KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia has emerged as the second worst country in the world for work-life balance among the top 60 GDP nations. This ranking comes from Remote, a human resource company renowned for linking employers with international talent.

Malaysia landed in the 59th spot on the Global Life-Work Balance Index, with a low score of 27.51 out of 100, just ahead of Nigeria, which scored 17.03. Meanwhile, other Asian countries such as Taiwan and Singapore fared better, at numbers 16 and 19, respectively.

“Employees in Mexico, Malaysia, and Nigeria are the most overworked, each clocking up over 40 hours on average each week, including full- and part-time workers,” researchers from Remote said.

In terms of minimum wage, Malaysia has among the lowest at US$1.07 per hour compared to other high GDP countries in the study. However, employees are covered by universal government-funded healthcare benefits.

On a scale of 10, in terms of workers’ happiness, Malaysia scored 5.71. It is also among the worst in the world for LGBTQ+ inclusivity with a score of 15 out of 100.

Overall, New Zealand topped the list of the best countries for life-work balance, scoring 79.35 out of 100.

Among the benefits that NZ workers enjoy are 26 weeks of paid maternity leave, with a supporting income of US$177 per week, and at least 80% coverage of their pay if they are on sick leave. The government also funds the universal healthcare system.

NZ workers scored 7.2 out of 10 on the happiness index.

Included in the list of the top 10 countries for life-work balance are:

• New Zealand
• Spain
• France
• Australia
• Denmark
• Norway
• Netherlands
• United Kingdom
• Canada
• Brazil

Read More: Are Malaysia bosses missing the point of return-to-office mandates?

Life-work balance vs work-life balance

“You’ll typically see it written the other way round (as 'work-life balance'), but we consider this a miscalculation – the attitude should be life first, work second. That’s why we coined a more applicable phrase, life-work balance,” the researchers said.

“The goal of this study is to represent each country’s life-work balance accurately, reimagining the popular phrase ‘work-life balance’ to showcase how businesses in each country are looking to put life before work.”

The index, whose data was collated in March 2023, evaluated nine critical factors:

• Statutory annual leave days
• Minimum statutory sick pay
• Statutory maternity leave days
• Percentage of wage for statutory maternity leave
• Minimum wage
• Healthcare quality
• Happiness index
• Average weekly working hours
• LGBTQ+ inclusivity

Read More: Global burnout crisis: Nearly half of workers affected, says BCG

Better flexible work policies

While Malaysia is yet to rank high on Remote's global index, the country has made great strides when it comes to advancing flexible work schemes and reinforcing the rights of workers who don't necessarily fall within traditional employment categories.

Flexible work, which is among the elements of good life and work harmony, has been gaining traction in Malaysia. Since September 2022, workers in the country have had the special mechanism to request flexible work arrangements from employers. Malaysia was among the first countries – if not indeed the first – in Southeast Asia to introduce the FWA request system.

Workers in Malaysia are also known for preferring flexible work to office-based work. A recent study from Randstad showed 39% of Malaysians would rather quit their job than be forced to work in the office on a full-time basis.