In recent years we have noted a marked increase in the amount of work our employment practice is handling in regards to corporate culture related issues (including sexual harassment, whistleblowing, and discrimination disputes). In fact, the number of employment related complaints handled by the Equal Opportunities Commission in Hong Kong has increased by more than 70% in the past three years, and with our city facing intensifying competition for talent from other major Asian cities, we felt it was a timely opportunity to commission an inaugural survey to examine the strength, characteristics and perceptions of current corporate culture in Hong Kong.
Our survey canvassed more than 1,000 working professionals and 100 senior in-house human resources and legal managers in Hong Kong, and the findings were really quite interesting. The survey results reinforced a lot of what I have been seeing in the market, particularly in regards to the disconnect that exists between employees and companies.
Some of the top level findings from the report include:
- 2 in 3 employees have an ‘unfavourable’ view of the corporate culture of their current employer. In contrast, 66% of companies surveyed believe their corporate culture is ‘strong’ or ‘very strong’
- Employers are over-estimating the strength of their corporate culture – but they do recognise its importance in attracting and retaining talent
- Long hours, poor communication and domineering management emerged as major areas of concern for both companies and employees
- Employees’ level of understanding of key company policies is falling short. Even well-established policies are not widely understood by the workforce
- Generation Z are more focused on equal gender pay, diversity & inclusion, flexible working and CSR credentials than any other age group. In fact, corporate culture is equally as important as salary for Generation Z when choosing an employer
Interestingly, corporate culture of many employer companies is currently being reflected in the ways they are dealing with the recent coronavirus outbreak. Read More...