INTHEBLACK March 2025 - Magazine - Page 44
F E AT U R E
“If a manager tells candidates that they cannot work from
home, candidates are very likely to say, ‘Okay, that’s a pity,
I’m not interested in this job.’”
KARIN SANDERS, UNSW BUSINESS SCHOOL
factors like productivity, recruitment
and retention, environmental costs and
employee wellbeing?
HYBRID WORK: HERE TO STAY?
Data from McCrindle shows 45 per cent
of Australians follow the hybrid model
of work. In Singapore, fewer than one
in 10 leaders expect employees to be
on-site 100 per cent of the time, according
to a Work 3.0 study from the Center for
Creative Leadership, and from 1 December
2024, all employers in the city state are
required to fairly consider formal requests
for flexible work arrangements.
In Hong Kong, 76 per cent of employees
have adopted a hybrid working model,
according to data from PwC. In fact, results
from a Bloomberg Intelligence survey suggest
workers in Hong Kong like hybrid work
so much that more than a quarter would
ask for at least a 6 per cent pay increase
in exchange for working in the office full time.
While hybrid work is a preference for
most knowledge workers, it is also proving
a winning formula for productivity and
employee retention.
44 INTHEBLACK March 2025
A 2024 study from Stanford economist
Nicholas Bloom reveals that employees
who work from home two days a week
are just as productive, likely to get promoted
and far less prone to quit than their fully
office-based peers.
The study focused on 1600 workers at
Trip.com, one of the world’s largest online
travel agencies. In addition to the positive
productivity measure, resignations at
Trip.com dropped by 33 per cent among
workers who shifted from working full time
in the office to a hybrid model. Women,
non-managers and employees with long
commutes were the least likely to quit their
jobs when their commute to the office was
reduced to three days a week.
Data from Hubstaff shows the cost
of employee turnover can stretch to
approximately 50 per cent of an employee’s
salary. There is also the impact on employee
morale and productivity, and replacing
employees can be tough in a tight
recruitment market.
Professor Karin Sanders, senior deputy
dean, research and enterprise, UNSW Business
School, notes that employees currently have
the “labour market on their side”.
“If a manager tells candidates that they
cannot work from home, candidates are
very likely to say, ‘Okay, that’s a pity, I’m not
interested in this job.’”
Hybrid work can also have a positive
impact on employee wellbeing and
reduce absenteeism. A recent survey from
International Workplace Group found
that hybrid workers exercise almost
90 minutes a week longer than before the
pandemic. They are also enjoying healthier
diets and getting an extra 71 hours
of sleep a year due to less time spent
commuting. Almost 50 per cent have
also experienced less work-related stress
and 46 per cent have more time to relax
and unwind after work.
Associate professor John Hopkins,
innovation fellow and associate
