A recent survey revealed that Asian businesses expecting their employees to spend their working lives working in an office has declined during the Covid-19 pandemic. More than half of companies on the world’s largest continent expected their employees to work fully from the office before the outbreak of the pandemic, Bloomberg cited a survey by the Center for Creative Leadership, a US-based non-profit educational organization. The survey included responses from 2,170 business leaders in 13 Asia Pacific countries.
It found that businesses in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand were the most likely to adopt flexible working, while China, Japan and India were the least receptive. The report found that only seven percent of managers expected their employees to work remotely entirely, compared to less than five percent before the Covid-19 pandemic. When businesses try to eliminate remote work duties, they face resistance from employees. Business leaders said about 34 percent of workers expect to spend more than three-quarters of their time in the office, down from 79 percent. cent before the pandemic.
At least 42 percent of respondents said attracting talent was the second most important reason for adopting a hybrid work model. The number of job applications for remote work profiles on LinkedIn rose from almost zero in January 2020 to more than 20 percent in India and ten percent in Australia in September, Bloomberg reported. Elisa Mallis, executive director and vice president (Asia-Pacific), Center for Creative Leadership, said that employee preferences are more heavily weighted now than ever due to low unemployment. She added that workers are willing to take a 20 percent pay cut for remote roles. Although organizations and some prominent voices have called for a four-day work week, only two percent of business leaders support it for the next five years.
