Work from Home (WFH) remotely: A sweat dream come true?
Being able to Work-From-Home (WFH) or work remotely or telecommuting (whatever you like to call it) is a dream come true for many of us who had harbored such thoughts in the pre-COVID days.
At home, working parents dread having to wake up earlier to prepare breakfast for our children and sending them to school, preferring to laze longer in our beds. Office crowds dread commuting to work in the morning, preferring to spend the time sipping a cup of coffee before the day commences.
At work, we dread having to bump into colleagues with who we are not well acquainted in the lift or pantry, preferring to keep to ourselves instead of being forced to make some small talks. We dread being constantly monitored by colleagues and bosses passing by our workstations, preferring to use some time during work hours for urgent personal errands.
Now, the time has come where dream becomes reality.
Flexible working arrangement: Work From Anywhere, Anytime (WFAA)
Yet, working from home 24/7 becomes a nightmare for people without a conducive working environment at home in Singapore, especially for parents who need to manage boisterous kids or singles who need to workaround conflict of lifestyles among family members.
Some employees are also finding that they work even harder at home than in the office, and feeling even more stressed than those working on the Covid-19 frontline. More importantly, the line between work and life has been blurred with this new mode of work.
Realising this, companies are starting to look into the Work From Anywhere, Anytime (WFAA) arrangement. Under the WFAA arrangement, employees get both temporal flexibility and locational flexibility for work. They can work in the office, at home, or at places outside of the home.
Where are the places I can work outside of home in Singapore
There are tons of places that you can work outside of your house in Singapore. We attempt to compile a non-exhaustive Work from Home (WFH) alternatives list for your reference. This list focuses on places with WiFi and power points where you can utilize for a day, hours or minutes when you need some time away from home.
- Public areas
Free of charge / Purchase a drink or food - Work Booths
Charges by minute: From SGD 5.40 per hour (Minimum SGD 1.00) - Hotels, KTVs, Cinemas and Airport Lounges
Charges by hour or day: From SGD 4.00 per hour / From SGD 25.00++ per day - Co-working Spaces
Charges by minute, hour or day: From SGD 3.00 per hour (Minimum SGD 1.00) / From SGD 20.00 per day
For those who are keen to explore a longer time frame away from home, you may consider these short-term accommodation rental options in Singapore.
1. Public Areas
Numerous public areas equipped with Free WiFi (Wireless@SG) and power plugs are notable hotspots for students to prepare for exams and co-workers to collaborate in Singapore. These include libraries, community clubs, universities, cafés and fast-food restaurants. While most of these places do not charge a fee, places like cafes & fast food outlets expect you to at least make a purchase at their store.
Getting a seat at these places is on a first-come-first-serve basis, and get mentally prepared for slow Internet connectivity or a malfunctioned power socket.
List of free-of-charge places to work outside home
- Public Libraries – Operated by the National Library Board (a government agency) with branches conveniently located all over Singapore.
- Community Clubs – Operated by the People’s Association (a government agency) with branches in all neighbourhoods across Singapore. You may freely make use of tables and benches placed in the walkway or the study rooms in the community centres.
If you stay near the East of Singapore, we recommend you to visit Our Tampines Hub. There are hundreds of seats you could work from! (Tips: those at the basement are air-conditioned).
List of café & fast food restaurants to work outside home
Fast Food Outlet Locations
It is important to note that not all outlets of the brands listed above provide power sockets for you to charge your devices. Some of them are fully equipped with WIFI and power sockets, always research before making a plan.
2.Work Booths
Similar to a Karaoke box and Capsule hotel whereby an enclosed small space is made for singing and resting respectively, a work booth is designed to enable people to work in. The work booth is equipped with power sockets, air ventilation, Bluetooth speakers, and high-speed WIFI, and comes in different sizes that allow one to work alone or collaborate with others. The work booths are placed in malls and office buildings, both in the neighbourhoods and Central Business District, and provide convenience for many office workers who yearn for a private workspace for a short while. There is only one prominent work booth provider in Singapore – Switch. It charges on per-minute basis (with a minimum of SGD 1) and the price starts from SGD 2.40 an hour.
Tips for new users: Two $3 vouchers are given for the first two Switch visits in Singapore. Use promo code Switch2022 when you book through its app.
