EWC 661

GROUP 4
FINAL REPORT

MENTAL HEALTH ISSUE AMONG NON-

EXECUTIVE LEVEL IN GOVERNMENT
SECTOR DURING WORK FROM HOME

PREPARED BY:
MOHD FIRDAUS BIN ABDUL WAHAB - 2015270456
NOOR AZZURA BT HUSNI THAMRIN – 2014931237
FARRAH AISYAH BINTI AHMAD FADZIL – 2014232318
NUR ADNIE BT ASA'ARI – 2013796419
NORZALINDA BINTI HAMSAH - 2015623418

PREPARED FOR:
DR. FAUZIAH SAADAH BINTI HAJI ABDUL HALIM
Contents

Abstract ......................................................................................................................... 2
Acknowledgement........................................................................................................ 3
1.0 Introduction......................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Problem Statement .................................................................................. 6
1.2 The Objectives of The Study .................................................................. 7
1.3 The Significance of The Study ............................................................... 7
1.4 Limitations Of the Study ......................................................................... 8
2.0 Previous Studies / Literature Review / A Review of Literature .................... 9
3.0 Methodology ..................................................................................................... 12
3.1 Respondent of the study............................................................................ 12
3.2 Instrument of the study .............................................................................. 12
4.0 Findings and Discussion ................................................................................ 13
5.0 Research Finding ............................................................................................. 17
6.0 Conclusion and recommendation ................................................................. 24
Reference .................................................................................................................... 26
Appendix 1 sample of Questionnaires .................................................................... 27
 Abstract

The aims of study were to identify work from home mental issue among non-
executive in level during Movement Control Order (MCO) in Klang valley. In order to
accomplish the portfolio, quantitative research was used. Fifty-five respondents from
non-executive level in government sector, were chosen randomly to assist in this
survey. This study employed descriptive analysis and presented result in frequency
and percentage. The findings indicate that the main reason to identify the difficulties
the non-executive is having when working from home. Everyone needs to deal mental
health no matter what the circumstances. This step is to give peace and hope that life
should go on even in uncertainty.

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 Acknowledgement

Alhamdulillah, we are most grateful to Allah S.W.T. for the completion of this
portfolio as one of the requirements that need to be accomplished in the course work
assessment for the code (EWC 661) which English for Report Writing.

Special thanks to our family for giving advises and financial support in
completing this study. This dissertation has been prepared with the cooperation and
support of many people. Besides, special thanks to Puan Fauziah Saadah binti Haji
Abdul Halim for her kindness in helping us during the process of completion of this
research. She has given a good service to us such as by giving an enough
information, guidelines and shared many experienced on how her the previous
advisee done their portfolio until successful. There are a lot of challenges that we
had to face such as finding information and data for our project. Through these
problems, we are able manage to become more organized and mature in dealing with
problems that occur during our research.

Lastly, to those who had involved and contributed directly or indirectly to this
dissertation, we are very grateful to them for the effort and initiative that they have
shown in this project until successfully completed our research.

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1.0 Introduction
Work from home has become the new norm to the country since the Covid-19
pandemic outbreak. Malaysia officially started to work from home on 18 March
2020 during the first Movement Control Order (MCO).

During the period working from home, employees have to be more multitasking
rather than being responsible as an employee. The challenges especially to the
working parents that has to be divided to fulfil the needs of office work, home
task and their children. The gap between men and women in their opinion
regarding work from home are likely to be different. Women are more worried
that work from home would make them less productive as an employee. The
reason being is they feel more responsible to take care of their children. There
is also other negative perspective during the pandemic period. For example the
low and middle income earners daily expenses has increase during the
pandemic. In addition, there is minimal percentage the quality and productivity
of life has drop when the work from home has officially commence on March
2020. (United Nations Development Program, 2020)

The impact to the employee has affected their own wellbeing. Normally, in this
new lifestyle they usually gave up their own leisure time, and unable to balance
between family and work, afraid to express if they are able to sustained their
job and resolving problems at works that occurs during online meetings.

