Flexible work policies may be a deal breaker when it comes to attracting local professionals in Hong Kong, according to 75% of senior executives and business owners in the region.
The vast majority of respondents in the latest survey from global workplace provider Regus admit that they would choose one job over a similar one if it offered flexible working. On the flip side, more than half of workers, 56%, claim they would actually turn down a job that ruled out flexible working.
Flexible working may also be the key to improving staff retention, with a staggering 75% of survey respondents claiming so and 62% admitting they would have remained in a previous job for longer if this had been offered. With average staff turnover in Hong Kong reaching a ten-year high of 17% in 2012* , organisations that do not already offer such flexibility might be prudent to consider revising their policies.
John Henderson, Chief Finance Officer, Regus Asia Pacific believes that offering flexible working may well be the way to attract and retain top talent, whilst in turn reducing the employee churn and subsequent recruitment costs.
Commenting on the findings he explained, "Hiring and retaining top talent is an age-old challenge for businesses, but not all companies can afford to offer golden bonuses or mouth-watering salaries if they want to stay competitive. Stemming churn is also vital to reducing the cost of recruitment. As well as reducing stress and improving work/life balance for employees, flexible working presents businesses with a low-cost solution to attracting and retaining talented employees—a win-win situation."
* HKIHRM, Quarterly Survey on Manpower Statistics, Q4 and Full-Year 2012, March 2013
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
