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APAC cities with the highest employee burnout

Today's 'always-on' culture sees burnout becoming a more popular phenomenon. According to a new study by Savvy Sleeper, Tokyo, Mumbai, and Seoul were the top three cities with the highest level of workplace burnout, globally and in APAC.

Jakarta came in fifth in APAC and sixth globally, Kuala Lumpur was ranked ninth in APAC and 13th globally, while Bangkok came in 14th out of the 15 APAC cities included in the ranking (24th globally).

To put together the findings, the sleep research site reviewed data from seven reputable sources - including the International Labour Organization, the Global Employee Engagement Index, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in addition to over 340,000 employee reviews on Glassdoor to rank global cities by their burnout potential.

The data points reviewed included:

  1. Amount of stressed employee reviews
  2. Employee presenteeism
  3. Lack of motivation at work
  4. Annual work hours
  5. Vacation time
  6. Population working more than 48 hours
  7. Mental health disorder and substance abuse prevalence
  8. Population sleeping less than 7 hours
  9. Time spent in traffic from work
A total of 69 cities from 53 countries (including Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam) were analysed.

APAC cities with the highest employee burnout

1. Tokyo, Japan (1st globally)2. Mumbai, India (2nd globally)3. Seoul, South Korea (3rd globally)4. Manila, Philippines (5th globally)5. Jakarta, Indonesia (6th globally)6. Hanoi, Vietnam (7th globally)7. Taipei, Taiwan (8th globally)8. Sydney, Australia (11th globally)9. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (13th globally)10. Beijing, China (16th globally)11. Auckland, New Zealand (19th globally)12. Hong Kong, Hong Kong (21st globally)13. Shanghai, China (22nd globally)14. Bangkok, Thailand (24th globally)15. New Delhi, India (28th globally)

The research suggested an extreme lack of employee motivation at work in Tokyo, Japan. The city also topped the list employee presenteeism as well as having a high lack of sleep, as 54.5% of people in Tokyo get less than the recommended 7 hours.

Mumbai, India was ranked second as the city demonstrated the longest working hours in the study. The vast amount of time workers find themselves stuck in traffic to and from work also lengthened their working day considerably.

Seoul, South Korea ranked third worst in part because the city offers limited vacation with just 14.2 days. Furthermore, 52% of the population sleep less than the recommended seven hours.

Jakarta, Indonesia earned it's place having stood out in four key areas: having one of the longest working hours, the least amount of vacation time, one of the largest population working more than 48 hours, and spending the longest time in traffic from work.

Factors that helped Bangkok, Thailand earn its place were, having one of the least amount of vacation time, one of the largest population working more than 48 hours, and spending the longest time in traffic from work.

While Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia stood out with having one of the largest population sleeping less than the recommended seven hours, and high levels of employee presenteeism.

Photo / iStock

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