According to the researcher, ( Xiao, Y., Becerik-Gerber, B., Lucas, G., & Roll,
S. C.) during the pandemic of Covid 19, employees have the limitation to
communicate with the colleague. Instead seeing in daily working period, they
need to adapt to meet virtually. Moreover, our eyes are more expose to the
screen that leads to the eye tiredness, cramps and other related physical and
eye illnesses. In addition, work from home will lead to other mental health issue
such as stress and anxiety. The imbalance needs to be employee and other
responsibility in the family, people tend to sacrifice their leisure times including
sleeping hours for the reason to fulfil the needs of the task as an employee and
parents. This will cause emotional exhaustion if the work family dilemma
happens in frequent basis

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When the work from home has enforced, the social gathering has forbidden
due to the social distancing and the way break the chains of Covid-19. Virtual
social events are less conducive and there is broad way to communicate. The
communication is more to one-to-one communication. The finding shows that
the virtual communication platform shows the significant outcome that improves
team bonding. (Waizenegger, L., McKenna, B., Cai, W., & Bendz, T. (2020))

According to research findings, working from home during Covid 19 pandemic

for Malaysians employee is highly stress. Fortunately, they moderately feel
disconnected to communicate with colleagues while working from home. The
studies also shows that they tend to have depression that cause by frustration
and the lack of sleep during work from home in the period of pandemic Covid
19 hit in 2020. (Marimuthu, P., & Vasudevan, H. (2020))

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1.1 Problem Statement

Companies and also The Government agency in Malaysia are allowing their
employees to work from home during a pandemic period, the option of working
from home has to be normalised by the employer because of the enforcing from
the government or by the increasing numbers of infection in their workplace.

The pandemic situation experienced now is closely related to mental health

issues. Mental health includes emotional, psychological and social well-being
that influences the way we think, feel and act. These situations help us
determine how to deal with stress, relate to others and make choices. Among
the early sign of mental health are eating or sleeping too much or too little,
pulling away from people and usual activities, having low or no energy, felling
numb or like nothing matters, having unexplained aches and pains, felling
helpless or hopeless and more. Positive mental health allows a person to know
their full potential, find ways to cope with the stresses of life, work conductively
and make a meaningful contribution to those around them (Mentalhealth.gov,
2020).

Good mental health means being able to think, feel and react the way you need
to live life. But if we have negative mental health, you will find the way of
thinking, feeling and acting to be difficult and impossible to resolve. The
following research questions have prompted the researchers to conduct against
work from home mental health issue among non-executive government level
during Movement Control Order:
• What are the difficulties the non-executive government sector are having

when working from home?

• What are the relationship of mental health and work-life balance of non-

executive level in government sector during Movement Control Order?

• Whether the changes in working environment affect the performance

and motivation of non-executive during Movement Control Order?

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1.2 The Objectives of The Study
The purpose of the study is to investigate and determine the factors that affect
mental health issues among non-executive level during MCO. This study
suggests several research objectives to be attained as follows:

a) To Identify the difficulties, the non-executives are having when working

from home;
b) To Identify the relationship of Mental Health and work-life balance of
non-executive level in Klang Valley during MCO; and
c) To Identify whether the changes in working environment will affect the
performance and motivation of non-executives during MCO.

1.3 The Significance of The Study

Ergonomics can facilitate work and ensure the safety and health of workers to
work optimally as well as increase productivity. Issues that usually open the
eyes of society are occupational safety and health involving accidents, injuries
and occupational diseases in the workplace. However, we often overlook that
the risks are the same when we 'bring work home.' Work from Home (WFH)
demands emphasis on safety and health aspects especially on comfort at
workstations including ergonomics, lighting, appropriate temperature, house
hygiene, electrical safety and psychosocial aspects.

Almost all of these aspects have a tendency to be overlooked during WFH. An

aspect that our society often overlooks is psychosocial problems. This may be
because society views stress due to workload as part of the normal that should
not be magnified. Typically, safety and health during WFH are often overlooked
for being too comfortable and reluctant to make changes. Among them is
providing a workspace that is considered temporary or an online meeting on
the couch (without good back support) can result in ergonomic problems. In
addition, there are psychosocial problems when burdened with homework, but
regard it as an unavoidable obligation. The negative effects of ignoring safety
and health aspects when WFH may not be visible in the short term.
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 Employers also need to take into account planning for the physical and mental
well -being of employees, for example by not burdening employees with tasks
that need to be completed in an unrealistic period of time. We are often
accustomed to a workspace that is ‘original can,’ when in fact we need to fix the
familiar and then only get used to the right. It is the responsibility of the
employer to ensure that employees perform their duties in a safe and healthy
situation.

Employers have a responsibility to ensure the mental health of their employees

is balanced because most people spend a third of the day with their jobs.
Employers can provide support through programs such as allowing vacations,
supporting virtual social activities, promoting work-life balance and so on to
keep their employees physically and mentally healthy. They should also create
a healthy working environment and provide counselling services for their
employees to discuss any problems and solve problems or find better ways to
manage them. This will certainly increase employee productivity and reduce
costs associated with absenteeism, compensation and medical claims. There
is also a need to maintain communication between employers and employees
to increase understanding. When employees are stressed or frustrated,
employers need to practice good listening skills.

1.4 Limitations Of the Study

There are several potential limitations in this study. The results from the
questionnaire of the Work from Home Mental Health Issue Among Non-
Executive Level During Movement Control Order might be different if the
workers have several different requirement or culture of work depend on the
what field they are work. Example field of financial, Information Technology,
Administration may have several different work requirement and work load of
work to do at home.

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2.0 Previous Studies / Literature Review / A
Review of Literature
According to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health policy research
organization, 53% of American adults experience their mental health negatively
because of pandemic -related stress. In the UK, the Centre for Mental Health
expects half a million people to experience poor mental health compared to a
normal year, caused by the coronavirus. Restrictions in travel and social life
make us feel isolated and hopeless; those who work from home have new
pressures to deal with; and for key employees, the fear of catching the virus
exacerbates the anxiety. As many employers expect a long -term transition to
long -distance work practices, addressing these mental health issues will be a
major challenge for companies to overcome in the next few years.

His job involves supporting business leaders as they bring mental health and
attention initiatives to the workplace. Since the outbreak began, she has
noticed an increase in anxiety and depression in the workplace. There are three
ways to work from home that is damaging our mental health. First, people seem
to feel more alone without the necessary support, according to Dominique. A
sudden lack of physical contact can cause employees to feel there is no place
to turn when they feel stressed or anxious. It becomes more difficult to form a
strong support network which is very important for good mental health. Then
there is the adjustment to working from home, which can also contribute to an
increase in workload. There is a temptation to work longer hours, and for those
without home office provision there is no connection between home and office
life. Where do you draw the line between working from home and coming home
from work? Third, a new trend of back-to-back virtual meetings is emerging,
which is not possible in a physical office.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic crisis, influence on many
people's mental health and created new barriers for those already suffering
from mental illness and drug use problems. Approximately 4 out of 10 adults in
the United States experienced symptoms of anxiety or depressive illness during
the pandemic, a figure that was up from the previous year. From January to
June 2019, one out of every ten persons experienced these symptoms, up from

9
one out of every ten adults in January. (Nirmita Panchal, FEBRUARY 2021)
Many adults have negative consequences on their mental health and well-being
as a result of anxiety and stress, such as difficulties sleeping (36 percent) or
eating (32 percent), increased alcohol or substance usage (12 percent), and
worsened chronic diseases (12 percent) because of the coronavirus's worry
and stress. As the epidemic worsens, on-going and required public health
actions expose a growing number of people to scenarios that are linked to poor
mental health outcomes, such as segregation and job loss.

A large number of Malaysians admit to having difficulty working from home

during the movement control order (MCO) period, with one of the main reasons
being unstable internet connections. Based on a survey by online consumer
research firm Vase.ai of 1,100 respondents on how Malaysians adapt to
working from home during PKP, it found 35 per cent told that unstable internet
connection is a challenge faced when working from home.

