The number of women in line management roles in Hong Kong has decreased according to research carried out by recruitment experts Hays.
A survey carried out in March and April this year, which formed the basis for the research, revealed 31 per cent of respondents in Hong Kong report to a female line manager – a decrease on last year’s result of 38 per cent.
The research found Malaysia had the highest proportion of respondents reporting to a female line manager (46 per cent) followed by Singapore (45 per cent) Mainland China (44 per cent) and Japan which is the lowest in the region (28 per cent).
“Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is critical to coping with the impact of Hong Kong’s ageing workforce as well as having managers and leaders that better reflect an organisation’s customers,” says Dean Stallard, Managing Director of Hays Greater Bay Area.
“Changing societal norms also mean more women than ever want to build substantial careers so Hong Kong risks losing some of its best talent to other countries/regions if companies don’t place D&I high on the business agenda,” he says.
“It should be noted that D&I is about a range of diversity - not just gender. Organisations need people who can look at problems in new ways so recruiting and retaining people of all ages, backgrounds and life experiences is key.”
The research found 39 per cent of respondents in Hong Kong vs 32 per cent across Asia believe employees of equal capability have equal access to career opportunities regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, family commitments, marital status, race, religion or sexuality.
“Human resources teams have been doing most of the heavy lifting when it comes to diversity but it’s becoming clear that senior leadership teams in Hong Kong have been championing D&I as highlighted below and are well versed in the bottom line benefits and consequences involved,” said Dean.
“We hope those championing D&I in their organisations will make use of our 2018 results to move D&I even higher up the business agenda,” said Dean.
Other findings of the 2018 Hays Diversity & Inclusion – Asia report include:
- 42 per cent of respondents in Hong Kong believe their organisation seizes every opportunity to create a work culture that is more diverse and inclusive compared to an average 39 per cent across the region.
- 51 per cent work in organisations in Hong Kong that actively promote flexible work practices for working parents compared to 40 per cent across the region.
- 41 per cent of respondents in Hong Kong have access to mentors at work compared to 40 per cent across the region.
- 93 per cent of survey participants in Hong Kong say the daily behaviours of their leaders align to organisation’s values compared to 56 per cent across the region.
- Respondents in Hong Kong believe the three top areas where D&I has the greatest impact in the workplace is ‘company culture’, ‘leadership’ and ‘staff morale’. ‘Company culture, ‘leadership’ were also the consensus across Asia with ‘innovation’ coming in ahead of ‘staff morale’.
To learn more about the 2018 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion report, please click here.
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About Hays
Hays plc (the "Group") is a leading global professional recruiting group and is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK and Asia Pacific and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe and Latin America. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As at 30 June 2018 the Group employed 10,978 staff operating from 257 offices in 33 markets across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2018:
– the Group reported net fees of £1.072 billion and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £243.4 million;
– the Group placed around 77,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 244,000 people into temporary assignments;
– 19% of Group net fees were generated in Australia & New Zealand, 26% in Germany, 24% in United Kingdom & Ireland and 31% in Rest of World (RoW);
– the temporary placement business represented 58% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 42% of net fees;
– Hays operates in the following markets: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mainland China, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA