How to be more productive in Singapore? Cut down on meetings, automate, and maybe… use AI
ON HIS campaign trail, then-presidential candidate Tharman Shanmugaratnam discussed the possibility of embracing shorter work weeks and more flexible working models for Singaporeans.
He suggested that embracing flexible work more holistically could help address the most pressing social issues faced by our society – including caregiving for the elderly, and raising children while balancing work commitments.
At the same time, he said these changes should not come at the expense of productivity – as this would make the economy “suffer” – calling instead for “more efficient systems at work”.
Our recent State of Work report suggests that Singaporean workers are largely aligned with the president’s suggestion for more flexible work. In fact, more than half (54 per cent) say flexible work schedules are one of the best ways for their employers to support their productivity.
The age-old conundrum between embracing flexibility while maintaining business productivity is particularly pertinent for a country grappling with a declining birth rate and an ageing population. More recently, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in workplaces has also breathed new life into this topic, given AI’s immense potential to reshape productivity.
What’s holding workers back from being more productive?
For starters, presenteeism and optics appear to be a hurdle to productivity. In Singapore, desk workers say they spend an average of 36 per cent of their time on “performative work” – tasks that don’t contribute to company and team goals.
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Singaporeans also seem to be sitting in too many meetings, with 44 per cent of the survey’s Singapore respondents saying they spend too much time in meetings and on responding to e-mail.
In fact, Singaporeans believe that one in two meetings can be done away with, without affecting business outcomes. Approximately half of all workers surveyed also believe many meetings aren’t aligned with their work deliverables, and think these hinder rather than help productivity.
Rethinking productivity by embracing AI and automation
Nevertheless, the glass is half full. There is tremendous potential for us to leverage AI and automation to streamline and optimise repetitive, time-consuming tasks, and allow employees to focus on higher-value, strategic work.
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Employees appear to be very receptive to automation – 81 per cent say that being able to automate routine tasks, such as getting expense report approvals, would improve their productivity; those who have adopted AI at their companies are 63 per cent more likely to report higher levels of productivity than those who have not.
The numbers add up – over weeks and months, simple automations will amount to substantial productivity gains. Among those surveyed, automation at work has helped bring time savings of an average of 3.6 hours a week, translating to a minimum of one working month a year given back to each employee. Time that can be better spent with family and friends, in my view.
Beyond the adoption of AI and automation, embracing alternatives to traditional modes of collaboration will go a long way in addressing some of the productivity drains Singapore businesses face.
Take asynchronous work, for instance, when work happens for different people on their own time. While only 18 per cent of employees said their companies practise asynchronous work, e-commerce player ShopBack has reported savings of 20 minutes to 45 minutes a day just by replacing standup meetings with asynchronous methods on Slack – such as pre-recorded briefs from managers that teams can view in their own time.
By embracing asynchronous work, employees can fulfil important personal obligations that might fall within the workday – such as caregiving for elderly family members – without compromising on their work output.
Bridging the trust gap: The final piece of the puzzle
Despite the openness and optimism employees have towards embracing AI, there appears to be a disconnect with the current level of adoption by employers.
As it stands, only 35 per cent of local companies have integrated AI tools for productivity. Still, Singapore businesses rank second globally on this front, suggesting the universality of this issue.
Based on my conversations with business leaders on the ground, this modest adoption rate is likely due to what we term the “AI trust gap”. Businesses are wary of using public large language models (LLMs), concerned that their data might be used as training material, which in turn exposes sensitive corporate information and other ethical concerns.
To tackle this, businesses can ensure their solution providers have adequate guardrails in place. Our parent Salesforce has AI tools that include what we call an Einstein Trust Layer, which ensures that user data isn’t stored within extensive language models and tailors outputs to be consistent with the specific data and tonality of a company, thus reducing potential missteps and enhancing accuracy.
Dynamic grounding, which steers an LLM’s answers using the most up-to-date information, is another key safeguard that prevents AI hallucinations or incorrect responses. Toxicity detection, which scans and scores the answer an LLM provides for hate speech and negative stereotypes, helps improve privacy and safety. Salesforce also has a guide to using AI in a trustworthy manner.
Productive companies lead to a happier society
President Tharman’s vision for flexible work dovetails with the aspirations of the majority of Singaporean employees, who believe engagement boosts productivity. As our State of Work findings suggest, there are clear inefficiencies in current processes. By using AI to improve these, businesses can boost productivity, even with fewer working hours.
Yet, the true measure of productivity extends beyond economic metrics. By harnessing AI and innovative collaboration, we can create work environments that are simpler, more pleasant and more productive.
The writer is an APAC technology evangelist at Slack
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