78% of Finance Executives In S'pore Work Extra

Today our secondary life is money, it make the world go round and that means the global financial service industry that handles it never goes to sleep.For those in the industry, it means extra hours at work and doing shifts. Also, one has to be contactable at all times and has to put up with disrupted sleep, weekends and vacation.

e Financial Careers, a job portal for financial services professionals, has pinpointed the extent of the overtime and disruptions in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

In a poll of 1,738 bankers and finance professionals in Singapore last month, it found that 78 per cent of those employed in the industry here work "over and above their contracted hours". The figures are 90 per cent for Hong Kong and 77 per cent for Australia.

"A large percentage does so to co-ordinate with offices overseas, meaning regular early mornings and late nights," eFinancialCareers says in a press release. Two in five of the professionals in Singapore put in overtime hours three or more times a week just to coordinate with the overseas offices, which involves mostly conference calls. About 30 per cent of them chalk up 51 to 60 working hours a week and 11 per cent over 60 hours. In Hongkong, seven in 10 professionals work over 46 hours weekly. In Australia, it's 50 per cent. "Even when they are not in the office, 43 per cent of the (Singapore) professionals in financial services are contactable at all times of the day and night, and during their weekends and holidays," eFinancial Careers says. 

"Over a third (37 per cent) has been woken up during the night by a phone call from a colleague or client, two thirds (64 per cent) have had their annual leave disrupted by work and over three quarters (78 per cent) have had their weekends disrupted by work," it adds. The respective percentages for Hong Kong are 35 per cent, 69 per cent and 80 per cent. For Australia, 54 per cent had their vacations disrupted and 69 per cent, their weekends. "Financial services is a truly global industry and many organisations are now operating around the clock," says George McFerran, eFinancialCareers' managing director for the Asia-Pacific region. "In a hub like Singapore, from where business is being done all over the world, it's important to co-ordinate with colleagues overseas." According to the eFinancialCareers poll in Singapore, 25 per cent of the professionals here are working shifts, compared with 28 per cent in Hong Kong.