity and work performance,

Hana Raja, managing director, Cisco Malaysia

In addition, a hybrid office provides a friendly working environment, which makes employees happier and more engaged at work, and has a positive impact on productivity.

Hybrid work: Key working style in Malaysia

For employees, a hybrid work style is very inclusive for them that provides the freedom to choose where they work and how they work.

Therefore, 74% of Malaysian employees want a combination of a remote and in-office hybrid working model in the future, compared to a fully remote (22%) and fully in-office (5%) experience.

Also, based on a Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) poll, 61.7% of businesses emphasized the need to keep using hybrid work experiences. 

More details on A Full Guide to Hybrid Work: What is hybrid work model and why it is important? – ONEs Blog 

Suggestion for hybrid working

Meanwhile, hybrid work technology has a mature development and will remain critical to enabling a future with increasingly diverse and distributed workforces.

In the Cisco study, 82% of respondents said that networking infrastructure is essential for a seamless working-from-home experience. And 64% of respondents believe having connectivity issues regularly is career-limiting for remote workers.

Therefore, it is a necessity to have a comprehensive collaboration tool or office management system that can help companies in Malaysia to implement hybrid work easily. 

For collaboration tools, if you are a director in Malaysia, Microsoft Teams is a good choice for you. It is designed to help teams collaborate and provide real-time conversation windows. 

On the other hand, ONES Smart office system is one of the famous management systems that can help you to easily implement hybrid working with ease.   

Using ONES, you can easily perform virtual meetings, desk-hoteling, and digital office management with our Room Booking, Desk Booking, and Visitor Management features, in order to improve your office productivity, retain your talents and make your office more secure. 

Contact us: hello@ones.software, or visit ONES Software official website for more information: https://ones.software/my/ 

The post How hybrid working improves Malaysians’ well-being and productivity now first appeared on ONEs Blog.

However, some of people seem not favorable about the new flexible workspace arrangement such as hot desking.

Mobility, flexibility, autonomy

The daily commute is now a thing of the past, and many organizations have switched to hybrid working styles that foster high levels of mobility, flexibility, autonomy, and nomadism.

While many employees benefit from a hybrid work arrangement that enables them to work from home a few days a week, many workers still need and desire to visit the office.

However, many organizations consider typical individualized workstations, team areas, and manager-only offices to be out of date and have attempted to revamp employees’ “in-office” working experiences as well.

For example, Meta recently reduces its office space as its hybrid work transitions. It has offered most employees the option to do their jobs remotely full-time or to select a mix of in-office and homework. 

The vice president of global facilities and real estate at Meta, John Ternanes said that while reviewing Meta’s office space, he discovered that some of the existing office leases were about to expire. He is planning to combine the floors of several existing buildings into one floor after the leases expire and allow employees to continue to work remotely. 

Hot desking is a “Hot option” for company

Organizations have implemented “hot desking” into the office design as one strategy. Hot desking is an organizational workspace system in which desks are used on an ad hoc, first-come, first-served basis by different people at different times.

The phrase refers to a clean, uniform, shared workspace that promotes nomadic and flexible work styles and cannot be claimed by any one individual.

These new workspaces and the practice of teleworking symbolize the ideals of flexibility, independence, and autonomy while also purportedly bridging the hierarchical divide that currently exists between management and employees.

(Learn more: Hot Desking 101: a quick guide)

Not everyone like hot-desking

Hot-desking means that all employees would need to share their workstations all the time, and no longer have a specific workspace. This could probably diminish the external signs of status or positional recognition.

Because these workspaces deprive employees of their personal space and essentially block them from personalizing or owning a space, some people have high concerns about these new arrangements.

David Courpasson, the Professor of Sociology and Director of the Organizations, Critical and Ethnographic perspectives research center, recently did some research on a large Belgian organization alongside colleagues from Université Catholique de Louvain.

Based on their founding, some employees are employing creative strategies to stop this new manner of working, such as putting supplies and tools on desks or even keeping their own desks messy or untidy in order to keep the same desk as their own.

