According to the 2024 Wellness at Work Report by Employment Hero, two-thirds of the Malaysian workforce are experiencing burnout.
The report polled 1,015 Malaysian employees and found a significant rise in employee burnout from 58% in 2022 to 67% in 2024, emphasizing the urgent need for enhanced mental health support and workplace wellness initiatives.
Millennials have the highest burnout rate
The report also found that Millennials are the hardest-hit generation, with 69% experiencing burnout, followed closely by their Gen-Z colleagues at 64%.
Additionally, the biggest contributor to burnout among Malaysian employees is juggling work-life balance, with 55% rating their work-life balance as poor or average.
However, interestingly, 58% of fully remote employees indicated that their overall work-life balance was above average, compared to 44% of hybrid employees and 42% of in-office employees.
The findings of our 2024 Wellness at Work Report clearly shows that it’s time for employers to consider embracing remote working and flexible arrangements more fully,” Employment Hero CEO and co-founder, Ben Thompson said in a statement provided to WeirdKaya.
Working from home might be a solution
This sentiment that flexible working arrangements could potentially pose a solution to the rising burnout is echoed throughout the report.
According to the findings, 88% of knowledge workers want to work remotely at least one day per week, and remote and hybrid working are generally better for work-life balance and personal finances for most Malaysians.
In fact, with only 53% of employees feeling on track with their financial goals and 49% of respondents feeling that their workplaces are not doing enough to support rising living costs, it’s clear that financial stress is also a major factor in the rapidly increasing burnout rate,” it wrote.
Encouragingly, 52% of employees rated their employer’s commitment to improving overall health and well-being as above average, with 77% of Malaysians satisfied with the working relationship they have with their manager.
“With this in mind, simply allowing for further flexible working options appears to be the primary incentive—apart from pay—that will not only contribute to workplace retention but also talent attraction as well.”
