People at work 2022: A workforce view in Asia Pacific

Countries in the Asia-Pacific are some of the fastest growing and largest economies in the world and are powered by a highly skilled and dynamic workforce, observed Nela Richardson, Chief Economist, ADP.

Speaking during an episode of HRM TV, she explained, “That is one of the reasons why the ADP Research Institute wanted to discover the workforce trends that were driving sentiment in this region. We surveyed four countries – Australia, China, India, and Singapore – to uncover the latest trends, and here’s what we found.”

Workforce trends in Asia Pacific

The results of the survey Richardson referred to was complied to create the People at Work 2022: A Global Workforce View report, which measured worker sentiment and discussed how to support businesses to become more forward thinking, competitive, and resilient.

In terms of the Asia-Pacific region, and particularly the four countries of Australia, China, India, and Singapore, one of the key workforce trends is how workers remain optimistic about the future.

95% of workers in East Asia say they are optimistic about the next five years when it comes to their careers and professional development. Richardson, however, was quick to point out how this differs across countries. “Workers in India noted a strong and high degree of job satisfaction with their current employer while in Singapore, only 75% of workers report positive job satisfaction, which is more moderate than other countries in the region.”

With the pandemic driving a rethink about career and personal development, workers are also on the move. “People and workers want a new skill, a new job, or even a move to a new industry. Overall, 70% of workers in East Asia considered a job change in the last 12 months,” Richardson revealed.

As the workplace continues to shift, another key observation that was made of the East Asia region is how much time people spent working. For Australia, China, and Singapore, workers added eight hours of unpaid work per week, which translated into working during lunch breaks or during the weekends – this number grows to 10 hours in India.

READ: Achieving business continuity and success in a changing world of work

Warning that this excessive work comes at a price, Richardson said, “That might be one of the reasons why a vast majority of workers may quit their jobs if their employers make them return to on-premises work. Flexibility is what workers in the APAC region want and this is how employers can hire and retain their workforce.”

Click here to view the full video and for more key insights to stay competitive and motivate your employees, download the ADP People at Work 2022: A Global Workforce View report.