OPENNESS TO CHANGE AND DIGITALISATION OF PROCESSES WILL DEFINE HONG KONG SAR’S WORKPLACE OF THE FUTURE SAYS NEW REPORT BY HAYS

Ongoing instabilities in the last year have pushed more organisations in Hong Kong to digitalising their processes as a way to not only future-proof their organisations, but also conserve resources and weather the current storm. The impact of this uncertainty is now visible in workforce sentiments, finds the new ‘Uncovering the DNA of the Future Workplace’ report by recruiting experts Hays.  

 

 

The report, that surveyed over 9,000 working professionals across Asia in February this year and again in September this year, revealed that only 35 per cent of respondents in Hong Kong said they could confidently describe their organisation as future-ready – the lowest such score in Asia after Japan (26 per cent); and a further 47 per cent who were unsure – the highest such score in Asia. When asked what could help increase the future-readiness of their organisation, the majority of respondents said digitalisation of processes (71 per cent) and openness to change (67 per cent), followed by ‘remote and flexible working options’ (60 per cent).

 

These findings are in line with the regional average, with less than half of total respondents across Asia (37 per cent) being confident that their organisation is future ready, and the majority saying that openness to change (71 per cent) and digitalisation of processes (71 per cent) is what will help their organisation get there. 

 

 

Hong Kong was one of the first regions in Asia that had to transition to remote and digital ways of working fairly early. However, with digital talent being in shortage for some time now, many organisations have paced their digitalisation gradually and based on necessity. This is evident by the limited change in cloud computing, for example, before (49 per cent) and following the pandemic  (50 per cent). The implementation of cloud-based systems will be necessary to make a significant and permanent shift to remote working for the long term, the latter being a top priority for respondents in Hong Kong following the pandemic (87 per cent). 65 per cent of respondents also said cloud computing was important for them when considering a new employer now, as compared to only 15 per cent who thought so pre-covid.

 

 

However, overall digital acceleration has been promising, with 58 per cent of respondents now confident that their organisation’s digitalisation journey is sufficiently placed to maintain relevancy for the next 3-5 years, as compared to only 41 per cent pre-covid. Additionally, 62 per cent of respondents said they were aware/very aware of their organisation’ digitalisation journey now, compared to only 56 per cent who were pre-covid. This is heartening, considering 80 per cent said their organisation’s digitalisation journey was important/very important to them, regardless of their role. 

 

Jack Leung, Regional Director for Hays Hong Kong SAR commented, “While many organisations in Hong Kong have seen accelerated digital transformation in the light of the pandemic, that the vast majority of working professionals believe their organisation’s digitalisation journey is very important to them, means that ongoing digitalisation will be a vital part of any organisation looking to stay relevant in the times to come. Cloud adoption is a crucial part of making remote working a permanent fixture in the new era of work, which is desired by both employees and employers alike. A workplace of the future in Hong Kong will need to have strong IT infrastructure and run on cloud-based systems to ensure their employees can work remotely and stay agile in the new era of work.” 

 

 

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