by AZALEA AZUAR / pic by BLOOMBERG

A THIRD of employees in Southeast Asia (34%) prefer to find a new job if they are forced back to the office on a full-time basis, based on Qualtrics 2022 Employee Experience Trends report.

A hybrid workplace model is the most popular working arrangement among them, where they work from home (WFH) for three days and return to the office for two days.

Employee Experience Solutions Strategist for Qualtrics in Southeast Asia Lauren Huntington, hoped that Southeast Asian companies would change their mindset, define and iterate their ways of working.

This is essential if they want to shift to a hybrid working environment and effectively compete in the race for talent.

“As seen in the Qualtrics research, addressing the challenges faced are not as simple as setting new work schedules or boosting engagement.

People have varied needs in today’s working environments, meaning the ability to quickly and easily identify and respond to the issues having the biggest impact with tools like Qualtrics is a significant advantage,” she said in a statement.

The 2022 Employee Experience Trends explains why employers need to listen, understand and act on their workers feedback to satisfy their needs.

Qualitrics believe that these insights would assist organisations in designing their new and improved offerings aligned to changing employee expectations.

Although the Southeast Asian region has recorded the highest levels of wellbeing globally, they are still not sustainable unless employers focus on improving resilience among their teams.

Only 30% of respondents felt technology provided meets their expectations, where Singapore has only recorded 24%.

Therefore, Qualtrics urged that employees who work in hybrid environments should improve and invest in their technology experience.

The report also highlighted that those who are satisfied with the technology available are four times more likely to be engaged at work.

Southeast Asian employees have a higher intent to stay with their current companies company but there has been a reduction observed this year.

The findings revealed that seven in 10 employees in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines will stick with their job this year, compared to 53% in Singapore.

Creating a culture of belonging encourages employees to stay in their respective companies in a competitive job environment.

This also applies to meeting career goals prioritising wellbeing, and aligning individuals with the strategic goals of the company.