The reason behind this is that these workers felt that hot-desking stripped them of their personal space, dehumanized their workplace, and damaged working relationships.

They also grumbled about how difficult it was to move their heavy work equipment from meeting to meeting and how little storage they had. They also complained about how difficult it was to unpack and pack every day.

Take more care of people, not the workplace

Hotdesking has several advantages for the workplace, including flexibility and the flattening of hierarchies. However, it is evident that many employees react unfavorably to the change to a hot-desk workplace due to the difficult transition to a new workspace layout.

Employers must take the time and make the effort to interact with their staff members to discover what working practices are most effective for them, which ones they are least likely to object to, and which will be most beneficial for the organization as a whole.

Professor David Courpasson suggested that organizational management should see spatial changes as more complicated than mere geographical transitions.

For instance, accepting that specific occupations may require a specific use of space, instead of considering flexiwork as ‘good in itself’, is a relevant approach too. The office space should work best for those working in it, and therefore organisations must ensure that this is their focus when redesigning for the future.

David Courpasson, the Professor of Sociology and Director of the Organizations, Critical and Ethnographic perspectives research center

Learn more about hybrid working: https://ones.software/blog/category/hybrid-work/

Contact us: hello@ones.software, or visit ONES Software official website for more information about implementing your own hybrid workspace: https://ones.software/.    

The post Why are some people against hot desking? And what should employers do about it? first appeared on ONEs Blog.

According to the Conditions of Employment Report released by the Ministry of Manpower, 53 percent of firms surveyed offered at least one flexible working arrangement, such as part-time work, flexible hours, or teleworking.

However, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) still tend to lag in adopting workplace flexibility for a number of reasons. So what are the challenges that SMEs in Singapore are facing?

The challenge of SMEs in Singapore

A survey by credit and business information bureau DP Information Group found out that more than one in four SMEs in Singapore have difficulties hiring the staff they need. The Singapore employees said that they would like to have remote work and work flexibly.

Another study by the Institute of Policy Studies in Singapore showed that 83% of employees said they were more concerned about work-life balance and 81% wanted to spend time with their families.

Therefore, remote work allows employees to satisfy their needs. Moreover, 42% of employees who prefer flexible work arrangements would consider quitting.

However, many of the SMEs in Singapore cannot smoothly provide remote work to their employees. There are lots of reasons why SMEs cannot solve these challenges.

Reason for the hindrance on a flexible working implementation

The first reason is that SMEs do not support their employees to have remote work because it costs a lot of money to buy some software for the employees to work, such as virtual meeting software and online working platforms. This will increase the SME’s operation cost. 

The second reason is that directors of the SMEs thought that it needed extra manpower to monitor the remote work’s employees. It would cost extra money for hiring people.

The final reason is that directors thought that it needs much time to monitor the remote work’s employees. If the managers need to take lots of time for monitoring the remote work’s employees, it would affect the work efficiency of management.

Based on the above reasons, the SMEs’ directors thought that their companies do not have enough extra resources to support their employees in remote work.

Since the SMEs could not support the flexible work that the employees needs, the result is that they have already faced hiring challenges and impacting their productivity levels.

To support SMEs in Singapore to implement flexible working, SNEF(Singapore National Employers Federation) provide several pieces of advice for those companies.

The experience of implementing flexible work: Canadian small businesses

Recently,  Singapore Government is suggesting all Singapore companies follow FWA. FWA is a new set of tripartite (Policymakers, employees, and unions) guidelines and the aim is to require employers to consider flexible work arrangement requirements fairly and properly by 2024.

The meaning of a fairly and properly flexible work arrangement is that reminding the directors to decide on the working method should be balanced between the needs of the companies and employees, not only benefits one side. 

More Details on FWA:  Advises to Singapore companies from The SNEF

Within the report of FWA, there is a survey about the experience of Canadian small businesses. The results of the survey revealed that over 80% of Canadian companies provide at least one type of flexible work arrangement. 

