This article will show what business leaders must recognize how, when, and where we work are no longer constrained by traditional notions of time and space in this new hybrid working era.

“In Singapore,” said Joanna Lim, Modern Work and Security Business Group Lead, Microsoft Singapore, “we recently moved from being allowed to return to the workplace, back to where working from home is once again our default.

As businesses adapt to the disruptive change, business leaders must recognize that long-held assumptions no longer hold true with their employees. They must now make choices that will impact their organizations for years to come.

 Joanna Lim, Modern Work and Security Business Group Lead, Microsoft Singapore

What is Hybrid work?

Hybrid work is an approach that takes into account the individual’s needs, whether they’re at home or at the office. Our platform enables people to work from any location, and move between sites as needed.

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.

In the report “Making Flexible Work, Work: Towards Better and More Inclusive
Work-Life Practices” from Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei Darussalam, there are several nice definitions for flexible working terms:

Work-Life Practices (WLPs)

Various forms of support for work-life integration, including leave, support networks, facilities, etc. This includes Flexible Work Arrangements.

Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs)

Flexibility in the time and location of work. This includes Work From Home arrangements.

These arrangements aim to provide greater flexibility
in the following areas: the workplace, scheduling of hours worked, number of
hours worked and flexibility of job roles.

The top FWAs in the Life at Work Survey were:

1. Flexi Hours (48%)
2. Leaving Early From Work (34%)
3. Staggered Hours (22%)
4. Job Sharing (19%)
5. Work-From-Home/Telecommuting (16%)

Work-From-Home (WFH)

A subset of FWAs, in which employees may work remotely some or all of the time

Learn more:

Post-MCO Safety Guidelines Info Page

How can hybrid working help Singaporeans and their companies save their daily expenses now? 

20+ Questions for your Hybrid Working Employee Survey

Why Hybrid Working is the winner in the APAC region? Experts explain.

Hybrid work is preferred across ASEAN markets

The Cisco study highlighted that hybrid work is now preferred by many employees across ASEAN markets:

• Singapore – 71%
• Malaysia – 74%
• Indonesia – 84%
• Vietnam – 76%
• Thailand – 69%
• The Philippines – 60%

The support for hybrid work extends beyond employees as well — with 90% of employees saying their employers have been supportive of hybrid working. In particular, 46% said their employers have been supportive, while 44% said their employers have been very supportive.

(Cisco)

Who is implementing hybrid working in Singapore?

Beyond the COVID-19 epidemic, the banking industry in Singapore, for example, is implementing flexi-work as a permanent component, although the hybrid model implemented by each bank differs.

UOB, for example, has implemented a two-day work-from-home policy, allowing workers to organize their work depending on where they can be most efficient.

Similarly, DBS allows employees to work remotely up to 40% of the time and plans to launch a Living Lab that combines physical and virtual workspace configurations to facilitate discussions and cross-team collaborations.

HSBC, on the other hand, has three work arrangements based on job roles: office workers are permanently office-based due to compliance reasons or the need to be client-facing, flexible office workers are primarily office-based and may work from home one to two days per week, and flexible home workers have a fixed schedule that includes at least 50% work-from-home time.

Citi intends to offer its global workforce a new work model that provides consistency, permanency, and flexibility. The new work model will classify staff into three globally consistent role designations, helping identify the best model of flexibility and helping them achieve better work and life balance.   

Under the new model, employees worldwide are divided into three globally consistent role designations. The new work model applies to Citi’s 8,500 employees in Singapore. 

Global communications agency Redhill decided to move its new global headquarters to Singapore Tanjong Pagar on September 2022. Up to 150 employees can work in the new 5,000-square-foot area in Tanjong Pagar, which is intended for hot desking.

Timeline of Singapore Workplace Requirements in Response to Covid-19

Work-from-home is no longer the default in Singapore from Jan 1, 2022, and a higher focus on Workplace Strategy is expected as more people return to the office.

While new Covid-19 variations are possible hazards that might hinder the return to work, the degree of concern is low. Disruptions are anticipated to be less severe in 2022 than they were in the early days of the epidemic.

With nearly two years into the pandemic, Singapore is now better prepared to respond effectively. Even when new Covid-19 types develop, pandemic efforts may become more focused and subtle in the future. This is backed up by the high immunization rate.

