Impact of COVID-19 on Singapore human resource practices

Figures & data

Figure 1. Conceptual framework for the study on the impact of COVID-19 on Singapore Human Resource Practices.

Table 1. Reliability statistics.

Questions	Cronbach α	Number of items
Challenges and difficulties faced by working employees during COVID-19 in Singapore	0.72	10
Employees’ remote work experiences and effectiveness during COVID-19	0.71	5
Employees’ communication experiences and effectiveness during COVID-19	0.81	10
Reliability score for all the above questions	0.83	25

Source: Computed for this study.

Table 2. Demographic characteristics.

Variables		N	%
Age	18–30 years old	20	19.61
	31–45 years old	57	55.88
	46–55 years old	22	21.57
	56 years old and above	3	2.94
Gender	Male	42	41.2
	Female	60	58.8
Academic Level	Secondary and below	4	3.92
	Tertiary Certificates	16	15.69
	Bachelor’s Degree	55	53.92
	Master’s Degree	27	26.47
Marital Status	Single	38	37.25
	Married	58	56.86
	Other	6	5.88
Position	Top Management	14	13.73
	Management	32	31.37
	Executive	34	33.33
	Supervisor / Team leaders	9	8.82
	General Worker	13	12.75
Total		102	100

(Source: Computed).

Table 3. Descriptive statistics for challenges during COVID-19.

Challenges	Most challenging	Least challenging	Mean
Financial crisis	1	5	3.12
Work stress	1	5	2.66
Family issues	1	5	3.26
Physical health	1	5	3.30
Mental health	1	5	2.96

(Source: Computed).

Note: 1 = most challenging, 5 = least challenging.

Table 4. The impact of COVID-19 on you or your family.

Extent that COVID-19 has affected the employee and their family	Number of participants
Very large extent	6
Large extent	31
Moderate extent	45
Small extent	17
No effect	3

(Source: Computed) .

Table 5. Descriptive statistics for the impact of employee benefits during COVID-19.

Impacts	Mean
Reduction of salary	0.31
Impose leave application	0.43
Relocation	0.14
Withdrawal of allowances	0.15
Others	0.28

(Source: Computed) .

Table 6. Descriptive statistics on employee crisis resources amid COVID-19.

Resources	Most helpful	Least helpful	Mean
Government	1	5	2.64
Employer	1	5	2.63
Community	1	5	3.25
Family	1	5	2.54
Friends	1	5	2.98

(Source: Computed).

Note: 1 = most helpful, 5 = least helpful.

Table 7. Test Statistics for Remote Work Practices during COVID-19.

Test statistics for remote work practices during COVID-19	Did you work from home during COVID-19?
Fully working from home	70.59%
Partially working from home	23.53%
Not working from home	5.88%
Chi-square	68.471
df	2
Asymp. Sig.	.000

^a0 cells (.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5. The minimum expected cell frequency is 34.0.

(Source: Computed).

Table 8. Paired Samples Correlations for working hours before and during COVID-19.

Correlations for working hours before and during COVID-19		Sample size	Correlation	Sig
Pair 1	What were your actual average working hours per day before COVID-19? What are your average daily working hours while working from home during COVID-19?	102	.652	.000

(Source: Computed).

Table 9. Paired Samples Statistics for working hours before and during COVID-19.

Paired Samples Statistics for working hours before and during COVID-19		Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean
Pair 1	What were your actual average working hours per day before COVID-19? <and>	9.0544	1.35632	.13430
	What are your average working hours per day while working from home during COVID-19?	9.9064	2.88176	.28534

(Source: Computed).

Table 10. Paired Samples Test for working hours before and during COVID-19.

Paired Samples Test for working hours before and during COVID-19		Paired Differences					t	df	Sig. (2-tailed)
		Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
					Lower	Upper
Pair 1	Q1 and Q2	−.85196	2.24661	.22245	−1.29324	−.41068	−3.830	101	.000

(Source: Computed).

Note:

Q1: What were your actual average working hours per day before COVID-19?.

Q2: What are your average daily working hours while working from home during COVID-19?.

Table 11. Descriptive Statistics for Challenges Faced While Work from Home.

Challenges faced while work from home	Most challenging	Least challenging	Mean
Longer working hours	1	5	2.63
Conflict with family members	1	5	3.63
Physical health	1	5	3.14
Mental health	1	5	2.88
Lack of communication with manager/colleagues	1	5	2.91

(Source: Computed).

Table 12. Chi-Square Tests for Remote Work Effectiveness Vs. Gender.

Remote work effectiveness Vs. Gender	Value	df	Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)	Exact Sig. (2-sided)	Exact Sig. (1-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square	6.874	1	.009
Continuity Corrections	5.853	1	.016
Likelihood Ratio	6.914	1	.009
Fisher’s Exact Test				.015	.008
Linear-by-Linear Association	6.806	1	.009
N of Valid Cases	102

^a0 cells (.0%) have an expected count of less than 5. The minimum expected count is 18.53.

^bComputed only for a 2 × 2 table.

(Source: Computed).

Table 13. Remote work effectiveness Vs. gender.

Remote work effectiveness (Number of employees)	Gender
	Male	Female
More effective	17	40
Less effective	25	20

(Source: Computed).