The firm also found that 77 percent of respondents admitted to having difficulty
working from home. Among the other top reasons listed for difficulty working
from home were the challenge of communicating with employees or team
members online (31 percent), and the difficulty of accessing the data they need
from office databases (28 percent). Other reasons cited by them were limited
internet access (27 percent), not having a suitable space to work at home (23
percent), difficulty finding work balance while working from home (23 percent),
interference from family members who being at home (22 percent), having
difficulty keeping track of employees, teammates or co-workers ’progress (17
percent), not being able to focus in an out -of -office environment (16 percent),
and receiving excessive calls and video conferencing (8 percent). "Only 9 per
cent of Malaysians feel more productive to work from home. The main reason
is because they can work according to their personal schedule (49 per cent),
they have the advantage of spending time with their families and getting a job
at the same time (37 per cent) , and because they have a personal workspace
at home (36 percent), ”the firm said of the results of data collected on March
27.

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Mental health issues need to be discussed openly and become issues of equal
importance to physical health care such as heart disease and diabetes. As a
measure to raise awareness among the people on mental health care, the role
of professional practitioners in the field such as counsellors, psychiatrists,
clinical psychologists, social workers should be recognized to improve the
quality of psychological and counselling service delivery. So in this study, we
are going to talk about the importance of looking after your mental health and
wellbeing and at the same time can boost your motivation, also to keep your
work as efficient as at the office while remote working.

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3.0 Methodology
3.1 Respondent of the study

The studied had been conducted among non – executive level within
Klang Valley area. To ensured that we could measure and determined
the accurate number we had decided to emphasize on the government
sector employees. The studied had been used nominal scale to measure
the demographic. The target respondent for this studied was 50
employees with a different experience regarding the duration they had
been working from home and the service duration to the government.

3.2 Instrument of the study

The studied used interval scale that used 4-point range choices from
strongly agreed to strongly disagreed. The instrument design was to
showed the different result have been achieved according to the objective.
the questionnaire was chosen to be the research instrument for collecting
the information from the respondents. This method was more effective
rather than interviewing them face-to-face. This questionnaire was
distributed in the form of Google Docs through social media. questionnaire
that had been distributed would also differentiate between the marital
status, the gender and the length of their employment. There were three
sections in the questionnaire regarding the requirements for achieving the
objectives of this study Due to the pandemic of covid 19 situation
nowadays This studied had been conducted between 12th June 2021 to
26th June 2021.

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4.0 Findings and Discussion

The data executed below is the finding after the questionnaires were distributed to the
non-executive employees in Government sector. The questionnaire was distributed
randomly to the government sector in many departments, The questionnaires has
been distributed between 12th June 2020 to 26th June 2020 between and 55 responds
received. The result gathered from the questionnaires as below:

Marital Status

Figure 1.0

55 Government sector surveyed. 65.5 % or 36 respondent is a married employees

with kids. While married employees without kids and divorced employees with kids is
3 respond each equalling 5.5%. The remaining respondent is single respondent with
23.6% or 13 respondents.

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 Gender

Figure 2.0

From this figure 2.0, 90.9% respondents equalling 50 employees are female and the
9.1% equalling 5 respondents are male employees.

Duration of working from home

Figure 3.0

The total of 55 respond receive from the employees who are currently is working from
home the more than half or 58.2% employees equalling 32 employees are currently
working from home for the duration of 1 to 6 month.21.8% of respond equalling 12

14
employees have been working from home for 6 to 12-month duration, while 20%
equalling 11 employees have been working from home for more than a year. This is
data shown that more of the respondent is currently working from home in 2021
because the government only enforced the Working from home for the government
sector earlier this year in MCO 3.0 after they were allowed to go back to work last year
after MCO 1.0 and MCO 2.0.

Years Of Employment

Figure 4.0

The figure 4.0 above shown the respond receive by the employees regarding the years
of employment. Most of the responded employees at 70.9% or 39 employees have
been working for more than 10 years .10 employees that responded equalling 18.2%
has been with the company for 3 to 5 years. The rest of the employees with 10.9% or
6 respondents are currently working between 6 to 10 years with the company. No
respondent with the years of employment of 1 to 2 years in this study. This means that
the employees who responded is basically a permanent staff and has a lot of
experience and does not need much support and guidance from the superior or the
senior colleague.

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 Overall Experience

Figure 5.0

The study also questions the overall experience working from home, 55 employees
have responded and the result is

1. 6 employees or 10.9% is responded their experience as highly satisfactory.

