Most M’sians felt Covid19 had a negative impact on work — LinkedIn
KUCHING: Nine in 10 Malaysians felt Covid-19 had a negative impact on their work, a study by LinkedIn revealed, which also highlighted that
45 per cent of women felt that they get less opportunities than men and six in 10 women said they missed out on a raise or promotion due to their gender.
LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network has launched LinkedIn Opportunity Index 2021.
The annual Index is a composite measure that seeks to understand how people perceive opportunities and the gaps that stand in the way of achieving them.
This year’s research looks at the impact of the pandemic on Malaysians’ access to opportunities.
More importantly, it spotlights the gender gaps that continue to exist in the workplace, and how these affect women’s opportunities for career development.
About six out of 10 Malaysians were affected by Covid-19 in terms of pay cuts, a difficult job search and reduced working hours.
This has likely led to a less optimistic economic outlook amongst Malaysians, with only one in five (21 per cent) expecting the economy to improve over the next six months and even fewer (19 per cent) expecting their financial situation to improve over the same period.
Despite the bleak economic outlook, there were some positives as Malaysians sought new opportunities — including starting their own business
(23 per cent), providing safety support items such as sanitisers and masks to their communities (33 per cent), with women leading the way.
Actively seeking mentors (28 per cent), building or nurturing a network (23 per cent) and mentoring others (21 per cent) were also key opportunities pursued by Malaysians.
LinkedIn also gathered that over one in four (26 per cent) Malaysians started looking for opportunities to move to a new career path.
Learning new soft skills — including creative thinking, problem solving and effective communication — was ranked as the first learning opportunity people were looking for in Malaysia (31 per cent), and this was sought after more by Gen Z, students and career starters.
Learning new hard skills — business analytics, artificial intelligence and cloud computing — were ranked second (30 per cent) and were sought after by Gen Z, millennials and students.
“About a year on since Covid19 hit us, many continue to struggle from job loss and job instability. Yet it is heartening to see that people have also turned their focus towards helping the community,” LinkedIn’s APAC Learning and Talent Solutions vice president Feon Ang said.
“This is also a journey that we are working towards at LinkedIn because we believe in the power of community in helping others get back on their feet.
“We have also stepped up efforts to initiate mentorship opportunities for job seekers facing more barriers with our LinkedIn Coaches and Network Gap Alliance.”
The survey showed that 78 per cent of Malaysians have worked from home, and 34 per
cent of women feel satisfied with current work home arrangements, compared to 31 per cent of men.
While working from home posed challenges which resulted in poor productivity (51 per cent), an overwhelming majority were worried about Covid-19 affecting their health if they returned to an office setting environment.
As a result, half were willing to work from home one to two times a week and one-third expressed the desire to work from home three to four times a week.
With the increase in remote work, it is important for organisations to look after the well-being of their employees by encouraging work-life balance.
This is likely to encourage more women to re-enter the workforce, as the flexibility will allow them to balance work and family responsibilities.
While many women in Malaysia now have the flexibility to work from home, they face other barriers when it comes to achieving opportunities, including lack of time (65 per cent) and their financial status (64 per cent).
Lack of confidence or fear of failure (61 per cent) and a difficult job market (60 per cent) are also cited as barriers women face.
In spite of these barriers, women are prepared to work hard, but they desire equal access to opportunities as men.
In fact, women see these two as among the most important aspects (80 per cent and 72 per cent respectively) to getting ahead in life.
45 per cent of women feel they have fewer career advancement opportunities than men, and four in 10 feel they are paid less than men in their profession.
In fact, almost six in 10 women in Malaysia have experienced that their gender played a role in missing out on opportunities, promotion and pay raises.
LinkedIn’s research suggested that this mindset may stem from broader societal perceptions around gender.
While 58 per cent think that gender equality is an important value for a fair society, close to half (44 per cent) feel that gender equality has improved compared to their parent’s time.
Furthermore, one third think that gender equality is impossible to achieve.
This potentially shows that Malaysians feel not much more can or should be done to further gender equality.
“Malaysia’s workforce has taken a hit due to Covid-19 across the board, women included,” Ang said.
“The lack of time is the top barrier for women today — likely due to having to juggle remote working and family responsibilities.
“We also know that women are seeking to get ahead in life, and want equal access to opportunity as men. As a society, we need to start changing our societal perceptions on gender.”