The people tasked to implement organizational change to cope with the phenomenon do not even stay long enough nowadays: APAC survey

In an Asia Pacific region survey of over 3,500 respondents comprising CEOs, board members, founders, and senior leaders of multinational corporations and startups on talent management trends and challenges, a wave of resignations among senior leadership roles in the region was observed.

Some 36% of respondents had been at their current jobs for not more than two years, and 75% of leaders in the survey indicated they would be looking for new career prospects over the next few months.

While salaries, bonuses and rewards were still top attraction motivators for all job candidates (including those applying for leadership roles), the data shows a big swing toward ‘non-monetary motivators’.

Some regional findings

    • 86% of respondents across the region indicated that they believed their employer did not take active steps to ensure work-life balance, which in a talent-short market could lead to exit, rejection, or negative word-of-mouth.
    • 64% of leaders surveyed indicated they would sacrifice money for more happiness, better well-being and work-life balance. This was consistent across all generations, gender, sexual orientation and industries in the survey population.
    • 71% of leaders in the survey did not did not want to return to the office-only model of pre –pandemic days, preferring a long-term hybrid work arrangement featuring initiatives to boost employee engagement and provide employees with the right tools for smoother remote-working.

According to Anthony Thompson, Regional Managing Director (Asia Pacific), PageGroup, which commissioned the survey: “While remuneration continues to be important to leadership candidates, it is not the only reason that people join or stay with an organization. They are now asking about a company’s culture, purpose and values, and leadership. Now, more than ever, all employees want a choice of where and how they want to work, so employers are faced with redesigning the playbook in a more human-centric way. The challenge for leaders is to recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all strategy—it will require a delicate balancing act between the needs of the business and the needs of individuals and teams. Giving employees some degree of choice and regularly engaging with them will be key.”