2. 28 employees or 50.9% has responded that their experience is satisfactory
3. 20 employees or 36.4% has responded their experience as unsatisfactory
4. 1 employee or 1.8% has responded their experience is highly unsatisfactory.

From this data it shown that more than 50% of the employees is satisfied with their
current working condition, moreover 10.9% is highly satisfied. meanwhile more than
20 respondents have unsatisfactory experience and 1 person is highly unsatisfied.

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 5.0 Research Finding
Objective 1
The table 4.1 shows the result of the study to identify the type of difficulties the
non-executives are having when working from home. A few questions were
given and respondents was giving feedback.
Number of Responses
Question Strongly Total of
Strongly Agree Disagree
No.
Agree Disagree Respondents

I understand my company
1. 14 39 0 2 55
‘Working from Home’ policy.

I have adequate
2. communication from my 5 46 2 2 55
teammates and team leaders.
I can reach my teammates
3. and team leaders whenever I 9 42 3 1 55
need them.
I have the trust from my Team
4. leader and organization to 10 41 3 1 55
continue working from home.
I feel supported by my team
5. 6 45 3 1 55
leader and by the organization

I have all the equipment and

remote tools I need to
6. 6 28 17 4 55
complete my work to my usual
ability.

Total 50 241 28 11
Table 5.1

There are six (6) questions to measuring the objective 1 about type of difficulties
to the non-executives when working from home. From the question 1 until
question 5, more than 50 respondents or 90.0% are agree and strongly agree.
It was showed that they are understands with the order and policies working
from home. They are agreed and strongly agree that they can communicate
with their teammates and team leaders include the time that the team leader
and teammates needed. They are also was given the trust and support from

17
team leader and organization to continue work from home. During the
government announced Movement Control Order (MCO) on March 2020, the
government has issued instructions to government employees to work from
home. The government has also issued guidelines for working from home for
the guidance of the Head of Department and the staff involved. The existence
of such guidelines makes it easier for staff to work from home and understand
the policies and role each other. The policy of working from home provides an
opportunity to governments’ servant for protection themselves from covid19
infection and the same time it is support mental health of government servants.

For the question 6, the result showed that 34 responses or 61.8% of the
respondents agree and strongly agree that they have all the equipment and
remote tools to complete work as usual ability. The rest 21 responses or
38.2% of the respondents give feedback that they are disagree and strongly
disagree. They have no support equipment and remote tools to complete
work as usual ability. This is an issue the non-executives are having when
working from home. Equipment’s and tools like computer or laptop with internet
access is very important to complete work at home. In additional, the new
technology application is needed to communicate with team’s leader or teams
work especially need a meeting or discussion from home. Application like
Google Meets and WebEx Meet always used as medium to meet via on-line.
So, the new technologies application is one of the tools that non-executives
from government servants must have knowledge and skills of the use of
technology applications to communicate.

Now our country is in the second phase of recovery. Therefore, the period of
work -from -home instruction is likely to continue for another year or two. Not
all department heads are able to provide all equipment needed to loans to
employees. The financial issues will exist when the workers need to provide
themselves the complete equipment and tools at home to complete work as
usual ability.

So, the result of the question 6 showed us that is the issue or difficulties of the
non-executives are having when working from home which they have no

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 equipment and remote tools that is needed to complete their work as usual
ability and financial issues will arise when they have provided all the
equipment. The issues can make pressure to workers and contribute mental
health issue Among Non-Executive Level during Movement Control Order.

Objective 2
To Identify the relationship of Mental Health and work-life balance of non-
executive level in Klang Valley during MCO.

Number of Responses
Question Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly
No.
Agree Disagree
1 I feel have a good work-life
2 37 15 1
balance
2 I take regular breaks during
6 44 5 0
works
3 I have been able to stick to
work routine or schedule 3 45 7 0
during the day.
4 I have enough time for
10 35 9 1
myself at home.
5 I feel that am over
committing doing office 4 34 16 1
work at home.
Total 25 195 52 3
Table 5.2
Table 4.2 refers to results for relationship of mental health and work-life balance
of nonexecutive level in Klang Valley during MCO for the year 2021.

