Flexible Working Arrangements and Millennials During COVID-19:Work Better Leads to Feel Better?

Abstract

Malaysian millennials are reported to be struggling with stress and well-being issues at the workplace during the last decade. Drawing from the Self-Determination Theory, this study examines whether flexible working arrangements (FWAs) could impact millennials' mental health, well-being and productivity at the workplace. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 400 millennials in the services sector during the COVID-19 period. Findings revealed that FWAs influenced millennials' mental health, well-being, and productivity as millennials value job autonomy and a friendly work ecosystem as an ideal workplace. This sees a compelling case for Malaysian businesses to adopt FWAs in a more structured way in line with Sustainable Development Goal -3. Keywords: Flexible working arrangements; mental health; well-being; millennials; productivity;  SDG 3 eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under the responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians), and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i21.3729