Employees at UOB Malaysia can work from home up to two days each week

UOB Malaysia said on Wednesday that if Covid-19 restrictions are relaxed, the bulk of its nearly 5,000-strong employees will be able to work remotely up to two days each week.

The bank's ambition to ensure colleagues achieve the correct balance between professional fulfilment and mental well-being is at the heart of the "permanent reform," according to a statement.

It was discovered that two days of remote working per week is the most beneficial for employees to maintain a sense of connection with colleagues and the organisation while achieving optimal performance, according to the report.

During the Covid-19 epidemic, the bank conducted an assessment of work habits, workplaces, and workforce technology tools.

According to the statement, nearly 60% of bank jobs were found to be suitable for working remotely, whether from home or from a location other than the employee's allocated work location.

UOB Malaysia's new remote work alternatives, it claimed, are in line with larger community attitude, with 90 percent of Malaysians expecting some type of flexible work arrangement to become more popular in the post-pandemic future.

Lai Tak Ming, executive director and country head of human resources at UOB Malaysia, said the epidemic has changed the way people work in the future and that the definition of a "workplace" has been rethought.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has forced firms to undertake a fundamental change from a traditional workplace model to almost entirely remote working," he added, upending how businesses and employees operate.

"Now that the economy is reopening and the country is transitioning into the endemic phase of Covid-19, we believe that the future work environment will be a hybrid work model," he said, adding that the bank's flexible working arrangements will give its employees more autonomy in how and where they work.

During the peak of Covid-19, UOB Malaysia gathered input from its employees on the issues of having their homes turned into offices, and discovered that 85 percent of them reported being equally successful when working from home, while 15% claimed they experienced stress-inducing challenges.