Most APAC businesses have adapted to hybrid work: Telstra

• Eight in ten organisations are promoting hybrid work
• Virtual work to increase by 83% despite offices reopening

Business decision makers are rethinking their operations and work arrangements to benefit both employers and employees in the hybrid work era, according to Australian telco Telstra.

In a statement, the firm said its report titled “Telstra Asia Pacific Transformation Vision: Optimising for Hybrid” examines four key areas to help businesses bounce back from the pandemic. 

It added that these areas include collaboration, leadership, productivity and economic impact, and optimised hybrid.
 
However, global and APAC expansions remain high on companies’ operations growth plans, with 38% looking to expand globally and 28% looking at APAC markets, it added.
 
With the disruption brought about by the pandemic, the study highlighted how businesses have also adapted to the new work order. 

It stated that 85% of organisations are promoting hybrid work arrangements, and seven in 10 organisations are now recruiting talent from all locations and allowing hybrid work arrangements. 

The study said the organisations surveyed are expecting virtual work to increase by 83% in the next six to 12 months, despite offices reopening. 

Additionally, 74% of employees in APAC believe that they and their teams are more productive with flexible work arrangements, it noted.
 
Geraldine Kor, managing director, South Asia, Telstra, said the changes from the past two years have triggered leaders to respond to new expectations from their employees and prompted businesses to accelerate their digital ambitions to stay relevant and continue to be available for customers. 

“As we learn to navigate further uncertainties in the current economy, leaders must continue to be compassionate, and lean on digital tools to facilitate open communications with their teams.

“There is no one-size-fits-all approach to building the work environment, but the right use of technology has the potential to facilitate employee engagement and foster corporate culture despite a decentralised workforce,” said Khor.

In terms of how technology is facilitating successful hybrid work environments, three out of four employees say that it has become easier to stay engaged and drive cultural exchange with technology. 

The study notes that 70% of organisations already have a strategy in place to identify and deploy the right technology and tools to facilitate both office-based and remote work.

As for strategic technology transformation priorities for their organisations, APAC business leaders have identified three areas for investments.

This includes emerging technologies (45%), cybersecurity (43%), and digital innovation projects (41%), it said.

The study showed that large and small businesses differ in their focus priorities.

While large companies are focused on improving agile processes, including the way they work with partners such as service and solutions providers, smaller organisations prioritise cybersecurity improvements.

For employees, the research found that the pandemic lockdowns brought about a shift in demands for remote work.

It highlighted that employees’ top three tools to enable self-sufficient remote working include: wireless networks and other related services (57%); quality and uptime of remote working services (55%); and communication and collaboration (52%). 

Interestingly, 37% of employees in small organisations show more affinity towards immersive digital experiences, like augmented reality and virtual meeting platforms, than those in larger organisations (29%), the reported noted.

To drive hybrid-working experiences, it said there is a clear need for policies and guidelines to keep pace with remote work scenarios

The research also stated that 60% of APAC leaders and employees are seeing progressive changes with a clear timeline to achieve full hybrid policies and guidelines. 

It added that currently, organisations are measuring productivity by frequent goals of communication (57%); usage of tools for teamwork and collaboration (56%) and output over the work completed (50%). 

For future productivity strategies, organisations tend to look toward future-focused goals (66%), consistent policy on performance rating (58%) and updated performance indicators (53%), it said.

Gathering insights from over 450 business decision makers and 560 employees from across the Asia region including Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, the research found that 21% of organisations have put expansion plans on hold owing to uncertainty around the pandemic.