Singapore Bosses Among Most Open To Hybrid Work Arrangements
SINGAPORE – A survey conducted by the Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL) showed that executives here have the most favourable attitude in Asia Pacific towards granting flexible work arrangements to their staff, reported the Human Resources Director on Tuesday morning (22 November, SGT).
As a matter of fact, less than 10 percent of the polled corporate leaders in Singapore expect their employees to report to the office full-time. In total, the CCL surveyed 2,200 people across the region.
This comes amid robust encouragement by the Singapore authorities for companies to adopt hybrid work arrangements. In April 2022, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) strongly called on businesses to implement hybrid work arrangements, citing its benefits for hiring, talent retention, and workforce engagement.
Moreover, the Institute for Human Resource Professionals has published a playbook on flexible workplaces to guide companies and HR professionals, while the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) has begun training HR professionals in implementing flexible work arrangements as well as after-hours communication policies.
Similarly, CCL found out that corporate executives in Australia, Vietnam, and Japan are also more receptive to hybrid work arrangements in which their staff do not report to the office full-time. On average, merely 8 percent of the surveyed business leaders in these markets want their employees in the office 100 percent of the time.
On the other hand, over 20 percent of the polled decision-makers in Malaysia, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka want their workers to report to the office full-time. This means there is an uneven adoption of flexible work arrangements in the region, resulting in varied outcomes.
“Across Asia Pacific, we’re seeing an extremely mixed picture when it comes to the impact of the hybrid work environment on productivity, engagement, and well-being,” noted CCL’s Vice President for the region, Elisa Mallis.
Meanwhile, the surveyed corporate executives in Asia Pacific identified the following as the top perks of implementing hybrid work – Cost containment (23.6 percent), safety post-pandemic (27.1 percent), higher productivity (27.4 percent), and talent attraction (42.3 percent). The most-cited benefit is staff happiness and wellness at 62 percent.
