79% of Hong Kong workers want organisations to promote collaboration more

Companies need to step up, apparently.

Nine in ten or 88 percent of employees in Hong Kong believe collaboration is increasingly important with the advancement of technology.

According to a release from Randstad detailing the results of its Randstad Hong Kong’s Q3 Workmonitor survey, however, eight out of ten (79 per cent) employees think that their organisation still needs to spend more time on promoting collaboration among employees.

This means that organisations will need to build better advocacy for their existing social and collaboration tools.

The research also showed that more than seven out of ten (73 per cent) employees spend more time collaborating with colleagues than they did five years ago.

Here's more from Randstad:

Mr Peter Yu, Director of Randstad Hong Kong, commented that business leaders must continue to promote collaboration as part of the executive agenda in order to take full advantage of the productivity gains that new technology brings.

“As part of a global community, there are a lot more opportunities – and indeed a greater need – for workers to collaborate with regional and global counterparts, or those in transit, working remotely or on flexible work arrangements.

“Social and collaboration tools such as video conferencing, screen sharing, intranets, online communities and real-time project management programmes make it easier for organisations to bring diverse teams together to share ideas, cross-pollinate skills and knowledge, raise productivity and remain competitive.

“The common challenge confronted by employers however is change management. Getting strong buy-in and planning for successful user adoption from the onset is critical and requires a well-crafted plan and implementation programme.

“The tools by themselves are a small part of helping people to collaborate. Without sufficient awareness, education and training, IT support, and a strong example of usage set by the management, employers may never unlock the full advantages of these tools and platforms. Employees may then end up finding some of these tools more of a hindrance than help.

“The primary requirement of social and collaboration tools should be to empower individuals and teams to connect and communicate across the organisation, and gain efficiencies in managing everyday tasks,” Mr Yu said.

Mr Yu advocated that employers must take into account the nature of a diverse workforce when implementing long-term measures to enhance collaboration across their organisations.

“We live in an interesting time with multiple generations working under the same roof, bringing together diverse perspectives, skill sets, work styles, behaviours and motivations. It is therefore crucial to consider diversity and acceptance when introducing new technology to an employee’s workflow,” Mr Yu concluded.