In the current era of adapting to smart city technologies that are having a profound impact on the workplace and dynamics, Hong Kong is in the race. Business leaders in the city, however, are finding the training and hiring process of staff to implement new technologies considerably more difficult than in other global cities. In 2019, 6,075 business leaders were surveyed by Robert Half, across 13 countries including Australia, Singapore, France, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates and the UK.
- 90% of Hong Kong business leaders believe it will be difficult to train staff to adapt to new technology
- 77% of Hong Kong business leaders believe it is difficult to recruit new talent with the appropriate skills in IT
- 61% of Hong Kong businesses have increased their staff training budgets
Around eight in ten employers (78%) have predicted a significant challenge to train staff in new technologies. In Hong Kong, however, this figure is far higher at 90% of managers who are concerned and predict challenges to up-skill technology and adapt to its use. The regional figure for APAC is 88%. Elaine Lam, Associate Director, Robert Half Hong Kong, pointed out, “The workplace dynamic is shifting towards more technology-enabled future. In order to stay competitive, companies are under increasing pressure to source, recruit and nurture talent that can quickly adapt to new technology and drive organisational change.” She added, “To survive, employees must be agile and responsive to new technologies for businesses to be capable of taking advantage of its benefits.”
Hong Kong’s ranking in professional development opportunities for employees to learn about new technologies is disappointingly low. The city is ranked as one of the least productive globally, with just over three in five companies having increased their training budgets for staff (61%), as opposed to 64% of global employers and 65% of companies across APAC.
Despite these numbers however, Hong Kong employers who are embracing training are doing so in a wide range of ways including in-person training—seminars and courses (48%), mentoring programmes (38%), online courses (36%) and transfer of knowledge from subject matter experts such as contractors to staff (29%).
Another concern of hirers is the difficulty of recruiting talent with the needed skills in technology. While the global average of companies who share this concern is 71%, this figure is higher for Hong Kong leaders at 77%. To address the issue of onboarding talent, flexible working options are being embraced by hirers in Hong Kong, including upskilling of existing employees by interim or contract workers. Indeed, 72% of employers in Hong Kong are embracing this, which is above the global average of 69%.
The key to embracing technology and being able to move forward in the digital age is for companies to remain flexible, not only in their business approach but also in their solutions for staff and training. Lam explained, “In tandem with a robust professional development programme, flexible staffing can support company goals to build the skilled workforce needed to maximise opportunities offered by evolving technologies.” Company flexibility also includes openness to changing processes, incorporating systems to embrace digital technologies and promoting ways of learning about these new technologies. Failure for any company to embrace these new processes may result in the business being left behind.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