As of 10 January 2022, approximately 87% of Singapore’s population had been fully vaccinated, a significant improvement from early April 2021, when less than 10% of the population had been fully vaccinated.

As a result, firms will be more confident in expanding their office footprint as the economy recovers.

(Cushman & Wakefield)

General hybrid working data

Singapore’s CBD Grade A office

According to Savills research, the vacancy level of Grade A office space in the city-central state’s business area (CBD) in Singapore continues to decline for the second consecutive quarter.

The vacancy rate of such office properties fell by 1.2 percentage points quarter on quarter in Q3 2022, to 5.6 percent, following a 0.4 percentage point drop in the previous three months.

According to Savills, the decrease in vacancy levels was seen across all three grades of office buildings, particularly in Grade AA offices, where the vacancy rate fell by 2.4 percentage points on a quarterly basis.

The office submarkets of Orchard Road and Marina Bay, in particular, had the lowest office vacancy rates of 1.7 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.

(Savills)

According to JLL, it only took 18 months for Singapore’s CBD Grade A office rentals to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the real estate consultancy’s research, the gross effective rent for CBD Grade A office space increased 2.9% year on year to SGD 11.06 per sq ft per month in 3Q22, up from SGD 10.74 per sq ft per month in 2Q22. This has surpassed the pre-pandemic peak of SGD 10.81 psf per month recorded in 4Q19 and is the highest since SGD 12.55 in 4Q08.

(JLL)

Future Sources of Office Demand

Technology and financial occupiers will continue to be the major sources of office demand in 2022 as they expand headcounts amidst an economic recovery. Technology and finance occupiers drove about 65% of new leases within the CBD in 2021 .

On the other hand, co-working operators (real estate), once a major driver of CBD office demand, have slowed their expansion spree since the pandemic struck, albeit continuingly picking up pockets of space.

Some co-working operators are evolving their business models to an asset light strategy, preferring management agreements from direct leases of space.

Given occupiers increased demand for flexibility and flex space, co-working demand is still expected to expand albeit at a more measured pace.

(Cushman & Wakefield)

Proportion of workers in the resident labor force who WFH due to the COVID-19 situation

As the global Covid-19 situation worsened in 2020, businesses adopted a new mode of operation, allowing their employees to work from home (WFH). Singapore is no exception, with 49 percent of employed residents working remotely by 2020.

This resulted in one of the highest proportions of resident employees working remotely when compared to other European Union (EU) member states such as Belgium and Finland, where more than half of employed residents worked remotely. ( Labour Force in Singapore 2020 edition: Impact of COVID-19 on the Labour Market​ )

Work-from-home is no longer the default in Singapore

When will work from home end in Singapore?

From Jan 1, Work-from-home is no longer the default in Singapore from Jan 1, 2022.

50 percent of employees who can work from home will be allowed to return to the office, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Tuesday (Dec 14, 2021). (channelnewsasia)

Singapore employee data

Flexible work is here to stay in Singapore

More than 82 percent of Singapore workers want flexible remote work options to stay, but 66 percent want more face-to-face time with their teams.

(Microsoft)

The majority of workers in ASEAN (72%) choose a hybrid working style that combines in-office and remote work, as opposed to a totally remote (23%) or in-office (5%) experience, indicating that workers are aware that the future of work will be hybrid.

Similar results were found in Singapore, where respondents preferred a hybrid of a remote and in-office working paradigm to a wholly remote (25%) or fully in-office (4%) experience in the future.

(Cisco Global Hybrid Work Study 2022)

By Logitech’s report, 63% of respondents said they preferred hybrid work arrangements, while 25% would opt for fully remote work practices and 9% wanted everyone to be back in the office. 

(Logitech)

Flexible work retains Singapore talent

Over 50% of Singapore workers surveyed said they would consider leaving their jobs if asked to return full-time to the workplace.

(People at Work 2022: A Global Workforce View)

Also, based on the IPS study that asking if they would consider looking for another job if their employer requires them to return to the office on most days, 37 percent of respondents faced with this prospect said that they would consider looking for another job during the period between Dec 28 last year and Feb 22.

But among those surveyed from March 18 to April 11, when there was a further relaxation of Covid-19 measures, this figure grew to 42 percent.

(todayonline)

People with caregiver duties prefer flexible work arrangements

Respondents with aged persons at home were more likely to feel that flexible work arrangements should be the new norm for workplaces (52%) as compared to those with children (44%) or those with both children and aged persons at home (37%).

