ADA, an advertising agency released insights on the behaviour of office workers across the region. Specifically in Malaysia, the company has identified that at least 5% of office staff are gaming an average of 2-hours daily while at work. This totals up to about 8000 hours spent gaming per day per building in Malaysia.
One thing that they did mention is that this doesn’t necessarily mean employees are being unproductive, but it shows how office employees are hooked to their mobile games, and leave it on for the day. Considering that many of these games have idle mechanics, that work without you paying attention, I believe it.
“If you take 5% of the Malaysian working population, that’s approximately close to a million Malaysians. From a time standpoint, that is a staggering 2 million work-hours per day spent on gaming. As marketers, this acts as a valuable insight for our clients since it helps determine where and when they should place their advertisements for maximum exposure,” said Anurag Gupta, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Agency, ADA.
But don’y worry my Malaysian brethren, we’re not the only ones. In the region, statistics show that approximately 3 out of 5 people are gaming during office hours in Singapore. In Indonesia and Thailand, office works spent a staggering amount of 9632 and 2112 hours in total, respectively, gaming during work hours. However keep in mind that the data collected is not a generalisation of the region’s working population but based on buildings around the region that had a geofence setup.
“Our behavioural insights not only help us to understand where clients should focus their advertising efforts but also where to position their products and services towards this community. Again, while we emphasise that the data does not confirm that employees use games as a form of escapism from work, it might indicate high stress levels. This means they may respond positively towards travel or holiday advertisements or other relevant stress
remedies,” adds Gupta.
The truth is, we’re all stressed, and we might or might not be using games as a means to lessen it. But it’s not really proven, is it? But one thing I do know is, just because you’re gaming at work, doesn’t mean you’re not getting the work done. It is possible to be productive, and still take breaks.
We’re not robots to do a single task continuously without any respite. It’s sad that some people still have that mentality but it is what it is.