The only 3.64% strongly agree and 67.27% agree feel have good work-life
balance. While a total of 27.27% disagree and 1.82% strongly disagree there
no have work-life balance. Most of respondents 3.64% strongly agree and
67.27% agree because they were able to divide peaks and troughs while
working. While a total of 27.27% disagree and 1.82% strongly disagree
because they imbalance between work and private life. Thus, the main reason
they are good in mental health and work-life balance is because they are able
to manage themselves from fatigue and stress in life.

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A total of 10.91% choose to strongly agree and 80% agree to choose to take a
break while working. While, there are respondents who feel there is no time to
rest while working that is 9.09%. It seems that the respondents have time to
rest many as 10.91% choose to strongly agree and 80% agree because rest is
important to relieve mental and physical fatigue. However, there are
respondents who feel there is no time to rest while working that is 9.09%
because they could not find time to rest while working. So, respondents are
good at managing time to work and rest in order to get continuous energy to
resume work.

Apparently, that 5.45% strongly agree and 81.82% agree to follow the routine
or work schedule during the day. Meanwhile, there are respondents who do not
agree to be able to follow the routine or work schedule during the day, which is
12.73%. Respondent choose to follow a routine or work schedule during the
day. A majority of 5.45% strongly agree and 81.82% agree as they were able
to compile their work schedules. While 12.73% do not agree to be able to
arrange a work schedule.

A survey of respondents find that they have enough time for themselves at
home that is 18.18% strongly agree and 63.64% agree with the matter. Yet a
total of 16.36% disagree and 1.82% strongly disagree to have enough time for
yourself at home. According to the feedback from respondents, as many as
18.18% strongly agree and 63.64% agree because they get enough time for
themselves while at home. There are also those who disagree that as much as
16.36% and 1.82% strongly disagree because they do not have enough time
for themselves. So, they are actually good at dividing their time to do office
work, helping their kids the online class and being able to manage time for
themselves.

It Seems that as many as 7.27% strongly agree feeling that they are doing too
much office work at home. Also, as many as 61.82% agree with that opinion.
However, there are also respondents who do not agree that matter they are
very commit to doing office work at home which is 29.09% and only 1.82% who
strongly disagree. Respondents fell that they are to commit to doing office work,
which is 7.27% strongly agree and 61.82% agree because they have learned

20
 how to manage office work at home. While as many as 29.09% and only 1.82%
who strongly disagree because they cannot balance office work and homework.
They can find ways to balance office work at home by making the planning of
the important things come first and completing the work in an orderly and
systematic manner.

Objective 3
To identify whether the changes in working environment will affect the
performance and motivation of non-executives during MCO.

Number Of Responses
No Question
Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly
Agree Disagree
1 I feel as productive at home 55 - - -
as
I am at the office

2 I look forward to returning to 15 34 5 1

the office
3 I have a separate and 4 30 16 5
suitable space in my home
for work
4 I am motivated to login to 4 38 12 1
work every morning
5 I feel more motivated when 8 20 25 2
working from home than
working in the office
TOTAL 86 122 58 9
Table 5.3

Table 4.3 refers to results whether the changes in working environment will
affect the performance and motivation of non-executives during MCO. There
are 100% of respondents are strongly agree that they feel as productive at
home as they are at the office. Apparently, all respondents felt very productive
even during this MCO period, requiring them to work from home and the
situation is likely to lead to changes in terms of workspace and environment
that are different compared to working from the office before. Therefore,

21
changes in the work environment are seen to indirectly affect employee’s
productivity and performance during this MCO period.

Meanwhile, as many as 27.3% of respondents strongly agreed feeling impatient

to return to office. As well as the majority of respondents in about 61.8% agreed
on the same thing. A number of 9.1% of the respondents chose not to agree
to return to work in the office and only 1.82% felt strongly disagrees with the
same. This shows that most respondents agree that they are among the
employees who are eager to return to work in the office after the end of the
MCO later. A small number of those who disagree are likely to have minor
problems such as transportation, an unpleasant work environment in the office
or prefer to work from home while carrying out their duties and responsibilities
as a parent.

