Being able to work from anywhere is believed to boost performance with 98% of all respondents to a survey believing that anywhere working has a positive impact on productivity, according to Polycom’s Future of Work survey.
The survey notes that almost two thirds (62%) of the global working population are currently taking advantage of flexible working practices. Findings also showed that approximately 91% of respondents believe video collaboration helps improve workplace relationships and teamwork
These results suggest that flexible workplace success is about providing the right environment that allows individuals and teams to work together productively to deliver great results.
The survey findings are timely as a recent report showed employers Hong Kong have revealed their support for flexible work arrangement to increase the city’s long-term competitiveness and the important role of technology in enabling better work-life balance.
A business necessity
Alex Lee, President, Greater China for Polycom explains, “Flexible working is becoming a business necessity, employees expect it and employers need to establish policies to attract and retain their best talent. With the build of high speed broadband networks across China and Asia Pacific, collaboration technology gives people the freedom to work the way they want, regardless of where they are, and what devices they use.”
In China, 85% of companies offer flexible working arrangements to all employees. Compared to other countries across the globe, Chinese workers are more concerned with having time for their hobbies (39%) or improving productivity (45%) than avoiding a stressful commute into work (28%).
Getting work completed quickly is a key driver for the new generation of the Chinese workforce. Interestingly, 49% of people in graduate roles think the main advantage of flexible working is being able to organize impromptu meetings via collaboration technology to get tasks finished faster. This is in line with other results that show that 67% of Chinese respondents believe technology to be the key in overcoming any flexible-working challenges.
It is common in China to have stakeholders located in a different office to you: 87% of respondents said they work with at least one key stakeholder that’s not in the same workspace as them.