'Our work hours are a bit too long': Tharman's answer garners applause from youths at event

Maintaining work-life balance has been a hot topic in recent years, and Gen Zs may perhaps be known for being the most adamant about it.

But what about those of us who are millennials or older?

In an Aug 19 session organised by Access Singapore with presidential candidate Tharman Shanmugaratnam and his wife Jane Yumiko Ittogi, an influencer and content creator who noticed that the couple was "previously discussing about reducing stress in schools" asked about the same issue for "those adulting".

Noting that Tharman "had mostly focused on the future generation", Chow Jia Hui posted a video on TikTok on Monday (Aug 21) in which she asked: "What about the 'us' who have pretty much gone through the system that has caused us all this stress?"

Chow, 27, added that the adults of her generation were also dealing with stresses in their everyday lives "without the knowledge or education" on how to mitigate them.

Tharman, 66, recommended that we should be more open about such stresses in the workplace and that we needed more "enlightened" workplace top management and culture.

Peer support was also very important, he said.

"But I think another point — and here, again, I am speaking as a citizen and not a presidential candidate, because it sounds like a policy point — I think our work hours are a bit too long," he added.

This garnered laughter and applause from the audience, which comprised more than 300 youth community leaders invited to attend Access Conversations with Tharman and Ittogi.

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Tharman added that, since Singapore has reached a competitive economy with incomes higher than much of the world, we should "go for productivity, go for quality, go for strong teams".

"Some people may go back home and carry on working, and that's fine, but [there] must be a norm so that no one feels embarrassed about clocking off at the right time," he said, adding that this is so people could have more leisure time and time spent with family and friends.

He summarised that the culture he would like to see in Singapore is one that values "high quality" over "putting in more and more hours" in both education and employment.

Earlier in the Access Conversations session, Tharman discussed mental health and the importance of having a "pleasant" work environment in mitigating stress among employees.

"It's not just about having the right furniture and all these new fancy office developments," he said. "It's about culture. It's about respect. It's about being friends at work, having respect for the person who's doing the housekeeping — it's the work environment that matters as well."

The video posted by Chow resonated with netizens, who gave their own suggestions on how to reduce work stress.

Many advocated for a four-day work week, while one comment read: "Reduce the working hours from nine to six to nine to five!"

"Make mid-week, Wednesday, a compulsory half-day [at] work so that the people can relax and de-stress with family, friends and loved ones," a netizen recommended.

Tharman discussed a variety of other topics during the Access Conversations session, including LGBTQ issues and the death penalty.

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