By The majority of employees and employers in the Asia Pacific region agree that remote work is just as or more productive than working in an office, according to an April 21 white paper by Unisys.
Because of the success of remote work in the past year, business leaders in the region say that about 24 percent of their employees will work from home. Before the pandemic, 5.2 percent of workers from Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore telecommuted, the report said.
Still, workers and employers disagreed on several aspects of what would promote a positive hybrid work experience in the future.
When asked what technology would make remote work more productive, leaders cited collaboration tools (35 percent), secure remote access (33 percent), cloud applications (33 percent) and virtual desktop infrastructure (32 percent). Employees, on the other hand, mentioned upgraded laptops (31 percent), connectivity solutions (27 percent) and home printers or scanners (26 percent).
When asked about policy changes that would improve employee experience, leaders identified commuter benefits to reduce virus exposure risk (33 percent), procedures to identify sick employees (30 percent), increased security at facility entrances (31 percent) and self-quarantine for workers who had been exposed to Covid-19 (29 percent). Employees wanted more flexible remote policies (28 percent), revised leave policies (25 percent) and methods to identify if employees have Covid-19 symptoms (24 percent).
“To create a great employee experience, employers need to understand what technology, processes and policies their people require to do their jobs effectively,” Leon Sayers, advisory director at Unisys Asia Pacific, said in the report. “This requires two-way conversations with their teams and a preparedness to change existing procedures.”
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