Those with children at home were more likely to feel that working from home on most days should be the new norm at workplaces (28%) compared to those with aged persons (22%) or those with both aged persons and children at home (25%)

However, more respondents with both children and aged persons at home also feel that working from the office on most days should be the new norm for workplaces (38%) as compared to respondents with children (28%) or respondents with aged persons at home (26%).

(todayonline)

Preference for remote work and hybrid work in Singapore

The ability to work remotely appears to be the most popular option among Singapore employees, with the majority (78 percent) preferring a hybrid schedule.

Employees are far less enthusiastic about committing to a single environment: only 12% prefer working from the office all the time, and 10% prefer working remotely full-time. (Milieu Insight)

Unalignment between leader and workers in Singapore

According to research, 51 percent of Singaporean leaders are thriving right now, while only 27 percent of employees (without decision-making power) are. (Microsoft)

Singapore Gen Z is exhausted

Gen Z (aged 18 to 25) is particularly vulnerable, as more than 70% of this generation in Singapore believes they are merely surviving or struggling. (Microsoft)

Workers in ASEAN report productivity improvement

In ASEAN, 64% of workers reported an increase in productivity, and 65% of employees felt that working hybrid had improved the quality of their work. The same number of respondents (66%) also mentioned improvements in professional knowledge and abilities.

Particularly in Singapore, the figures were a little lower:

1. Employees feel that their work quality has increased, according to 56% of them.
2. 60% think productivity has increased.
   
   While 76% of employees in Singapore agreed, over 75% of employees in ASEAN thought that their role can now be completed as successfully from home as it can in the office.
   
   (Cisco Global Hybrid Work Study 2022)

Employees believe hybrid work can save their time

One of the advantages noted is that hybrid work gives workers their time back; 73% of ASEAN respondents reported saving more than four hours per week as a result. Even more, 32% managed to save more than eight hours. 65% of people were able to reinvest the extra time by spending it with their family, friends, and pets thanks to the time saved on reduced or no commuting, and impromptu office contacts.

In Singapore, the figures stayed largely the same, with 70% saving over four hours and 28% saving over eight.

(Cisco Global Hybrid Work Study 2022)

Employees believe hybrid work can improve social and physical wellbeing

When it comes to the social side, 86% of ASEAN respondents reported better relations with family, while 55% reported better contact with friends. (74%, 50%, Singapore).

In terms of health, 77% of ASEAN citizens reported eating healthier, 79% reported exercising more, and 78% reported being physically fitter. 72% of Singaporeans agreed to believe that their physical fitness had improved, following a similar trend.

(Cisco Global Hybrid Work Study 2022)

Employees believe hybrid work can save their money

In terms of money, 86% of workers in ASEAN reported saving money, with an average saving of over US$7,462.52 per year, or US$143.51 per week. This roughly equated to an increase in savings of 14.5%.

The top three places to make savings were specifically:

• Commuting costs (88%)
• Food and entertainment (75%)
• Lifestyle and social activities (60%)

(Cisco Global Hybrid Work Study 2022)

A study by the Institute of Policy Studies in Singapore found that Singaporeans thought flex-work benefits save on daily expenses. The reasons are as follows:

1. Reduce the chance of getting Covid-19: Preventing paying medical expenses; (87%)
2. Greater Flexibility in incorporating personal life needs with work schedules (83%)
3. Less money and time spent on commuting: Allowing staff to work at home. (78%)
4. Less need to dress for work: No need to go back to the office for work.   (75%)

(Institute of Policy Studies)

Reasons why Singaporeans choose remote office

In addition to saving time and money on commuting to and from work, those on hybrid work arrangements cited improved work-life balance and a less stressful working environment as benefits of working from home.

Those currently working in a hybrid work arrangement appear to have a higher quality of life because they have more time and fewer office stressors. (Milieu Insight)

Reasons why Singaporeans choose to work at office/client location

Admins wanted to understand employees’ primary motivation(s) for going to work with the hybrid model designed for flexibility of working remotely while still offering structure, stability, and social benefits.

According to the survey of Milieu Insight, employees are motivated to come to work to meet with their teams and colleagues for collective work, brainstorming sessions, building connections, and other social rituals.