Table 14. Chi-square tests for remote work choice Vs. Gender.

Remote work choice vs. gender	Value	df	Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square	7.651	2	.022
Likelihood Ratio	8.039	2	.018
Linear-by-Linear Association	2.056	1	.152
N of Valid Cases	102

^a0 cells (.0%) have an expected count of less than 5. The minimum expected count is 10.29. .

(Source: Computed).

Table 15. Remote work choice Vs. Gender.

Remote work choice (Number of employees)	Gender
	Male	Female
Work from home	5	20
Work in office	18	14
Partially work from home	19	26

(Source: Computed).

Table 16. Effectiveness of communication while working from home.

Effectiveness of communication while working from home	Percentage of participants
Very effective	20.59%
Effective	28.43%
Moderately effective	34.31%
Less effective	13.73%
Not effective	2.94%

(Source: Computed) .

Table 17. Descriptive statistics for communication channels while work from home.

Communication channels while Work from Home	Use most often	Use least often	Mean
Email	1	5	2.14
Message (e.g. WhatsApp)	1	5	2.13
Tele-conversation	1	5	2.85
Online meeting	1	5	2.68
Others	1	5	3.79

(Source: Computed).

Table 18. Descriptive statistics for communication information update by organisations.

Communication information update	Most important	Least important	Mean
Government advisory	1	5	2.19
Number of COVID-19 cases in Singapore and worldwide	1	5	2.95
Safety tips	1	5	2.56
Tips to help physical and mental health	1	5	2.60
Tips to improve remote work efficiency	1	5	2.70

(Source: Computed).

Table 19. Correlations between challenges that employees faced during COVID-19.

Correlations between Challenges that Employees faced during COVID-19		Financial crisis	Work stress	Family issues	Physical health	Mental health
Financial crisis	Pearson Correlation	1	.412**	.076	.052	.173
	Sig. (2-tailed)		.000	.449	.605	.081
	N	102	102	102	102	102
Work stress	Pearson Correlation	.412**	1	.223*	.119	.364**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.000		.024	.232	.000
	N	102	102	102	102	102
Family issues	Pearson Correlation	.076	.223*	1	.317**	.325**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.449	.024		.001	.001
	N	102	102	102	102	102
Physical health	Pearson Correlation	.052	.119	.317**	1	0.588**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.605	.232	.001		.000
	N	102	102	102	102	102
Mental health	Pearson Correlation	.173	.364**	.325**	.588**	1
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.081	.000	.001	.000
	N	102	102	102	102	102

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

(Source: Computed).

Table 20. Correlations of Communication between Employer and Employee during COVID-19.

Correlations of communication between employer and employee during COVID-19		Government advisory	Number of COVID-19 cases in Singapore and worldwide	Safety tips	Tips to help physical and mental health	Tips to improve remote work efficiency
Government advisory	Pearson Correlation	1	0.594**	0.541**	0.386**	0.234*
	Sig. (2-tailed)		.000	.000	.000	.018
	N	102	102	102	102	102
Number of COVID-19 cases in Singapore and worldwide	Pearson Correlation	0.594**	1	0.457**	0.359**	.122
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.000		.000	.000	.221
	N	102	102	102	102	102
Safety tips	Pearson Correlation	0.541**	0.457**	1	0.635**	0.579**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.000	.000		.000	.000
	N	102	102	102	102	102
Tips to help physical and mental health	Pearson Correlation	0.386**	0.359**	0.635**	1	0.688**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.000	.000	.000		.000
	N	102	102	102	102	102
Tips to improve remote work efficiency	Pearson Correlation	0.234*	.122	0.579**	0.688**	1
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.018	.221	.000	.000
	N	102	102	102	102	102

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

(Source: Computed).

Table 21. Test statistics for impact of COVID-19 on employees and family.

	To what extent do you think COVID-19 affects you or your family?
Chi-square	60.745^a
df	4
Asymp. Sig.	0

^a0 cells (.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5. The minimum expected cell frequency is 20.4.

(Source: Computed).

Table 22. Test statistics for impact of COVID-19 on effectiveness of remote work.

	How would you think the effectiveness of working from home compared to working in the office?
Chi-square	1.412^a
df	1
Asymp. Sig.	0.235

^a0 cells (.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5. The minimum expected cell frequency is 51.0.

(Source: Computed).

Table 23. Test statistics for impact of COVID-19 on effectiveness of communication.

	How would you think your communication with your manager/supervisor while working from home?
Chi-square	30.941^a
df	4
Asymp. Sig.	0

^a0 cells (.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5. The minimum expected cell frequency is 20.4. .

(Source: Computed) .

Table 24. Test statistics for the relationship between work effectiveness and communication effectiveness.

		How would you think the effectiveness of working from home compared to working in the office?	How would you think your communication with your manager/supervisor while working from home?
How would you think the effectiveness of working from home compared to working in the office?	Pearson Correlation	1	.552**
	Sig. (2-tailed)		0
	N	102	102
How would you think your communication with your manager/supervisor while working from home?	Pearson Correlation	.552**	1
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0
	N	102	102

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

(Source: Computed).