Recent News & Findings
Asia Pacific: Moving towards a full return to the office
Our latest quarterly survey of Human Resource Managers across the Asia Pacific region included a series of questions exploring the return to the office following the pandemic.
In terms of working from home policies, there has been a noticeable decrease in what organizations now offer, with 64% having reduced the days staff can work from home over the last 12 months.
The move to ending work from home altogether is also occurring across all countries in the Asia Pacific region. One question asked “Has your organization mandated, or commenced mandating, a full return to the office, for white collar employees?”. The the highest response was from Human Resource Managers in Vietnam, with 93% answering ‘Yes’, followed by South Korea (92%) and China (91%). Conversely, the lowest responses were from those in Australia (64%), New Zealand (67%) and Papua New Guinea (73%).
Across industry sectors, the highest mandating of a full return to the office was amongst government (92%), followed by logistics & transportation (91%), and energy & resources (89%). Conversely, the lowest responses were from information technology (77%), professional services (79%), and financial services (80%).
The survey used a methodology where 1,609 Human Resource Managers across all industry sectors, in organizations having 250+ employees, throughout the Asia Pacific region, were interviewed between 12th - 30th September 2024.
Japan: 30% female executives by 2030
For the last 20 years, Japan has been trying to elevate women into leadership roles, in what has and remains, a highly patriarchal society. In 2003, the Japanese government set a goal of achieving 30% representation of women in leadership positions in all areas of society by 2020, which was far from achieved.
More recently, in June 2023, the Japanese government approved a policy package aimed at developing the empowerment of woman. One of the targets set is to have women hold 30% of the executive roles within country’s leading publicly-listed companies by 2030. This is a very ambitious target, where in June 2023 women were estimated to hold only 11.7% of such executive roles.
Shortly after this was announced, we undertook a survey amongst C-suite executives from Japan’s leading publicly-listed companies, to determine their views on this and other initiatives to elevate women into executive roles and to further empower women in Japan.
One question asked “By 2030, can your company realistically attain the goal to have 30% of the executive roles held by suitably qualified women?” In June 2023, 23% answered ‘Yes’ and 77% ‘No’. Asked again in our recent survey in May 2024, there was a 5% increase in responses to ‘Yes’ reaching 28%. Subsequent questions found much of this 5% increase attributable to increased attention and strategies towards developing leadership paths for women in these companies over the past year.
Another series of questions explored the main reasons why achieving the goal of 30% is viewed as being difficult or not possible by 2030. Firstly, most companies do not have sufficient numbers of women suitably qualified, or in the process of becoming suitably qualified, for executive roles. Secondly, external recruitment is not possible due to the overall shortage of women being suitably qualified, or in the process of becoming suitably qualified. Thirdly, corporate culture in Japan is regarded as being too male-orientated and unable to be adequately changed by 2030 to be acceptable for larger numbers of women.
The research used a methodology where C-suite executives from Japanese publicly-traded companies, were interviewed 21st - 30th June 2023 (n=276) & 2nd - 10th May 2024 (n=262).
Vanuatu: Reducing Plastic Waste
In an effort to reduce plastic waste, the government of Vanuatu was among the first in the world to prohibit the sale and distribution of certain single-use plastics, starting with plastic shopping bags in 2018, followed by other items such as plastic cutlery and drinking straws in 2020.
Now six years into the Government’s initiatives, there is clear evidence of success, with less visible plastic waste found in on the sides of roads, in waterways, on beaches and in community areas.
Since 2020, APMI Partners have been undertaking an annual survey throughout the Pacific Island nation investigating awareness and attitudes towards plastic pollution and other environmental issues. One question asked each year has been “Have you noticed a reduction in plastic waste over the last 12 months. This year 67% answered ‘Yes’ and 33% ‘No’ with responses highest in Luganville, Vanuatu’s second largest city, where 71% answered ‘Yes’.
With the majority of plastic waste now from imported food packaging, such as that for rice, noodle and other food items, a series of questions explored this with one question asking “Should all imported food items that are packaged in plastic be banned?” 62% answered ‘Yes’.
Another series of questions explored recycling plastic waste, one question asking “Should the government establish plastic recycling facilities?” 81% answered ‘Yes’.
In terms of views on the rest of the world and their reduction of plastic waste, one question asked “Do you believe the rest of the world is doing enough to reduce plastic waste?” 78% answered ’No’.
The survey comprised a methodology where a nationwide, survey of 1,500 citizens aged 18+ throughout the 6 provinces of Vanuatu were surveyed in September - October 2024.
Webinar
APMI Partners will be holding a webinar conference from Singapore on Friday 1st November, solely focussed on social research in Asia.
Speakers will include several partners and staff, leading global social researchers and academics, plus senior managers from ASEAN, The Asian Development Bank and the World Health Organization.
This conference is suitable for government, not-for-profit and other organizations involved in conducting and implementing social research.
To register your interest, please contact: events@apmipartners.com