Additionally, the report has included focus group discussions with Canadian owners and managers of small companies on the motivations and challenges in providing flexibility at work, it was found that:

1. When employers support the work-life needs of employees, the employees usually reciprocate with better work performance and commitment;
2. Employers said that their employees respect the flexibility and support given to them and generally use it judiciously;
3. While the companies trust their employees to use flexibility wisely, the employees are also vigilant that it is not abused.

This reflects that if the SMEs in Singapore are implementing flexible working, the fact is it can increase their productivity levels and attract new talents to join.

The most important thing is that the report showed that implementing flexible work has lots of advantages, it is not like SMEs’ directors who thought that there were lots of disadvantages.

But is remote work the only flexible working mode for SMEs in Singapore? And do SMEs implementing flexible work really cost lots of money?

The suitable flexible work for SMEs: Hybrid working and Hybrid office

In fact, remote work is not the only way to reach the flexible work that the employees need. Of course, it also does not need lots of money for the SMEs to implement flexible work. If the SMEs can implement flexible working in their office, they can also attract new talents to join or retain their talents. For example, SMEs can implement hybrid working in their offices. 

Hybrid work is an approach that takes into account the individual’s needs, whether they’re at home or at the office. It allows the employees to decide their work location and workflow by themselves. Thus, flexible working hours allow Singapore employees to spend more time with their families.

Some data shows that most workplaces had vacancy rates of 20-50% prior to the coronavirus pandemic and 40% of an office’s dedicated desk space sits unused on a given day.

This shows that a large workspace is unnecessary for an office and the empty permanent desks are wasting the office resources. Therefore, hot desking and room booking services are very suitable for the SMEs office and become hybrid offices.

Becoming a hybrid office can help SMEs to save operations by reducing the workspace. Also, hybrid offices allow employees to work flexibly, and SMEs can retain their talents. 

Many organizations see hybrid work as the evolution of remote working, allowing employers to better integrate remote working into overall business processes while providing comparable work experience for remote workers.

More Details on Hybrid working.

What setup is suitable for the hybrid office? 

A hybrid office should use a comprehensive office management system, which helps Singapore employees use office resources efficiently, such as rooms, desks, and office equipment, and support them to have remote work and virtual meetings with their colleagues in the office.   

If you are the company director in Singapore, using the management systems can help you consider how to reduce the operational cost such as reducing the office workspace and fulfilling the expectations of both employees and administrators. 

ONES is one of the famous all-in-one smart office systems that can help you to easily implement hybrid working at ease.  You can easily perform virtual meetings, desk-hoteling, and digital office management with our Room Booking, Desk Booking, and Visitor Management features.  

ONEs Software now has a dedicated page to introduce a series of hybrid working measures to help you solve problems. You may wish to go to https://ones.software/sg/hybrid-workspace/ for further reference. 

Contact us: hello@ones.software, or visit ONEs Software official website for more information: https://ones.software/sg/. 

The post How flexible working is suitable for Singapore SMEs now? first appeared on ONEs Blog.

SNEF Advises to the Singapore companies

The SNEF(Singapore National Employers Federation) recently suggests Singapore companies implement flexible working arrangements (FWA), which is also supported by the Singapore Government.

As we gradually move to a post-vaccination world, working models will likely evolve from remote work to flexible, hybrid work.

This means that employers will have to strategically plan their workforce and work patterns, identify new skills requirements, rethink physical workspaces, and enhance productivity through a greater work-life harmony approach.

SNEF

FWA is a new set of tripartite (Policymakers, employees, and unions) guidelines and the aim is to require employers to consider flexible work arrangement requirements fairly and properly by 2024.

The meaning of a fairly and properly flexible work arrangement is that reminding the directors to decide on the working method should be balanced between the needs of the companies and employees, not only benefits one side.

By the end of 2022, the Singapore Government hopes to increase the voluntary tripartite norm on flexible work arrangements, which is now adopted by companies and covers 27% of all employees, to 40%.

