Top hybrid work trends in Singapore that every business leader needs to know

Businesses must recognise that work is no longer bound to traditional notions of time and space when it comes to how, when, and where we work.

As leaders know, business is about adapting. Those who don’t adapt, don’t progress. And that’s the key message of Microsoft’s Work Trend Index report, which finds that 49% of employees surveyed in Singapore are considering leaving their employer this year.

Titled The Next Great Disruption is Hybrid Work – Are We Ready?, the report covers more than 30,000 people in 31 countries, including Singapore, to shed light on hybrid working trends over the pandemic.

Hybrid work trends in Singapore

The report stated: “One thing is abundantly clear: Businesses must recognise that work is no longer bound to traditional notions of time and space when it comes to how, when, and where we work.” Here are the trends for leaders to know:

• Flexible work is here to stay: More than 82% of workers in Singapore workers want flexible remote work options to stay, but 66% are also craving more in-person time with their teams. As such, 62 percent of business leaders are more likely to redesign office space for hybrid work.
• Leaders are out of touch with employees and need a wake-up call: Research showed that 51% of leaders in Singapore say they are thriving right now – whereas only 27% of employees (without decision making power) say the same.
• High productivity is masking an exhausted workforce: 58% of Singaporean workers feel overworked and 49% feel exhausted.
• Gen Z is at risk and will need to be re-energised: Gen Z (between age 18 to 25) is particularly at risk, given that more than 70% of this generation in Singapore feels that they are merely surviving or flat-out struggling.

“In Singapore,” said Joanna Lim, Modern Work and Security Business Group Lead, Microsoft Singapore, “we recently moved from being allowed to return to the workplace, back to where working from home is once again our default.

“As businesses adapt to the disruptive change, business leaders must recognise that long-held assumptions no longer hold true with their employees. They must now make choices that will impact their organisations for years to come.”

Report findings from other Asian countries (like Australia, New Zealand, and Japan) were also provided:

• Mobility: 50% of remote workers in Australia and New Zealand are likely to move to a new location because they can now work remotely.
• Productive, but exhausted and stressed: Close to two-third (63%) of workers in Japan felt their productivity levels have remained the same compared to last year; 48% of them, however, are feeling exhausted, and 45% feeling stressed.
• Career switch: Just under half (47%) of workers in Asia are likely to consider changing employers and 56% are likely to consider a career change. However, in Japan, it is much lower—with only 38% likely to consider changing employers within the year.

Image / Microsoft