A representative of the Macao Gaming Industry Employees Home association said yesterday that according to its latest survey, 87 percent of the respondents have to work nightshifts, having to cope with more serious problems than non-nightshift workers in terms of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and physical and mental adaptation to work.
The representative made the remarks during a press conference on the association’s premises at Mei Lam Garden Building about the findings of its survey about gaming workers’ mental health.
According to a statement given out by the association during the press conference, the survey was conducted between May and June through an online questionnaire, which collected 1,182 valid responses, and all of the respondents are current gaming industry staff.
Among the employees who work nightshifts, 18.5 percent had been on nightshift for three weeks or more in the past four weeks, and their physical and mental health, leisure and sleep time, as well as their quality of interpersonal relationships were significantly lower than those who had been on nightshift for less than three weeks.
The association suggested that the city’s six integrated resort gaming operators should improve the shift work system of their employees to prevent them from working overnight shifts for long periods of time.
According to the findings, the average time that the respondents spent on physical exercise in the past month was 0.56 hours per day, while 52.4 percent said they did not do exercise every day.
The association suggested making use of the Health Bureau’s (SSM) Healthy Enterprise Programme and the co-hosting of the 15th National Games by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau next year to encourage Macau’s tourism and leisure enterprises to motivate their employees to take part in sports and cultivate the habit of doing sports.
Compared to 2021, when the gaming and tourism industry was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings show that the survey’s results concerning gaming industry employees’ emotional exhaustion at work and their physical and psychological adjustment problems in 2024 are more serious than three years ago, by 12.31 percent and 24.15 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, the findings also show that the indicator of perceived social support is 4.61 percent lower than three years ago, while 13.7 percent of the respondents said they had had suicidal thoughts in the past year.
Representatives of the Macao Gaming Industry Employees Home association look on during yesterday’s press conference about the findings of its recent survey about gaming industry workers’ mental health, on the association’s premises at Mei Lam Garden Building. – Photo: Ginnie Liang
