Asian Companies Eager to Call Workers Back to the Office

Asia's workforces are growing restless as much of the continent tries to shake off Covid-19 precautions and get back to business as usual.

After more than two years of widespread remote work, recent research demonstrates that Asian businesses are more eager than their Western counterparts to open offices and hire staff on a full-time basis. However, many employers encounter resistance or reluctance. According to studies, some employees do not feel "connected" to their companies and are, therefore, more likely to leave.

 

Reevaluate your priorities

According to experts, employers may need to reevaluate their priorities and those of their employees.

Samir Bedi, workforce advisory leader for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region at professional services firm EY, said that flexibility has become the new standard requirement. 

He added that employers must reevaluate their employee value proposition to address the key workforce concerns of today, particularly around competitive compensation and career growth opportunities.

In Southeast Asia, 45% of respondents to a survey by EY published in July said they would quit their jobs within the next 12 months. According to EY, this was primarily due to:

• People's desire for better pay, career opportunities, and more flexibility in the face of rising inflation, 

• A contracting labour market, and 

• An increase in jobs offering flexible work. 

Over 1,500 business executives and more than 17,000 workers from 22 countries were included in the survey.

 

Back to the office

However, many Asian businesses seem determined to compel employees back into the workplace. When US real estate services company CBRE polled 150 Asia-Pacific enterprises earlier this year, nearly 40% of respondents said they expected staff members to work exclusively on-site, up from 26% in 2021. 

This was in stark contrast to findings from the US, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, where only 5% or less of respondents expected employees to be in the office full-time.

A human resources officer for the health services provider Cigna International Markets, Michelle Leung, emphasised the pandemic's profound effects on the labour market.

The Great Resignation, which saw resignations reach an all-time high globally, was one of the biggest trends of 2021, according to Leung. 'The Great Reshuffle,' on the other hand, refers to many workers reorganising their careers and concentrating on jobs that best suit their individual needs.

Leung stated that it is clear that many factors are driving general dissatisfaction and restlessness. She went on to say that businesses must "keep up with new employee expectations and adopt a more holistic approach to the types of benefits they provide."

 

Expats are affected, too

According to Cigna's research, expatriates are not immune to the discontent and unease sweeping the Asian workforce.

Its nearly 12,000-person well-being survey conducted in China, Japan, Singapore, India, and Australia found that expat stress had hit an all-time high. Almost all respondents experience symptoms of burnout and reevaluate their life and work priorities to have more flexibility or be nearer to their family and friends.

The study, released in June, revealed that most expats who worked in Europe and Australia were confident that they would stay abroad. In Asia, however, only 5% of people in India and 16% in mainland China expressed confidence in staying put.

 

3 out of 5 workers don't feel strongly connected to their colleagues and employers

The consulting firm Accenture published another alarming statistic for employers in May. Less than 40% of respondents felt strongly connected to their coworkers and employers in Singapore, India, China, and Japan, according to the company's survey of about 5,000 workers and 1,000 top executives across several nations.

One might assume that pandemic disruptions and months or years of remote work were to blame for this. But a closer look at the data reveals that, in contrast to their peers who worked remotely or in a hybrid environment, those who worked on-site felt the least connected.

"The commonly held assumption is that on-site location equals connectedness. It is not necessarily true," Anoop Sagoo, Accenture's chief operating officer for growth markets, said.

 

 

The survey revealed that many workers do not feel their needs are being met, although organisations may believe that an office environment fosters creativity and innovation due to face-to-face interactions.

He added, "Feeling ignored by leadership and senior management is one of the reasons why so many employees, especially those in the office full-time, are disconnected.

Source: Nikkei