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Gender equality in the workplace has been a focal point globally for the past few years. While progress is being made, the gender gap is very much an ongoing issue, however, how do men and women really feel about working with each other? Research from Q3 2016 revealed that employees in Hong Kong see the value of mixed-gender teams, with some caveats.
According to the Randstad Workmonitor report, 83% of Hong Kong employees want to work in gender-diverse team, just below the global average of 87%. The preference for mixed-gender teams may come from the findings that almost nine out of ten employees feel that gender diverse teams are better for success Natallie Sun, Managing Director, Randstad commented,
“The majority of employees do feel there is value in diversity.” Hong Kong female employees, 92%, felt much stronger than men, 83%, about the positive benefits of gender diverse teams.
An ideal, rather than reality
Whilst employees overall noted their preference for mixed teams, Hong Kongers revealed that they still prefer to work in teams comprised mainly of people of the same sex. 60% of employees preferred to work in a team with mainly people of the same gender, the second highest globally after China (62%). This result turned out to be nearly double the global average of 32%.
It seems that many Hong Kongers still view a diverse team as an ideal rather than their own actual preference or reality. The results throw up odd conclusions, Sun elaborated, “Companies still need to work on the promotion of inclusion to help employees familiarise with the changing workplace."
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