How important is flexible working in Singapore

The Singapore Newspaper – TODAY has interviewed 10 firms, 6 firms said that they would retain their present hybrid work arrangements after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The reason is FWA allows the employees to work more flexibly so that they can arrange the work location, work schedule, and workflow by themselves, which can ensure their workflow is smooth and work efficiently.

Based on the result of TODAY’s survey, Mr. Sim Gim Guan, executive director of the Singapore National Employers Federation, said that there “is no one-size-fits-all approach to work arrangements“.

He also mentioned that the environmental factors and employees’ job demands are changing. Singapore companies need to adopt an approach that can balance the needs between employees and companies.

They can build on the work-from-home arrangement and introduce other types of flexible work arrangements such as staggered working hours and part-time work to cater to the different needs of employees.

Mr. Sim Gim Guan, Executive director at Singapore National Employers Federation

A study by the Institute of Policy Studies in Singapore showed that 83% of respondents said they were more concerned about work-life balance and 81% wanted to spend time with their families. 

42% of workers who prefer flexible work arrangements would consider quitting if they were forced to go to the office most days.

Mr.Sim advised the companies against reverting to pre-pandemic work arrangements, they might face the loss of lots of their talents if the companies don’t implement hybrid working.

This shows how important flexible work is to most employees and that hybrid working can meet the flexibility to work both for staff and companies.

(Learn more about Hybrid work trends in Singapore)

The advantages of hybrid working benefits for the companies

There are lots of Singapore companies that have followed the advice of Mr. Sim that implements hybrid working.

Achieve work-life balance

Mr. Suhaimi Salleh, chief executive officer of training consultancy SSA Group, said that his plan is to introduce an FWA because there are some departments that need to work at the office.

The plan can satisfy both the work-from-home(WFH) and office employees. FWA allows WFH employees to achieve work-life balance and addresses the needs of employees who need to work in an office.

Improve productivity

Ms. Lee Yan Hong, head of the group human resources at DBS bank, said the policy of DBS allowing employees to work from home 40 percent of the time now, also has introduced new initiatives such as “Focus Friday Afternoons”, which is allowing the employees to keep free from internal calls or meetings on Friday afternoons.

“This is our conscious effort as an organization to ensure that our employees have a few hours of protected time for focused work, learning, or even quiet reflection before transiting to the weekend,” Ms. Lee said. This shows that she believes hybrid working can increase employee productivity.

As you can see, hybrid working has many benefits for Singapore companies: it addresses the needs of employees who need to work remotely and in the office and allows employees to achieve work-life balance. Also, it helps to increase employee productivity.

A perfect system for hybrid working in Singapore

A hybrid office should use a comprehensive office management system, which helps Singapore employees use office resources efficiently, such as rooms, desks, and office equipment, and support them to have remote work and virtual meetings with their colleagues in the office.   

If you are the company director in Singapore, using the management systems can help you consider how to reduce the operational cost such as reducing the office workspace and fulfilling the expectations of both employees and administrators. 

ONES, one of the famous smart office management systems, can help you to easily implement hybrid working with ease.  You can easily perform virtual meetings, desk-hoteling, and digital office management with our Room Booking, Desk Booking, and Visitor Management features.  

Contact us: hello@ones.software, or visit ONEs Software official website for more information: https://ones.software/. 

The post The majority of Singapore firms now keep hybrid working due to SNEF advises first appeared on ONEs Blog.

FWA will be a trend in 2024 in Singapore 

The result of the pandemic makes Singapore employees become accustomed to working flexibly, which means depending on the employees’ needs to take action of work at home or work at the office.  

A white paper recommends that the government expand the availability of FWA (Flexible working arrangements) by introducing a new set of tripartite (Policymakers, employees, and unions) guidelines that require employers to consider flexible work arrangement requirements fairly and properly by 2024. 

The meaning of a fairly and properly flexible work arrangement is that reminding the directors to decide on the working method should be balanced between the needs of the companies and employees, not only benefits one side.  