At the same time, for the survey on whether respondents have a separate and
suitable space in their homes to work, 7.3% of respondents strongly agreed,
while 54.5% of respondents said they agreed with the statement. However,
those who disagreed were in the range of 29% and only 9.1% stated the
position that they strongly disagreed with the statement. From the results of
this survey, found that most respondents agreed that they have a different
space and suitable to be used as a workspace during the MCO period. It is
likely that respondents have more room and have provided the space as work
space because they want a practical environment for them to do office work at
home during the MCO period.

Moreover, as many as 7.3% of the respondents strongly agreed that they felt
highly motivated and enthusiastic to start work in the morning while working
from home. while, a total of 69.1% of respondents chose to agree with the
statement. In the same time, a total of 21.8% of respondents stated that they
disagreed while the remaining 1.82% of respondents chose to strongly
disagree. The results of this survey shown that most respondents agree that
they feel motivated to start their tasks in the morning and it seems like they
have managed to adapt to the new norms of how to work from home during the
MCO period.
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Meanwhile, 14.5% of respondents stated that they strongly agree and another
36.4% stated that they agree with the statement that they feel more motivated
when working from home than working in the office. However, as many as
45.5% of the respondents expressed a stance that they disagreed with and the
remaining 3.64% felt strongly disagree with the same statement. Apparently,
it appears that those who disagreed exceed the percentage of respondents who
agreed with the statement. It is seeming like the respondents show a signal that
they need a support system from the employer so they can work from home
with more enthusiasm just like when they work in the office.

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6.0 Conclusion and recommendation
6.1 Conclusion

Based on the findings, conclusions have been made by respond of every

objective. Basically, totally more than half of respondents was agreed and
strongly agreed with all questions under all 3 objectives. It showed that the non-
executives level in Klang Valley have no seriously in facing difficulties when
having working from home, they have good work-life balance and effect of the
changes working environment they still have good motivation and performance
like usually.

But there are have several questions under those objectives need to be
highlighted because the result showed the percentage responses of disagree
and strongly disagree is around 23.06% to 49.09%. It will become to mental
health issues among the non-executives’ level in Klang Valley if not action to
be taken. Under objective 1, question no. 6 is about requirement of equipment
and remote tools to complete work as usual ability, the total percentage
disagree and strongly disagree is 38.18%. Under objective 2, question no. 1 is
about have a good work-life balance, the total percentage disagree and strongly
disagree is 29.09%. Under objective 3, question no. 3 about has a separate
and suitable space in my home for work, the total percentage disagree and
strongly disagree is 38.18%, question no. 4 about motivated to login to work
every morning, the total percentage disagree and strongly disagree is 23.6%,
question no. 5 about feels more motivated when working from home than
working in the office, the total percentage disagree and strongly disagree is
49.09%. Even though the total percentages of responses disagree and strongly
disagree below 50%, but it is still to need to take action to solve the problem in
order no mental health issues arise during work from home during Movement
Control Order (MCO) among the non-executives’ level in Klang Valley.

In conclusion, from the study and the data collected we can identify the factors
of mental health issue when working from home. Everyone either head
department or staff have to seat down discuss every difficulty happened during
work from home in order work-life is balance in the new norm.

24
6.2 Recommendation

Based on the conclusions, there are several recommendations to solve the

mental health issues that arise when working from home among non-Executive
level for government servant during Movement Control Order (MCO).

Firstly, Government supports to succeed the order of working from home. Head
department give permission to staff to bring back tools like laptop to doing task
at home. Government provide subsidy to government servant who want to buy
equipment and remote tools like computer or laptop, printer and internet to
complete task as usual.

Secondly, we need health work-life balance. Normally, when we work from

home, the environment is different with workplace. So, we need to create and
provide the working space available at home, manage family time and working
time, taking break time and very important to enjoy with work from home. Head
department also should to give task that matching to do at home because the
environment work is different and the task given not making staff pressure and
leader cannot expect the result of working at home is same like working at
workplace. Head department can come out with schedule work from home and
suitable task to do at home.

Lastly, take care our body health with eat healthy food, doing activities like
exercise, getting good night sleep, problem solving with communication with
others and always positive thinking.

