Hong Kong is the most open to flexi work in APAC

Women are more open to the setup than men.

Hong Kong is Asia Pacific’s most open employment market to flexible work arrangements with 91% of employees embracing the setup as it allows them to maintain work-life balance, according to a survey by human resources consultant Randstad.

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The openness of Hong Kong employees to such work setups is markedly higher than the global average of 82% as well as the APAC average of 89%. It is also higher than that of Singapore (85%), Malaysia and China (90%).

Similarly, more women embrace the concept of agile working (92%) than men (89%). In terms of age group, those in the 35-54 age bracket had the highest preference (92%) for the flexible work arrangement compared to 89% in the newly starting employees aged 18-34 as well as those who have long been in the industry at 55-67.9 (86%).

“Agile working is believed to promote autonomy as Hongkongers want to be given the responsibility to manage their work with greater flexibility,” Randstad said in a statement. “Higher levels of autonomy also lead to greater job satisfaction, productivity and creativity, as employees feel a great sense of personal responsibility over their work quality.”

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Similarly, less than half (48%) of employees in the SAR claim that agile working causes pressure on private life which is lower than the APAC average of 55% but slightly higher than the global average of 44%.

“Mature employees are the least likely to feel pressured, with 59 per cent of them choosing not to work outside of business hours so that they can focus more on their personal lives. This indicates a strong appetite from the workforce to benefit from agile working options,” Randstad added. 

Randstad’s Workmonitor is a quarterly research on global employment trends.