Why Singapore should go just a tad slower

At a time when some companies in other countries are opting to slow employees’ pace of work so as to improve productivity and creativity, Singapore seems to be heading in the opposite direction.

In explaining why Singapore could not afford to slow down, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say said recently that going slow could blunt the country’s competitive edge and possibly lead to job losses — which is stressful.

Faced with the possibility of losing their jobs, some Singapore employees — who have among the longest working hours in the world — are concerned about what will happen if they work less. A recent survey by Randstad Workmonitor found that more than half of workers polled believe their bosses expect them to be contactable even when they are out of the office.

The current approach on working longer and harder, however, may not actually be helping Singapore to maintain its competitive, or creative, edge.

Several surveys bear this out. Singapore Government data shows that productivity dipped in two out of the past three years, while the Creative Productivity Index developed by the Asian Development Bank and Economist Intelligence Unit placed Singapore in the 10th spot, just behind Laos.

The Index, which measures the creative capacity of economies, ranked Japan first, followed by Finland and the Republic of Korea.

While working longer might have worked in the past, research shows that going slower may be better for increasing productivity and creativity.

In a study by leading consulting firm BCG, for example, Harvard Professor Leslie Perlow found that employees who took “predictable time off” during an evening or weekend every week increased their efficiency, and the policy created an engaged pool of talent. “The process creates efficiencies and promotes work-life balance — without sacrificing anything,” one employee said.

On a broader basis, analysis by The Economist of OECD data on productivity and working hours in more than 30 countries concluded that more productive and better paid workers put in less time at work.

By way of example, they noted that productivity in Germany, where employees work about 1,400 hours per year, is about 70 per cent higher than in Greece, where workers toil for 2,000 hours per year. Research by the New Zealand Productivity Commission similarly showed “New Zealanders work about 15 per cent longer than the OECD average and produce about 20 per cent less per hour”.

TIME OFF UPS PRODUCTIVITY

Companies in a number of countries are starting to give employees more time off, so as to grow faster and increase competitiveness. They are perhaps heeding the advice of a growing body of research that shows constantly draining cognitive resources without taking breaks leads to reduced productivity, and that taking vacations leads to higher performance after staff return to work.

Google, for example, has found that staff produce better results when they take time for reflection. Singaporean Chade-Meng Tan, a former Google engineer, developed a programme called Search Inside Yourself (SIY) to promote contemplative practices, such as mindfulness or attention training, that helped Google employees succeed.

One employee who shifted to working four days a week discovered ways to accomplish more while working fewer hours and was promoted, said Mr Tan, while another shared that some of his most important contributions came after doing mindfulness exercises he learned in SIY.

In Korea, where labour productivity is only 66 per cent of the OECD average, companies are also taking the research to heart. Samsung Electronics recently said it will offer staff one year sabbatical and will extend maternity leave to two years, which it expects will increase productivity.

Financial services giant Shinhan locks employees out of the computer system during their compulsory two-week annual holiday, according to the Financial Times, and S-Oil names a colleague to take staff’s place during their two weeks of mandatory annual leave. Some companies in Japan are heading in the same direction. Pharmaceutical giant Takeda allows employees engaged in research and development to work at home or use flextime so that they can “balance their work and home life, encouraging creativity and improving productivity and efficiency”.

A few firms in Sweden have even shifted to 30-hour work weeks, as studies found shorter work-weeks result in higher productivity and better morale. Some companies have gone even further. Mr Richard Branson recently followed Netflix by giving staff at Virgin’s parent companies in both the United Kingdom and the United States as much vacation time as they like, as long as they finish their work.

If Singapore is to maintain its edge and compete effectively, it is essential to increase productivity and creativity. Rather than simply continuing to work at the same pace, companies may achieve better results if employees go a little slower.

The Government could set the lead — for example, by encouraging civil servants to go home earlier, leave work behind entirely for at least one evening per week, and entirely disengage during at least a one-week or two-week mandatory vacation every year.

Encouraging corporate employees and civil servants to take time to reflect, perhaps even using the SIY model, could be beneficial, too. Teaching staff to be more contemplative and giving them breaks so they can solve problems could lead to new products or greater productivity that actually improve results.

As Mr John McGuire from the Center for Creative Leadership put it, “slowing down to power up” is a key principle for leading change. Following that advice and going a tad slower could actually power Singapore ahead on the way to regaining its edge and having a more engaged workforce.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Richard Hartung is a financial services consultant who has lived in Singapore since 1992.