A workplace expert says gone are the days of the extreme ‘hustle culture’ often found in Southeast Asian workplaces, where professionals can feel trapped by relentless expectations of workload, long office hours, and climbing rigid corporate ladders.
Lily Yong, a seasoned Accountant and Intuit QuickBooks ProAdvisor, speaks about the changing dynamic of work culture among Filipino office workers and shares advice on ways professionals and employers can start prioritizing wellbeing without sacrificing career growth.
“Work-life balance is no longer a ‘nice to have’ but a necessity to keep our talents and sustain businesses. As more young professionals enter the workforce, companies that don’t adapt to this change will find it challenging to attract new talent and risk losing their best employees,” shares Lily.
Young professionals are now challenging outdated work norms and responsibilities.
“Gen Zs in the workforce are now far more vocal about setting boundaries when it comes to their work-life balance, settling for flexibility and purpose-driven work,” Lily explains.
“Young professionals are more likely to challenge outdated norms and are unafraid to change jobs if their requests are not met.
“Millennials, on the other hand, having grown up in a more hustle-centric era, are slowly learning to adapt similar attitudes but with more caution. Older generations oftentimes carry more guilt and are afraid to set these boundaries, but are learning to find the balance.”
‘Hustle culture’ often values presence over productivity.
“There’s been an unspoken expectation to be constantly ‘on demand’ and available,” says Lily.
“Whether it’s answering calls, messages, and emails after work hours, working through the weekends, or equating long hours with hard work in the name of meeting deadlines.”
“In modern workplaces, especially in remote working, the ‘on-demand’ culture now compensates for the lack of physical presence in the office.”
Why ‘hustle culture’ still remains a strong part of work life among Southeast Asian professionals.
“Culturally, many Southeast Asians, particularly Filipinos, are raised with strong values and beliefs such as hard work and self-sacrifice for career and financial success. In our culture, hard work is measured by long work hours instead of productivity and effectiveness”.
This is even more evident in sectors like finance and technology, where corporate environments are often fast-paced and demand high performance from their employees.
Prolonged work-life imbalance will only lead to consequential health impacts.
It’s important to set boundaries and find a clear balance between your work and personal life.
“Allowing the hustle culture to take control over your work life can result in burnout, chronic fatigue, and anxiety. Not only that, but it can also impact and strain relationships, causing emotional exhaustion,” says Lily.
Setting boundaries doesn’t need to be a drastic change. Start small by taking time off to rest, scheduling breaks throughout the work day, asking for flexibility or workload adjustments when needed, to learning how to say ‘no’ to outside work hours and unreasonable timelines.
”Professionals who manage their work-life balance well tend to be more productive, creative, and resilient.”
Managements must focus on rewarding productivity and results versus attendance and hours worked.
“Employees and leaders within organizations are responsible for setting policies and walking the talk. Focus on rewarding productivity and results, instead of attendance or hours worked,” explains Lily.
“In fact, the process starts from negotiating achievable results and timeline with customers and stakeholders without compromising people and internal resources in delivery.
“In an effort to retain talent, we are seeing more organisations offer support for their employees, such as mental health resources and encouraging time off.”