To be truly successful with a hybrid work arrangement, businesses should consider transforming their offices to accommodate what these spaces will actually be used for – for employees to innovate, collaborate, and connect. (Milieu Insight)

Crucial digital transformation strategy

According to 72% of workers, one crucial transformation strategy is to expand the function of human resources to encompass comprehensive hybrid rules and guidelines. This may involve influencing an organization’s productivity measurement system, like Microsoft Viva.

(Telstra)

Singapore employer data

Top 3 ICT spend by Singapore companies

The top 3 information and communications technology (ICT) spent by Singapore market are:

1. Data and analytics to measure productivity
2. Cloud infrastructure and services
3. Internet of Things

(Telstra)

How employers in Singapore are approaching hybrid work

Employers in Singapore expect the majority of their workforce to work remotely in Q1 2022, with the exception of those in production/manufacturing and frontline sales/front office/customer-facing roles, where 45 percent and 29 percent of employers expect their employees to work in the workplace all the time, respectively.

In terms of human resources, 24% of employers polled said they would expect their HR teams to work remotely all the time, while 65% expected a hybrid arrangement (25 percent indicated working remotely twice or more a week, 40% indicated thrice or more), and 8% expected HR to work in the workplace all the time. (ManpowerGroup)

Optimizing Hybrid Work with New Technology

A majority of APAC leaders and employees (70%) saw a progressive change with clear guidelines to achieve full hybrid policies.

Currently, organizations were measuring productivity by setting goals for communication frequently (57%), using tools for teamwork and collaboration (56%), and the output based on the work completed (50%).

For future productivity strategies, organizations indicated that they would look toward future-focused goals (66%), consistent policy on performance rating (58%), and updated performance indicators (53%).

(Telstra)

Redesign office for hybrid working

62% of business leaders are more likely to redesign office space to accommodate hybrid work.

(Microsoft)

More information for hybrid working

Businesses General Requirements in Singapore

https://www.gobusiness.gov.sg/safemanagement/general/

FAQs on Safe Management Measures at the workplace

https://www.mom.gov.sg/covid-19/frequently-asked-questions/safe-management-measures

ONES All-in-one smart office system

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/. 

The post Latest hybrid work trends in Singapore a business leader needs to know in 2023 and onward first appeared on ONEs Blog.

On the other hand, many of the MNCs and government offices in Singapore are now turning to co-working spaces to improve their flexibility.

Klook Singapore: Building family-friendly workplaces with flexibility

The Business Times speaks to three firms to learn how these programs have benefited their workplaces and what advice they would provide to other businesses considering adopting similar programs.

Cary Shek, vice-president of people and culture at Klook, mentioned the company’s position on hybrid work, and the accommodation for staff who are keen to work from home on a regular basis.

At Klook, we are maintaining hybrid work arrangements and we empower our people managers to assess and provide additional flexibility to employees with family or other personal commitments.

The pandemic made us rethink the meaning of the physical workplace and how best we can empower local teams subject to their restrictions. We have to strike a balance, and the hybrid-working model gives us the best of both worlds, in terms of flexibility and human connection.

Cary Shek, vice-president of people and culture at Klook

Over the past two years, Klook has been renting one floor from a coworking space here. Additionally, employees are permitted to utilize desks at all of the co-working chain’s locations, which Klook asked not to be identified.

When Klook first joined the Singapore market a few years ago, according to Ms. Cary Shek, staff were housed in a shophouse. However, as the squad grew, that proved impossible. Klook sought a location that would better encourage employee interaction and collaboration, and discovered that a co-working facility may also provide more flexibility than rented office space.

As a fast-moving company, efficiency is so important to us. Time (is) required to set up a new office and … maintain it. We do need to make a call – where do we want our people to focus on.

A co-working space provides us with the scalability … (and) allows us to optimise the space, like when our business keeps expanding.

Cary Shek, vice-president of people and culture at Klook

Learn more about ONES – an all-in-one smart office system that helps your office changes into a co-working space.

Multinationals use co-working spaces for hybrid working

Apart from Klook, Standard Chartered has already implemented flexible work and believed that flexible work can help them retain its talents. The reason for implementing flexible work is that base on the understanding of Singaporeans’ preferences, spending time with family is more important than work.

The 10,000 workers of Standard Chartered Business in Singapore have access to workplaces that are closer to their homes thanks to flex space supplier IWG, even though the bank still retains its main headquarters in Changi Business Park and Marina Bay Financial Tower 1.