As of March 2022, it is available in these 31 locations:
- AMK Hub
- Asia Square Tower 2
- Bukit Timah Community Club
- Canberra Plaza
- Capital Tower
- Causeway Point
- Century Square
- Changi City Point
- Coliwoo @ Boon Lay
- Connection One
- Downtown Gallery
- HomeTeamNS Bukit Batok
- Jurong Point
- Kitchener Complex
- Loyang Point
- Mandarin Gallery
- Northpoint City
- Oasis Terrace
- Paya Lebar Quarter
- Rivervale Plaza
- SAFRA Jurong
- SAFRA Mount Faber
- SAFRA Yishun
- SingPost Centre
- Tampines 1
- The Centrepoint
- Tekka Place
- Tiong Bahru Plaza
- Trivelis Residents’ Network
- Waterway Point
- Yew Tee Point
3. Hotels, KTVs, cinemas and airport lounges
Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, many trades are unable to operate in the same way they used to be. Hotels saw a drastic drop in occupancy rate as tourists are unable to enter Singapore, KTVs are not allowed to operate to minimise the spread of the virus through singing, while cinemas could only operate on reduced capacity and food cannot be consumed within its premises.
As such, businesses in these sectors attempted to pivot away from their usual business to generate new revenue streams. Hotels, KTVs and cinemas now offer you an option to work on their premises, packaged with perks from their traditional offerings.
List of hotels you can work from outside home
- Grand Copthorne Waterfront (Outram Park) – From SGD 16++ per day (8am to 6:00pm)
- Intercontinenal (Bugis) – From SGD 18++ per person (11:30am – 5pm, Monday to Friday)
- Mercure Hotel (Bugis) From SGD 25++ per person (up to 8 hours, 8am – 5pm, Tuesday to Friday)
- M Social (Fort Canning) – From SGD 25++ per day (9am to 6pm)
- Furama RiverFront (Outram Park) – From SGD 28 per day (9am to 10:30pm)
- Hotel G (Rocher) – From SGD 130++ per day (7am – 11pm the next day)
- Fairmont (City Hall) – From SGD 165++ per day (8am – 7pm)
- PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering (Chinatown) – From SGD 160++ per day (8am – 7pm)
- Yotel (Somerset) – From SGD 180++ per day (8am – 6pm)
- Crowne Plaza (Changi Airport) – From SGD 180++ per day (8 hours between 7am – 7pm, Monday – Friday)
List of KTVs you can work from outside home
- Teo Heng KTV Studio (Suntec City) –
SGD 5 / hour / room - Teo Heng KTV Studio (Causeway Point) –
SGD 5 / hour / room - Teo Heng KTV Studio (JCube) –
SGD 5 / hour / room - Teo Heng KTV Studio (The Star Vista) –
SGD 5 / hour / room - 7th Heaven KTV & Cafe (SAFRA Tampines) –
SGD 5 / hour / person
List of cinemas you can work from outside home
- Golden Village Gold Class Lounge (Suntec City) – SGD 15 / day (Monday – Friday, 3pm – 7pm)
- Golden Village Gold Class Lounge (VivoCity) – SGD 15 / day (Monday – Friday, 3pm – 7pm)
List of airport lounge you can work from outside home
- Changi Lounge (Jewel Changi Airport) – SGD 15 / 2 hours
4. Coworking Spaces
Working at coworking spaces is popular among start-ups, small companies, digital nomads and freelancers who prefer lease flexibility as well as having a fully equipped and managed office space. One can choose to have a hot desk (which you change on every visit), a dedicated desk (which you use the same desk on every visit), or a private room for your team. Utilities, WIFI, facilities maintenances and cleaning are all managed by the provider. You could also rent the space by days, weeks, months, or years.
Since the onset of the pandemic, coworking space has been widely used by the office workers who like to get out of home once in awhile. We have compiled a list of coworking space providers as well as coworking marketplaces that offer a day pass (or a maximum 5-day a month package) for your reference below:
List of coworking spaces you can work from outside home
- Genius Central (Telok Ayer) – From SGD 18.00++ for 4 hours (Monday – Saturday, 8am-9pm / Sunday – 8am-4pm)
- The Hive Carpenter (Clarke Quay) – SGD 30.00 / day (8am-6.30pm)
- ClubCo (Telok Ayer) – SGD 40.00 / day (Monday – Friday, 9am to 6pm)
- Co. @ Duxton (Outram Park) – SGD 45.00 / day (9am to 6pm)
- The Great Room (One George Street) – SGD 70.00 / day (Monday – Friday, 9am – 6pm)
- The Great Room (Centennial Tower) – SGD 70.00 / day (Monday – Friday, 9am – 6pm)
- The Great Room (Ngee Ann City) – SGD 70.00 / day (Monday – Friday, 9am – 6pm)
- The Great Room (Raffles Arcade) – SGD 70.00 / day (Monday – Friday, 9am – 6pm)
List of coworking marketplaces you can buy a day pass from different providers
Make mental health a priority
For those who are working from home or enjoying flexible working arrangements, we hope the content above is useful for you in shortlisting a place in which you can work from outside the home. All the best and stay safe.
Regardless of working from the office or working from home, companies should incorporate mental health days off in their HR policy to improve employee’s mental well-being.
