KUALA LUMPUR: Technology company Cisco shared the local findings of its global study entitled 'Employees are ready for hybrid work, are you?'.
According to the study, hybrid working has made well-being, work-life balance, and performance turn out for the better. Sixty per cent of Malaysian employees believe that their work quality has improved with 55 per cent feeling that they're more productive.
However, 75 per cent feel that they are just as productive remotely as in the office.
Based on the survey which involved 28,000 employees from 27 countries, 20 per cent of the 1,011 respondents, who are from Malaysia, assured their preparedness, which is lower than the global average of 23 per cent.
Cisco Malaysia's managing director, Hana Raja said that in a hybrid normal, both employers and employees reap benefits from their improved wellbeing.
"However, hybrid work is more than just supporting a safe office re-entry. Leaders need to rethink how to cultivate an inclusive culture, place employees – their experience, engagement, and wellbeing – at the centre, and modernise their networking and security infrastructure to provide a seamless, secure, and inclusive employee experience," she added.
The research touched on five categories of well-being namely emotional, financial, mental, physical, and social wellbeing and 79 per cent said hybrid and remote working has benefitted them in various wellbeing aspects.
Seventy-nine per cent of Malaysian employees believe that being away from the office has made work-life balance better than the regional average of 81 per cent.
Seventy-one per cent have more flexible schedules with 49 per cent having reductions or no computing times.
Furthermore, 68 per cent of work-from-home runs saved at least four hours per week, and 29 per cent saved eight or more.
Eighty-two per cent of the respondents said that they have improved financial well-being with average savings reaching RM32,891 a year while 86 per cent saving on fuel and/or commuting as their top three savings as well as 80 per cent said they've spent less on food and entertainment.
For fitness, 72 per cent believe that they've improved thanks to remote working and 69 per cent also agreed on their eating habits. The majority of 80 per cent said that remote work tied the family together and 44 per cent said the same about relationships with friends.
TRUST IN HYBRID WORK
Sharing further, the study recorded 74 per cent of the Malaysian respondents saying that they wanted a merger between remote and in-office working models while 22 percent prefered remote and five per cent wanted a fully in-office experience.
Unfortunately, 59 per cent believe micromanaging behaviour has increased and has caused a lack of trust from managers in their employees' productivity.
Cisco's people and communities' senior director for Asia Pacific, Japan, and China (APJC), Anupam Trehan said that trust is a core tenet of their hybrid work, alongside flexibility and empathetic relationship.
"Our latest research indicates that more needs to be done to fully integrate hybrid work arrangements for employees, especially when it comes to building an inclusive culture powered by efficient technology infrastructure in this new world of working that employees clearly prefer.
"Leaders and companies need to commit to actions that go a long way to retain their people – listening, building trust, and leading with empathy, flexibility, and fairness," said Trehan.
While 64 per cent believe that regular connectivity issues are career-limiting for remote workers, 82 per cent say that a seamless work-from-home experience stems from networking infrastructure and 36 per cent said they need the right networking infrastructure.
Among the findings shared, majority believes that cybersecurity makes a safe hybrid working space (76 per cent), however 61 per cent
are assured of their organisation's capabilities and protocol with only 62 per cent understand the cyber risks in hybrid work and 67 per cent believe business leaders are familiar with it.
Cisco's cybersecurity director for Asean, Juan Huat Koo said technology in a hybrid workplace needs to be underpinned by end-to-end integrated security.
"Organisations should prioritise a robust security posture that underpins every digitisation effort and ensure that cybersecurity is at the core of their technology architecture. Organisations will need to bolster security and build greater vigilance, through enabling secure access and protecting users and endpoints in the network and the cloud," he said.
"Due to the pandemic, Cybersecurity awareness has been greatly encouraged and most organisations now know that they have to deal with it one day, but they are unsure how. Some organisations don't even have the necessary cybersecurity skills or a big IT department. Therefore, we should work together with the government and find ways to simplify matters for them when it comes to Cybersecurity," added Koo.