Learn more: How does Standard Chartered introduce flexi-working in Singapore?

The head of resourcing for Standard Chartered in Singapore, Mr. Brian Richards, said he meets up with coworkers at the bank’s main headquarters and occasionally utilizes coworking spaces as a substitute for working from home and for off-site team meetings.

I appreciate the availability of diverse conducive spaces to support my various work needs, and the change in environment is refreshing and boosts productivity.

Mr. Brian Richards, the head of resourcing for Standard Chartered in Singapore

Decentralization, Flexibility, and Cost Reduction

“This is clearly a reflection of the increasing popularity of work-from-anywhere.” Mr. Darren Rogers said, country manager for IWG Singapore.

There is an increasing trend for having workplaces near residences, according to co-working spaces.

Between February and August of this year, more people visited IWG centers outside of the city center than within, according to Mr. Rogers. Since launching in April, visits to its newest Regus center at Balestier’s Hiap Hoe Building increased by 240%.

Flexibility is a key advantage as it allows co-working space users the option to scale up or down, while traditional office leases lock a tenant down for a minimum three years, coupled with the consideration for a longer amortisation period for their fit-outs.

said Mr Desmond Sim, CEO of real estate consulting firm Edmund Tie

Smaller businesses may have easy access to a desirable location through a flexible co-working facility, which is essential for talent acquisition.

When asked to compare the expenses of using a co-working space with renting an office, Mr. Desmond responded that they depend on the location and level of use, but that employing a subscription model has lower upfront expenditures.

In general, a typical cost plan for a co-working space may be quite even and spread out, paid on an annual basis, while a traditional lease will have to incur higher setup costs … at the lease commencement

said Mr Desmond Sim, CEO of real estate consulting firm Edmund Tie

Learn more about Singapore Working Culture: https://ones.software/blog/category/singapore-work-culture/

Reference: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/co-working-space-wework-justco-iwg-office-space-2944271

The post S’pore MNCs and Gov offices are now changing into co-working spaces. Here are the reasons. first appeared on ONEs Blog.

A visitor management system is a way that many Singapore companies have adopted to protect the security and privacy of their companies.

What is a Visitor Management System?

The visitor management system (VMS) provides significant benefits to the enterprise, which is an important component of the smart office. 

When a visitor arrives, the system streamlines the visitor check-in process, making for a great visitor experience on your premises. Compared to general visitor management, using a visitor management system optimizes the entire process and provides more security to your property management.

Moreover, lots of Singaporean companies are implementing visitor management systems because it can reduce manpower and human registration mistakes.

Let’s see what visitor management systems are suitable for Singapore companies.

List of best visitor management systems for Singapore

ONES All-in-one Smart Office System

ONES helps you to prepare for a hybrid working environment and adapt to the post-epidemic office changes early, which will be of great benefit to the competitiveness and image of your business. The VMS can increase your office security and protect your office privacy.

More detail: https://ones.software/bookings-one/visitor

The Key Features of Visitor Management System:

Greet your guests with the agile sign-in system on a tablet, and notify your employee of the visitor’s arrival. ONES VMS allows visitors to pre-register. When the visitors arrive, they can have a streamlined registration.

Also, ONES VMS allows visitors to finish the registration by themselves, which can help your company reduce the operation cost because using VMS only needs a little manpower, even a kiosk.

ONES VMS also supports the mobile pass, which is the key tool for your office to adapt to a hybrid workplace and delivers a seamless smart office experience for your employees and visitors.

Full feature list: https://ones.software/bookings-one/visitor-management/features

ONES VMS also integrates with other smart office features such as:

Conference room booking system: Integrate all your meeting room, and facility management into one user-friendly solution that gives users a better booking experience.

Hot desk booking system: Provide a more agile office by introducing a digital desk booking platform. Assist users to reserve a workspace easily via a few touches on the screen.

Support & service system: Provide full support and service for your office that gives everyone a great smart office experience.

Pros

• An all-in-one smart office system with all features a hybrid office will need.
• Fully integrated with Office 365, Outlook, Exchange, and Teams.
• Self-developed interactive floorplan for real-time office plan.
• Various hardware support for different office set-ups.
• Support cloud and on-premise installation.
• Detailed policy setting for office setting customization.
• Reduce the operation cost because only a few manpower.

