In some parts of Singapore’s professional culture, stress is worn with pride. The colleague who mentions they haven’t taken a proper holiday in two years. The team that works through weekends as a matter of course. The manager who replies to emails at midnight as proof of dedication.
This is not unique to Singapore, but it is common here. Chronic stress is not a sign of commitment. It is a health risk, and treating it as a measure of professional worth is a costly mistake for any organisation.
How busyness became a status symbol
When long hours are praised and visible effort is rewarded, people learn that being stretched is what good employees look like. Over time, rest starts to look like a lack of ambition, and saying no feels risky. Few people choose this. They absorb it from what gets noticed and promoted.
What it costs
Sustained stress without recovery wears down sleep, immunity, concentration and mood. For organisations, the cost appears as poorer decisions, more mistakes, burnout and people leaving. The body does not distinguish between a real threat and a packed calendar. It simply stays switched on.
Recovery is part of performance
A common mistake is to endure stress all week and expect to recover at the weekend. Alertness rises and falls in cycles through the day, so the brain needs recovery during the day, not only at the end of it. Short breaks that are a real pause from mental effort, not a switch from one screen to another, help people stay effective.
What leaders can change
Culture follows what leaders do. Leaders can:
- Model it: leave on time, take leave and protect their own recovery
- Reward outcomes, not hours: praise good work, not visible busyness
- Talk about stress honestly, rather than wearing it as a trophy
- Notice who never stops, and check in rather than praise it
Changing Singapore’s relationship with stress means moving from valuing busyness to valuing effectiveness, and from treating rest as laziness to treating it as part of how good work gets done.
Our Chronic Stress and Burnout course gives people practical tools to manage unavoidable stress before it becomes chronic.
