Flexible working options and compassionate leadership are top priorities for job seekers in Asia as they look to the new era of work, finds the new Uncovering the DNA of the Future Workplace in Asia report by leading recruitment experts Hays, which surveyed over 9,000 working professionals across Asia in February and again in September 2020. Respondents across Asia have dropped salary and benefit packages as their top priority and are instead looking at employee wellbeing as a definition of not only flexibility, but purpose and connection to their role.

In China, these results are mirrored with the addition of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) as a top priority for professionals when seeking a new employer in the post-pandemic future.

Flexible and diverse

Before the pandemic, when asked what they considered most important when looking for a new employer, the majority of respondents in China (71 per cent) said 'salary or benefit package', followed by 'identifying with company values and culture' (62 per cent) and 'training and development opportunities' (60 per cent). Unsurprisingly, the pandemic created a shift in these priorities, with the majority (81 per cent) saying 'job stability and security' had become more important to them following the outbreak, followed by flexible working options (76 per cent), diversity and inclusion (64 per cent), identifying with company values and culture (63 per cent) and compassionate and engaged management (63 per cent).

While the increase in the importance of job stability and flexible working options is consistent with the Asia average, the rise of D&I to a top-three priority is unique to China. When asked what they thought would improve D&I in a workplace, the majority of professionals in China said, 'Having a positive workplace culture that encourages respect for diversity of opinion' (72 per cent), followed by 'having a diverse leadership team' (66 per cent). However, when asked if their organisations currently implemented this, only 39 per cent and 34 per cent of respondents agreed respectively. Our survey also showed that an overwhelming 92 per cent of respondents in China agreed that D&I practices contributed to improved innovation in an organisation.

Employee wellbeing builds purpose

The vast majority (88 per cent) of respondents in China said that purpose or meaning played an important/very important role in motivating an employee. When asked what constituted meaningful work in our initial survey, the majority of respondents said 'Identifying or agreeing with a company's values and mission' (71 per cent) followed by 'feeling or seeing the impact of your work on the larger company' (69 per cent). However, following the pandemic outbreak, our survey results revealed that 'being part of an organisation that values employee wellbeing' topped the priority list (72 per cent with 51 per cent of organisations currently implementing this), followed by 'opportunities to use specialised skills that are unique to you' (66 per cent with 56 per cent of organisations currently implementing this) and 'feeling or seeing the impact of your work on the larger company' (61 per cent with 58 per cent of organisations currently implementing this).

Simon Lance, Managing Director for Hays Greater China commented, 'In a region-wide trend, employee wellbeing is at the forefront of defining meaningful work, a rising sentiment that will likely be a gradual but necessary change in organisations across Asia. From our results it appears that China's organisations are leading the region in terms of offering purpose and meaning by offering opportunities for professionals to use skillsets that were unique to them or allowing for them to feel or see the impact of their work on the larger company, scoring the highest in each respect across the region by some distance. However, when it comes to employee wellbeing, there remains some room for improvement. The next step then, for a workplace of the future, is to support individual pursuits outside of the office, including mental health, wellness and that ability to work flexibly and remotely that directly impacts work-life balance.'

About the Report

The Uncovering the DNA of the Future Workplace in Asia report is based on findings from two surveys conducted on more than 4,000 and 5,000 respondents respectively across the five Hays operating markets in Asia: China, Japan, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, and Malaysia; to measure sentiments on the four core elements we believe will shape workplaces of the future: flexibility, technology, upskilling and purpose. The first survey was concluded in February 2020 at the cusp of the pandemic, with the second having concluded September of the same year. By comparing the two surveys, our findings aim to form a definitive understanding of how the pandemic has altered working sentiments, as well as a barometer for organisations as they seek to understand, attract and retain top talent amidst current challenges and those to come.
Download your copy of the full report here.

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About Hays China

Hays Specialist Recruitment (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. is one of China's leading recruitment companies in recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people across a wide range of industries and professions.

Hays has been in China for over a decade with operational offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. We boast a track record of success and growth, dealing in permanent positionsacross 14 different specialisms, including Accountancy & Finance, Banking & Financial Services, Digital Technology, Engineering, Finance Technology, Human Resources, Information Technology, Legal, Life Sciences, Marketing & Digital, Office Professionals, Procurement, Supply Chain and Sales. Hays China was named Best Workplace™and Best Workplaces™ for Womenin Greater China 2019, and recently ranked one of the the Best Workplaces™in Asia by Great Place to Work®.

About Hays

Hays plc (the 'Group') is a leading global professional recruiting group. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK and Australia and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe, Latin America and Asia. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As at 30 June 2020 the Group employed c.10,400 staff operating from 266 offices in 33 countries across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2020:

- the Group reported net fees of £996.2 million and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £135.0 million;
- the Group placed around 66,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 235,000 people into temporary roles;
- 17% of Group net fees were generated in Australia & New Zealand, 26% in Germany, 23% in United Kingdom & Ireland and 34% in Rest of World (RoW);
- the temporary placement business represented 59% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 41% of net fees;
- IT is the Group's largest specialism, with 25% of net fees, while Accountancy & Finance (15%) and Construction & Property (12%), are the next largest
- Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA

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Hays plc published this content on 01 February 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 01 February 2021 10:57:03 UTC.