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Time and cost savings are the biggest perks of working from home, while collaboration and better work-life balance are reported to be the best parts about working from the office.
A recent study by Hiredly looked into the work culture amongst employees in Malaysia. The Work Culture Report shared some insight on current employment satisfaction, trending career fields, and current challenges in the workforce.
For better understanding, the report's demographic was broken down into three age groups:
- Gen X and older (41 to 75) comprising 8% of respondents,
- Gen Y (25-40) comprising 60% of respondents,
- Gen Z (18-24) comprising 32% of respondents.
The demographic was further broken down by work experience and academic qualification.
Insights from the report
When asked what their working arrangements were like in 2021, a majority of the respondents (40%) were on a hybrid work arrangement. Meanwhile, 32% worked remotely while 28% worked in the office.
For more in-depth insights, the study also looked into top three things employees enjoyed about their working arrangements.
Remote workers enjoyed:
- Cost savings
- Time saving
- Lesser commute stress
Employees working from the office enjoyed:
- Easier collaboration with team members
- Readily available resources
- Better work-life balance
Meanwhile, those on a hybrid work arrangement enjoyed different aspects from both working from the office and from home. When working from home, they enjoyed:
- Cost savings
- Time saving
- The ability to work from anywhere
While working from the office, they shared similar opinions as employees working from office full-time:
- Easier collaboration with team members
- Readily available resources
- Better work-life balance
Breaking it down further, out of those that worked remotely, 89% enjoyed their remote work arrangement. For those that worked in the office, 78% enjoyed working in the office. Interestingly, of the those who worked hybrid, 12% more enjoyed remote over hybrid — 86% enjoyed working remotely, while 74% enjoyed working in the office.
While the report recognises that there is always discussion about which work arrangement is preferable, only your employees can tell you what is best for your company. As such, before deciding on a working arrangement, leaders should understand what their employees actually prefer.
The study also noted a difference amongst employees' relationship with their management depending on their working arrangements — 22% of those working from the office felt more disconnected, as compared to 17% working remotely and 18% on a hybrid arrangement.
Current workplace challenges
Out of those who experienced a salary reduction in 2020 or 2021, only 37% of respondents’ salary has bounced back while 63% of respondents state their salary hasn't quite bounced back yet.
More than half (73%) of the respondents reported that their company did not introduce any new benefits in 2021. As for the remaining 27% who indicated otherwise, they reported the following new types of benefits being introduced:
- Physical health,
- Work-from-home,
- Mental health.
Despite these new perks, a majority of workers (71%) admitted they have plans to resign. The report, thus looked into reasons employees intend to resign and factors that would encourage them to stay.
The number one reason driving employees to resign was a lack of career opportunities (59%), followed by a lack of appreciation and recognition (57%), and feeling overworked (51%). Meanwhile, 74% of respondents indicated that a salary increase or a bonus would make them stay. Not too far behind, 69% also saw better career and promotion opportunities as a reason to stick around.
Job-seekers' perspective
From the perspective of those looking for jobs, the top three most valued company traits were found as follows:
- Career growth (79%) - provides clear growth and promotion opportunities
- Social connection (57%) - encourages friendly work environment and strong social bonds among colleagues
- Wealth (57%) - offers high salaries and financial incentives
Among the respondents, 75% of job seekers were applying to jobs in a different field. Of this majority, 76% chose to do so as wanted to try something new, while 24% were unable to find a job within the same field.
Image / Shutterstock
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