Envoy

Envoy strives to make your office a smart office by providing various office management systems to help you manage your office. Moreover, Envoy focuses on the development of visitor systems.

Key Features:

Visitor Management: Customizable sign-in creates multiple sign-in flows that ask different questions based on the purpose of the guest’s visit;
Provides instant notifications, it will automatically notify employees when their guests arrive;
Also, the VMS provides analytics and reporting, it can help you to get insight into visitor volume, who hosts visitors, and more. Export data in a few clicks.

Meeting Room Booking System: The check-in and end meeting function can secure your room by checking in and then free up space for others by tapping end meeting; and;
Color-coded availability functions can help you easily find an available space with green, yellow, and red indicators in each room.

Desk Booking System: Hot desk booking gives employees the flexibility to choose where they sit to get the most out of the day; or
Permanent desk assignments give certain employees a permanent seat assignment to use each day they’re on-site.

Pros

• The system can free up unused space and makes it easy to find and book the right room for the task at hand and reserve a desk to collaborate on-site;
• Also, it can safeguard your workplace and supercharge your front desk.

Cons

• Need to pay more money to buy more features.
• The free features are not many and may not be suitable for companies with fewer resources, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.
• The system does not provide customized services, such as customized special room services

The Receptionist

The Receptionist is a visitor management system and does not provide other office management systems. It creates a personalized check-in experience that makes a great first impression.

Key Features:

Visitor Management System: Protect your business and your visitors through leveraging tools designed to strengthen security and compliance.

Pros

• Their VMS works in harmony with various platforms your business uses daily, including 4,000+ integrations through Zapier alone.
• Give your front desk staff the flexibility to do what humans do best. Their VMS can take care of repetitive tasks.

Cons

• It is not enough to make your office to be an intelligent office because The Receptionist only provides VMS.
• The price is higher and may not be suitable for companies with fewer resources, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.
• Not supporting different hardware, only focusing on supporting iPads.

Visiting management can help your office 

A visitor management system helps your office to manage visitors easily. 

If there’s no receptionist in the lobby, Visiting management system (VMS) still can help you make a great first impression on the visitors. Administrators can set advanced settings to restrict visitors from entering sensitive areas of your office.

Moreover, VMS helps you to reduce the operation cost because it just needs a lack of manpower.

VMS can help you to easily implement hybrid working by digitizing your office resource management and implementing a people-oriented workplace for your employees.

In the following years, digital visitor management systems will become the norm. Thus, the paper sign-in sheets will disappear from offices completely. 

For more information, please contact us: hello@ones.software, or visit ONES Software official website for more information: https://ones.software/sg/.

The post Visitor management system for Singapore now (2023 version) first appeared on ONEs Blog.

The new work model of Citi bank 

Citi intends to offer its global workforce a new work model that provides consistency, permanency, and flexibility. The new work model will classify staff into three globally consistent role designations, helping identify the best model of flexibility and helping them achieve better work and life balance.   

Under the new model, employees worldwide are divided into three globally consistent role designations. The new work model applies to Citi’s 8,500 employees in Singapore. 

The three new roles for Citi’s employees  

1. Most roles globally are designated as a hybrid working model, enabling employees to better manage work-life balance while experiencing the benefits of being together in person. Associates assigned in hybrid roles will have the opportunity to work remotely up to two days per week if they wish.  

2. Resident roles are those roles where they can only work on sites, such as employees in branch offices or those working in data centers. These employees are expected to work fully on-site.  

3. Remote roles are those which can be performed offsite given the nature of their work. Employees whose role has been tagged as a remote role have the opportunity to work off-site for up to five days a week.  

In Singapore, most of Singapore Citi’s staff have been designated as a hybrid mode. The reasons hybrid roles are that allow the employees to work flexibly, and Citi understands flexibility is very important to Singaporeans. The recruitment agency Randstad interviewed 1000 workers, it found that 77% of the Singaporeans said that they focus on working with flexibility. 

More details about the roles in the future work 

How does hybrid work benefit Singapore employees and Citi? 

For Singapore employees, hybrid work provides them the flexible working hours, flexible work styles, and flexible locations. 

Working with flexible working hours that allow Singapore employees to spend more time with their families.  

A flexible work style can make them happier and more engaged in their work so as to have high productivity.  

