Singaporeans are Working from Home Again Due To Covid19
May 28, 2021
Ministry of Manpower tightens Safe Management Measures (SMMs) in response to heightening cases of COVID-19 cases- How do we adapt?
Singapore, Singapore - May 28, 2021 —
Work From Home is now a default arrangement in Singapore
Singapore, May 2021- The Ministry of Manpower issued an advisory on the 14 of May regarding tightening the SMM Requirements at the workplace, stating, “Employers must ensure that all employees who are able to work from home do so.”
"Employers are required to implement work from home as the default arrangement. All employees whose roles can be performed from home must do so. Employers must provide the necessary facilities and direct their employees to work from home wherever possible. Only employees who are unable to work from home due to the nature of the work (e.g. the role requires access to equipment only accessible at the workplace) can continue to work on-site."
From May 16 to June 13, 2021, Ministry of Manpower employs stricter SMMs in the workplace as a preemptive measure to the spread of the virus among employees. While the previous regulation allows 50% of work from home employees to work in their physical workplace, the updated advisory aims to minimise the employees' exposure by working solely from home.
The advisory states, "Employers are encouraged to support as many employees in working from home as possible. This will help to limit the number of employees exposed at the workplace at any point in time, and reduce crowding in common areas, e.g. pantries, toilets, lifts. Having more employees work from home will also help sustain business operations should a case emerge at the workplace."
The Ministry of Manpower and Ministry of Trade and Industry ensure the employers' adherence to the new measures. In fact, they are actively inspecting workplaces and issuing fines to companies who breach the SMMs. Among the 530 workplaces inspected, 11 have been fined due to the failure to follow the setup. This action will continue to maintain a proper implementation of the latest workplace guidelines.
How do companies and employees adapt to this?
While safety measures are executed to maintain everyone's safety, COVID-19 exposure is not the only factor that challenges the companies and their employees. After more than a year of work from home arrangement, a large number of Singaporean remote employees experience burnout in doing tasks at work without proper automation due to the need to swiftly adapt to the work from home setup.
Since the pandemic took place, the demand for digitalisation has aroused. This includes the upgrades for the communication channels, the safety of company information, and the efficiency of operations. Having to deal with alternatives while figuring the right processes to carry out the business adds to the dilemma of remote employees and the companies they work with. Include the sudden adjustments to their work environment and routine. The upside of this is that employees are able to enhance their self-discipline and independence. They also receive more opportunities to upskill while working at home. In support, some employers provide online training to help their employees handle their work in which technical help is limited.
Like automation and technological upgrades for remote work, work from home employees also venture into setting up their home offices to embrace the "default work setup". The demand for ergonomic office chairs and office tables increases as e-tailers reach out for safer and more convenient shopping and delivery of work from home essentials.
Megafurniture, a furniture e-tailer company in Singapore, actively promotes work from home efficiency with a number of tips and ergonomic office furniture products it offers.
"It is not just about having a place to sit or a surface to work on. A home office shall make an employee feel at ease and involved. There is something in the physical workplace that makes it conducive for work. Ergonomics is one of which. This is what we want to bring to every home office."
We still have a long way to go.
As the world moves towards the new normal, companies and employees would have to embrace the changes and challenges during the transition. While the pandemic is going on, or even after, the safety and welfare of the employees shall be taken care of.
Read Article: Your Ultimate Guide to Working from Home: Tips, Tricks, Home Office Design
About Megafurniture:
Megafurniture is a Singapore-based furniture eCommerce business established in 2017. Since its foundation, the Company has extended its endeavors to providing exquisite, resilient, and multi-functional furniture products inspiring life to every place the team sets foot on. The Company offers a wide variety of tasteful and cost-conscious home and office furniture collections. Megafurniture’s mission is to deliver impeccable furniture at affordable prices with quality after-sales services. Mega Team believes in a culture of innovation aspiring to bring a large variety of furniture to its fans via innovative, just in time business model.
Recognised as one of Singapore’s finest furniture e-tailers by local critics and spectators, Megafurniture embraces a proactive technique in curating and delivering its products. With the utilisation of sustainable raw materials, versatile end products, and its phenomenal customer service approach, the Company leverages its way for progression, resulting in its recent regional expansion across South East Asia.
To learn more about Mega Furniture, please visit megafurniture.sg.
Contact Info:
Name: Ge-Ann Cris Garcia
Email: Send Email
Organization: Megafurniture
Address: 29 Tai Seng Ave #03-03 Natural Cool Lifestyle Hub Singapore 534119
Website: https://megafurniture.sg/
Release ID: 89020766
What is work worth when thought is metered?
