The survey results of the Malaysia’s Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality 2019 are out and it pretty much confirms what everyone could already guess.

This year, the findings demonstrate that Malaysian employees are overworked, and sleep deprived with 51% of employees suffering from at least one dimension of work-related stress and 53% getting less than 7 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period.

This is the third year that AIA is commissioning the survey, where a record total of 230 organisations of different sizes and sectors across Malaysia participated in the survey, representing a combined workforce of 17,595 employees.

The survey measures the state of overall wellbeing in the workplace and takes stock of employees’ mental and physical health, work engagement, as well as its impact towards workplace productivity.

One of the biggest revelations by the survey is the growing culture of overworking within organisations in Malaysia, which is attributed to several factors across the spectrum of mental wellbeing, clinical health, work environment and sleep.

The 2019 survey findings reveal that mental health problems continue to be on the rise with 22% of employees reporting that they had a lot of financial concerns at present. Additionally, 20% of employees continue to be affected by workplace bullying which overall contribute to their stress at work.

Long hours at the office hunching over computers have also contributed to the culture of overworking, manifesting in clinical health conditions and sleep deprivation. 84% of employees reported at least one or more musculoskeletal conditions while more than half of the respondents indicated that they had less than 7 hours of sleep every day with 14% noting that they had poor or very poor-quality sleep.

Other key findings for Malaysia’s Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality 2019 survey include:

• Organisations lose a total of 73.3 days per employee due to absence and presenteeism (Being at work when unwell), costing each employer RM1.46 million per year
• 98% of employees have an AIA Vitality Age* that is higher than their actual age
• 16% of employees have low or very low levels of engagement at work
• 32% of employees have one or more chronic conditions (kidney conditions, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, stroke or cancer)
• 90% of employees do not eat a balanced diet
• 42% of employees are either overweight or obese
• 45% of organisations do not offer any mental health interventions

*The AIA Vitality Age indicates how healthy a person is relative to their real age: the body may be younger
(healthier) or older (less healthy) than the actual age, depending on the person’s health and lifestyle.