The flexible locations allow the workers to choose where they want to work. When the workers go back to the office, there is some equipment to help them to work better, which is only found in the office. Also, the reduction in travel time and expenses for remote work, is especially appealing to the younger generation in Singapore. 

For Singapore Citi, flexible work can help Citi recruit or retain their talents, and let Citi consider redesigning the office. 

Facing a tight labor market and the need to attract developing potential, Citi should nonetheless give certain remote working choices to improve its capacity to recruit or retain its talents. A survey shows that 42% of Singapore employees consider quitting if they cannot work flexibly. 

Also, as the workers are not always back in the office, Citi could consider redesigning the workspace by reducing the unnecessary fixed tables and changing the tables to hot desks. Therefore, the saving area could be rebuilt as a co-working area for gathering or reducing it to have less rent. 

Since the aim of Singapore Citi is “best support colleagues while still providing excellent service to clients”, then hybrid work allows Singapore Citi’s staff to spend more time with their families and ensures the customers can have excellent service as the workers have high productivity.  

Therefore, Singapore Citi is suitable to adopt the hybrid roles as hybrid work makes the Singapore employees and Citi more flexible on work and allows both of them to enjoy the benefits of flexibility. 

More details on Why flexible work is important in Singapore now? – ONEs Blog  

Hybrid working improves productivity

To conclude, the new hybrid roles not only provide flexible working hours to satisfy the Singapore staff’s needs that can allow them to spend more time with their families but also provide a flexible work style that can improve the workers’ productivity.  

Also, hybrid work can fulfill the aim of Singapore Citi which is to best support colleagues with flexible work and ensure the customers can have excellent service with high employee productivity. 

Therefore, Citi implements the hybrid role of the new work model not only to improve the flexibility of the Singapore workers but also can improve the Singapore employees’ productivity. 

The best setup for hybrid working you must know

Many organizations rely on cloud-based tools for hybrid working, which has become the norm since the pandemic. Other companies use a combination of software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications and traditional local workloads protected by secure tunnels like VPNs. These applications allow employees to be more productive wherever they have access to the Internet. 

ONES  provides both on-premises and cloud options for an organization to choose from in order to fit their cases. Organizations can install the system into their private server, or they can enjoy our cloud service without any installation.

Also, supporting the Singapore employees’ work in the office with flexibility. We provide Room Booking, Desk Booking, and Visitor Management that can make you easily perform virtual meetings, desk-hoteling, and digital office management. 

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

The post How does Citi Singapore define its new work models globally to improve flexibility?   first appeared on ONEs Blog.

Through this partnership, i-CONTROL Singapore will act as a Singapore Distributor providing the full support and service to give our valued clients a great smart office experience ranging from Room booking, Hot desk booking, Visitor management, IoT, Resources management solutions, Video conference solution, and Scheduling solution, etc.

Contact: info@i-CONTROL.com.sg / (+65) 6973 3036

Our Partners: https://ones.software/partner

The post (New!) ONES now supports the Singapore Region first appeared on ONEs Blog.

According to the latest Workmonitor survey, based on 1,000 local respondents, more than 40% of people said they would not accept a job offer if they couldn’t work from home or didn’t have flexible work hours.

Post-pandemic work-life balance is important

Flexibility in working location is important to 77% of survey respondents. However, only 52% said their employers offered them remote working options.

Similarly, while four out of five of our survey respondents value flexible working hours, only 60% report that their employers provide them with this flexibility.

However, as employers expect their employees to return to the office throughout the week, work flexibility will gradually dwindle. This means that they will have less time to spend with their families and friends over the weekend as they must return to household chores and errands.

Furthermore, 27% of respondents said they had quit a job because it did not offer enough flexibility in terms of working hours and location.

As a result, Singaporeans who value the ability to work when and where they want may begin looking for other job opportunities with other companies.

Attract Talent by Hybrid Workspace

To meet the changing talent expectations exacerbated by the pandemic, company leaders who want to retain their employees and attract talent should consider offering flexible and remote work arrangements after the pandemic.

Companies can reconsider the purpose of the office as a place for people to come together to connect with one another, rather than being resigned to closed-off work cubicles, in addition to offering flexible work.

Working at their own desks would be similar to working from home because there would be no spontaneous opportunities to build relationships with their coworkers. For example, Google Singapore recently provides enough shared places for their programmer to improve their productivity and prevent them from leaving.