25
Reference
UNDP (2020) How we worked from home Findings from the WFH experience in
response to the COVID-19 global health crisis in Malaysia.
https://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/km-qap/UNDP-MYS-How-We-
Worked-from-Home-full-report-2020.pdf

Xiao, Y., Becerik-Gerber, B., Lucas, G., & Roll, S. C. (2021). Impacts of working from
home during COVID-19 pandemic on physical and mental well-being of office
workstation users. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 63(3), 181.
NST Online. 2021. Ugly side unfolding about working from home | New Straits Times.
https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2021/06/698384/ugly-side-unfolding-about-
working-home
Waizenegger, L., McKenna, B., Cai, W., & Bendz, T. (2020). An affordance
perspective of team collaboration and enforced working from home during COVID-
19. European Journal of Information Systems, 29(4), 429-442.
Marimuthu, P., & Vasudevan, H. (2020). The Psychological Impact of Working From
Home During Coronavirus (COVID 19) Pandemic: A Case Study.
World Health Organization (2020). Considerations for public health and social
measures in the workplace in the contect of COVID-19.
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/considerations-for-public-health-and-social-
measures-in-the-workplace-in-the-context-of-covid-19
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-
problems/mental-health-problems-introduction/about-mental-health-problems/
https://www.businessbecause.com/news/insights/7244/working-from-home-mental-
health
https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/20694-survey-shows-many-
remote-workers-concerned-about-their-mental-health
https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/the-implications-of-covid-19-for-
mental-health-and-substance-use/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/onemind/2020/03/17/when-home-becomes-the-
workplace-mental-health-and-remote-work/?sh=c8ca5071760b

26
Appendix 1 sample of Questionnaires
Work From Home Mental Health Issue Among Non-Executive Level During Movement
Control Order

Dear Respondents,

We are E-PJJ students from University of Technology Mara. We are conducting a study on
Work from Home Mental Health Issue Among Non-Executive Level During Movement Control
Order. Please complete this 30-minute survey. Your responses are anonymous. Thank you
for your participation.

Any question regarding this Questionnaire, Kindly contact:

Firdaus: 0106558291

Azzura: 0122768452

Nur Adnie: 0145005735

Farrah: 0172590308

Norzalinda: 0183662529

Instruction:

Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with each of these statements
regarding Working From home (WFH) during lockdown. Place an "X" mark in the box of your
answer.

Q1: Marital status

□ Single

□ Married with no Kids

□ Married with Kids

□ Divorced with Kids

Q2: Gender:

□ Male

□ Female

Q3: How long have you been working from home?

□ 1- 6 Month

□ 6 - 12 Month

□ More than 12 months

27
Q4: Years of employment:

□ 1-2 years

□ 3-5 years

□ 6-10 years

□ more than 10 years

Q5: How would you rate your overall experience Working from home?

□ Highly satisfactory

□ Satisfactory

□ Unsatisfactory

□ Highly Unsatisfactory

Objective I:

To identify the type of difficulties the non-executives are having when working from home.

Strongly Strongly
Agree Disagree
Agree Disagree

1. I understand my company ‘Working

from Home’ policy.

2. I have adequate communication from

my teammates and team leaders

3. I can reach my teammates and team

leaders whenever i need them.

4. I have the trust from my Team leader

and organization to continue working from
home

5. I feel supported by my team leader and

by the organization.

6. I have all the equipment and remote

tools i need to complete my work to my
usual ability

28
Objective II:

To Identify the relationship of Mental Health and work-life balance of non-executive level in
Klang Valley during MCO.

Strongly Strongly
Agree Disagree
Agree Disagree

1. I feel I have a good work-life balance.

2. I take regular breaks during works.

3. I have been able to stick to a work routine or

schedule during the day.

4. I have enough time for myself at home.

5. I feel that I am over committing doing office

work at home

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Objective III:

To Identify whether the changes in working environment will affect the performance and
motivation of non-executives during MCO.

Strongly Strongly
Agree Disagree
Agree Disagree

1. I feel as productive at home as I am at the

office.

2. I look forward to returning to the office.

3 I have a separate and suitable space in my

home for work.

4. I am motivated to login to work every

morning.

5. I feel more motivated when working from

home than working in the office.

30