Your organisation buys human intelligence by the hour and machine intelligence by the million tokens. Only one of those prices is falling fast, and most management systems, from the timesheet to the pricing model, are still built around the other. I have spent my career applying technology to improve productivity and offset inflationary costs, and […] The post What is work worth when thought is metered? appeared first on e27.
NEU Battery Materials bags US$7.6M to mine lithium from the world’s least-loved battery
Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries have an awkward reputation among recyclers: they are everywhere, and they are worth very little once they die. Unlike the nickel- and cobalt-rich chemistries that recyclers have chased for a decade, a spent LFP cell offers no precious-metal jackpot. It holds lithium, iron and phosphate, and two of those are […] The post NEU Battery Materials bags US$7.6M to mine lithium from the world’s least-loved battery appeared first on e27.
Social impact is easy to pitch and hard to prove: 17 SEA startups taking the harder route
“Social impact” is one of the most overused phrases in a Southeast Asian pitch deck. Founders apply the label to themselves, and in a funding winter it gets stretched to cover almost anything with a farmer, a recycling bin or an “underserved” customer in the slide. So we went looking for startups that do more […] The post Social impact is easy to pitch and hard to prove: 17 SEA startups taking the harder route appeared first on e27.
US-China trade is entering an era of managed rivalry. Southeast Asian businesses should prepare for it
The most important change in US-China trade this year is not another tariff headline. It is the emergence of a more managed, transactional relationship between the world’s two largest economies. President Donald Trump’s May state visit to Beijing produced exactly that kind of arrangement. Washington and Beijing established new Boards of Trade and Investment, China […] The post US-China trade is entering an era of managed rivalry. Southeast Asian businesses should prepare for it appeared first on e27.
Everyone is talking about AI adoption. But are enterprises actually ready for it?
A company can have hundreds of employees using ChatGPT, Copilot, or other AI tools every day, and still not be an AI-ready organisation. This may sound contradictory, but it is becoming increasingly common. Employees are experimenting with AI. Teams are building copilots. Companies are running pilots. Some are even putting AI into production. Yet ask […] The post Everyone is talking about AI adoption. But are enterprises actually ready for it? appeared first on e27.
AI can generate a video in minutes. Making it usable is the hard part
Generative AI has made video creation remarkably fast. A scene that once required a camera crew, actors, locations and hours of post-production can now begin with a prompt and an idea. But after working with AI-generated cinematic videos, I have learned that generating a video quickly and producing a video that is actually usable are […] The post AI can generate a video in minutes. Making it usable is the hard part appeared first on e27.
China Mobile triples capacity at mega Inner Mongolia computing hub amid nation’s AI push
China Mobile, one of the country’s state-backed telecoms giants, has tripled the capacity of its largest intelligent computing hub in northern Inner Mongolia, amid Beijing’s push to boost digital infrastructure to power the country’s artificial intelligence ambitions. The expansion of its data centre in Hohhot was recently completed, with total processing capacity increased to 20,100 petaflops, according to a report by Inner Mongolia Daily on Monday. That was triple its previous capacity of...
Sim Lim Square Weekly Price List Downloads (Updated)
Sometimes, last-minute in-store shopping might be your best option.
Musk throws $276M behind Republicans in midterms
Tech trillionaire Elon Musk gave $276 million to several Republican super PACs and organizations over the past three months, as the GOP faces headwinds ahead of the midterm elections. This brings the Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s total contributions so far to $366 million. A spokesperson for Musk’s America PAC confirmed the numbers to The Hill,...
How the US military is learning to fight everyone's new weapons
The war on terror taught the U.S. to fight individual terrorists, which left the military behind rival nations on the tech front, experts say.
Microsoft president: AI faces fewer safety requirements than milk, washing machines
Microsoft President Brad Smith says AI has fewer safety requirements than milk and washing machines, arguing in a BBC interview released Sunday that self-regulation is not "sufficient any longer." Smith acknowledged that the idea of government evaluators signing off on a product before its release "makes people nervous," particularly in the U.S. "But just remember,...
Most in new poll oppose bets on elections
Most Americans regardless of party oppose betting on election results through prediction markets such as Kalshi or Polymarket, according to a new survey. A Reuters/Ipsos poll, released Monday, found that 60 percent of respondents did not support betting on election results, as the midterm elections near. Another 13 percent said they support betting, while 24...
Bond, CD issuance climbs 11.1% in Q3
YOUR NEWS, OUR NETWORK.
Do you have Great News you want to tell the world?
Be it updates about your business or your community, you can make sure that it’s heard by submitting your story to our network reaching hundreds of news sites across 6 verticals.