Read more: Google Singapore: Focus on the flexibility of employees

Over the last two years, employees have reconsidered how they want their careers to fit into their lives, said Jaya Dass, managing director at Randstad Singapore and Malaysia.

“Even though flexible working arrangements are important to employees in Singapore, not all companies are seen to be offering it as an option after the pandemic,” Dass said. “Employers that want to retain their employees should consider offering more flexible work models to meet the changing talent expectations that are brought about and exacerbated by the pandemic.”

How to implement a hybrid workspace?

Hybrid work means a mixed working style of working at the office and working from home. You can allow your employee to have high flexibility to choose their desirable workspace. You can also consider how to reduce the operational cost such as reducing the office workspace and fulfilling the expectation of both employees and administrators.

ONES, 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 Singaporeans now reject jobs that do not provide a hybrid work option 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.

Nowadays, global employees are used to working flexibly because of the pandemic. Flexible working, i.e. hybrid working, allows the employees to decide to work at flexible locations, flexible hours, and flexible workflow by themselves. Employees can benefit from flexible working, such as having a work-life balance and improving their productivity. 

The reasons are that a flexible work schedule allows employees to have more time to incorporate personal life needs with the work schedule, work flexibly and ensure they finish their job on time, thus having high productivity. 

The best Singapore workplaces: Cisco Singapore and Salesforce

The best workplace list, which is reported by Great Place to Work® Institute Inc., shows that the top 1 and 2 of 2021 Singapore’s best workplace in tech are Cisco Singapore and Salesforce.

Cisco Singapore

Cisco is a worldwide leader in technology, 96% of Singapore employees at Cisco said it is a great place to work. Andy Lee (The Managing Director for Singapore and Brunei at Cisco) said, ”In the past year at Cisco, we have embraced a hybrid workstyle for decades and the wellbeing of our employees has always been a top priority.”

He mentioned that the key factor of the best workplace should be people-oriented. Cisco focuses on how to re-build into the best offices, including designing meeting rooms, quiet cars, and hot-desking with office management systems for the employees to improve their productivity.

In the list, it shows 97% of Cisco Singapore employees said that they have been given the resources and equipment to do their job. Therefore, a hybrid office can help Cisco to retain talents.

Salesforce

Salesforce, the world’s most trusted customer relationship management (CRM) platform, has also been named among the top three Best Workplaces in Singapore by Great Place to Work in past seven years. In the list, 91% of employees at Salesforce said it is a great place to work.

Salesforce said: “80% of our employees are hungry for the connection, camaraderie, and innovation that come from gathering in person.”

Salesforce provides meeting areas, even virtual meeting tools, and office management systems to conduct meetings for different employees to exchange technical skills and gather.

In the list, 95% of Salesforce employees said the Salesforce hybrid office facilities contribute to a good working environment. This shows that Salesforce focuses on using office management systems and communication software to provide a people-oriented working environment to improve their employees’ capabilities.

Why do Singapore employees need flexible working?

The first reason is Singaporeans think that spending time with family is more important than work. In a study by the Institute of Policy Studies in Singapore, 81% of Singapore employees said that flexible working allows them to have time to attend to their family needs. 42% of workers who prefer flexible work arrangements would consider quitting if they were forced to go to the office most days.

This shows that work-life balance is how important to them. As flexible working allows them to decide their own work schedule and work location, it can help them prevent the above-mentioned issue. 

The second reason is Singapore employees have lots of pressure on their work, such as the stress of C-level execs monitoring, and the stress could make them have lower productivity. The study also shows that 67% of Singapore employees said that flexible working can help them prevent the pressure from socializing with their colleagues.

Flexible workflow allows the employees to focus on their jobs because they can arrange their own work method to prevent disruptions from other people, and then improve their productivity. Robert Half, a recruitment agency, found that a total of 60 percent of HR directors have seen an increase in work productivity when employees work flexibly in Singapore.  

Flexible working is a people-oriented working method for Singapore employees as it provides flexible work schedules to satisfy the Singaporean’s needs that spend more time with family. Also, allowing Singapore employees to set their own flexible workflow, which can improve their productivity by preventing unnecessary.

Therefore, companies such as Cisco and Salesforce in Singapore are using flexible working in their office now to implement a people-oriented workplace for all of their people.

A perfect system for hybrid working in Singapore: Bookings ONE

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 How do S’pore enterprises implement the best workplaces? 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.