It also recommends measures to increase corporate participation in the FWA voluntary tripartite standard from the current 27% of all employees to 40% by the end of this year. This makes FWA becoming a future working trend in Singapore. 

The strong recommendation from the Minister of State for Manpower 

The Minister of State for Manpower (MOM) Gan Siow Huang s believes that businesses with FWA will help to attract and retain talent. She also said: ” Flexible work arrangements or FWAs will remain a key feature of our workplaces well after the pandemic is over. This is a win-win situation for employers and employees.” That means she believes that there are lots of benefits if the Singapore government adopted the FWA concept.  

Actually, for Singapore companies, flexible working has benefits in terms of high productivity improvement, cost-saving on the operation, and retaining talents. Let’s see how flexible working benefits these aspects. 

The benefits of flexible working for Singapore companies 

High Productivity Improvement: 

Robert Half, a recruitment agency, found that a total of 60 percent of HR directors have seen an increase in work productivity when employees have the option to work from home in Singapore.  

The Straits Times said that it has as many as eight in 10 employers here who allow flexible work in Singapore, some banks in Singapore, including DBS, UOB and OCBC have flexible work plans now. DBS said that after the adoption of flexible working, employees’ satisfaction has increased and employees are more engaged in their work than before, which has a positive impact on the company’s work efficiency.  

Cost-Saving on the Operation: 

The Ministry of Manpower (a government agency in Singapore) allows companies to apply for flexible work schedules, which is a policy for companies that want to be exempted from certain Employment Act requirements for overtime, rest days, and public holidays pay.  

The advantages of this policy are that it allows the companies to be exempted from paying the following salary rates to employees for overtime, rest day, and public holiday work, such as avoiding the payment of 1.5 times the hourly rate of pay for overtime work and 2 days’ salary for work done on a rest day at the employer’s request. There is a strong incentive to encourage companies to adopt flexible working by reducing operating costs. 

Retaining talents: 

For Singaporeans, spending time with family is more important than work. According to a survey about family bonds by the Families for Life Council of Singapore, one in two respondents said that could not accept that long working hours prevented them from spending more time with their families.

Flexible working allows the employees to have more time to take care of their children and elders. According to a study by the Institute of Policy Studies in Singapore, 42% of workers who prefer flexible work arrangements would consider quitting if they were forced to go to the office most days.  

The loss of a large number of people in a short period can have a very bad impact on a company’s productivity. Since the employee’s decision to resign depends on whether the company uses flexible work in the future, that’s why the companies that use flexible work can retain talents. 

As seen above, if Singapore companies adopt flexible working, there are many benefits:  

1. Flexible working makes employees more engaged in their work so as to have high productivity; 
   
2. A flexible working policy allows for waiver of paying the extra operating expenses, and;  
   
3. Flexible working hours allow employees to spend more time with their families, preventing them from quitting. 

Although flexible work allows the employees long hours of remote work, they occasionally need to return to the office to work. 

So, when employees need to return to the office, what configurations can help them work flexibly?  

What setup is suitable for the hybrid office? 

A hybrid office should use a comprehensive office management system, which helps Singapore employees use office resources efficiently, such as rooms, desks, and office equipment, and support them have remote work and virtual meetings with their colleagues in the office.   

If you are the company director in Singapore, using the management systems can help you consider how to reduce the operational cost such as reducing the office workspace and fulfilling the expectations of both employees and administrators. 

Bookings ONE, one of the famous management systems, can help you to easily implement hybrid working at ease.  You can easily perform virtual meetings, desk-hoteling, and digital office management with our Room Booking, Desk Booking, and Visitor Management features.  

ONEs Software now has a dedicated page to introduce a series of hybrid working measures to help you solve problems. You may wish to go to https://ones.software/sg/hybrid-workspace/ for further reference. 

Contact us: hello@ones.software, or visit ONEs Software official website for more information: https://ones.software/sg/. 

The post Why flexible work is important in Singapore now?  first appeared on ONEs Blog.