77 pct of Malaysians find working from home a challenge during MCO

CORONAVIRUS | A number of Malaysians polled find it a challenge to work from home during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period, mostly due to unstable internet connections.

Based on a survey by online consumer research firm Vase.ai from 1,100 respondents, 77 percent stated that unstable internet connection as the main reason for the difficulty faced when working from home.

The firm also found that the 77 percent also cited other reasons, namely challenges communicating with their employees or team members online (31 percent), and difficulties accessing data they need from the office database (28 percent).

Other reasons are limited internet access (27 percent), lacking an appropriate space to work at home (23 percent), challenge finding work-life balance when working from home (23 percent), distraction from family members who are at home (22 percent), challenge to keep track of employees, teammates or colleagues work progress (17 percent), unable to focus in an out-of-office environment (16 percent), and overwhelming work video/conference calls (8 percent).

“Only nine percent of Malaysians feel it is more productive to work from home. The top reasons for this are because they are able to work according to their personal schedule (49 per cent), they have the advantage to spend time with their families and get work done at the same time (37 percent), and because they have their own personal working space at home (36 percent),” the firm said based on the results of data collected on March 27.

In regards to other reasons for the nine percent of Malaysians feeling more productive working from home during the MCO, the firm found that they can avoid traffic and get more work done during that time (36 percent), they are able to focus better with no distraction (34 percent), they are able to multi-task home and office duties at the same time (31 percent), they find it quieter at home (28 percent), and that they have better internet connection at home (seven percent).

The firm said on the breakdown of respondents - 23 percent of those polled are from the central region of the Peninsular Malaysia, 21 percent from East Malaysia and northern region of Peninsular Malaysia respectively, 18 percent from the southern region of Peninsular Malaysia, and 16 percent from the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

The company said the breakdown of the ethnicity of those polled are Bumiputera at 67 percent, Chinese at 24 percent with Indians and other ethnicities at nine percent.

In regards to age of those polled, the firm said those aged between 24 to 29 make up 30 percent of respondents, 45 and above comprise 22 percent, 30 to 34 make up 20 percent, those between 35 and 39 comprise 16 percent, and those between 40 and 44 make up 12 percent.

This afternoon, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced a further two-week extension on the MCO nationwide from April 15 to 28. 

The MCO was first imposed on March 18 to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. - Mkini