HKPC Launches “Future of Work & Tech Experience Day”

Hybrid Work Sets Tone for New Normal　FutureSkills Charts a New Course for Enterprises

HONG KONG SAR – Media
OutReach – 3 June 2021 – The Hong Kong
Productivity Council (HKPC) held its first “Future of Work & Tech
Experience Day” today, attracting over
100 human resources (HR) professionals and industry practitioners. The seminar also
featured sharing by company executives and HR experts on future trends at work and
the importance of FutureSkills.

 

HKPC’s “Future of Work & Tech Experience Day” was kicked off by Mr Mohamed Butt, Executive Director of HKPC (centre), Dr Lawrence Cheung, Chief Innovation Officer of HKPC (forth from left), Ms Eliza Ng, Chief People and Culture Officer of HKPC (fifth from right), Ms Karen Fung, General Manager, InnoPrenuer (SME & Startup Growth) and FutureSkills of HKPC (third from left) and various executives and HR experts in the industry.

 

Also, at the event’s “Experience Zones”,
participants were able to acquire first-hand experience on the efforts of HKPC
Academy of HKPC to combine technologies such as drones, robots, e-sport and
virtual reality with creativity and team spirit for inclusion in the training content
so as to enhance the FutureSkills of the trainees, equipping them for the
future.

 

The event also announced the results of “The Future of Work
& Skills Survey”. Jointly conducted by HKPC and Quokka HR between April and
May this year to explore the difficulties for Hong Kong enterprises to
implement remote work, the Survey interviewed over local 600 employers and
employees online with the following results:

 

Employers

• 81% of employers
  think hybrid work is feasible in the future while 62% of them have plans to
  implement it permanently;
• Most of the respondents feel
  that hybrid work would increase work arrangement flexibility and develop a
  flexible hiring strategy, as well as reduce company cost;
• Nearly 90% of employers would include basic IT knowledge and digital
  skills as a “must” requirement in job hiring;
• Only 31% of employers think their workforce are
  equipped with the skill sets to fully adapt to the new normal;
• 56% of employers are willing to provide IT and digital
  related trainings for their staff
• Employers cited team communications, management and motivation as the top
  three challenges in hybrid work*;
• Top three IT challenges: risks of data security (58%), lack of internal IT professionals (37%) and proper
  IT infrastructure (34%)*
• Top five digital skills gap: big data, cloud
  computing, artificial intelligence, digital marketing and eCommerce*

Employees

• 93% of respondents believe hybrid work is feasible; 72% prefer it to be their
  future mode of work;
• Most of the respondents believe that hybrid work is a way to achieve
  work-life balance and half of them feel it can facilitate better
  time-management and cost saving*;
• Respondents in general said teamwork, homeworking and network
  connectivity will be their three challenges in hybrid work*;
• To cope with the new normal, 82% of employee respondents say they will
  need to upgrade their IT knowledge and digital skills such as artificial
  intelligence, big data, cloud technology, etc.
• 83% expect their employers to arrange the relevant trainings in order to
  enhance productivity and competitiveness;
• 70% of employees would have remote/hybrid work as an important factor
  for consideration for their future work

* Can choose more than one option

 

Taking all
these into account, the Survey showed that most of the employers and employees
polled would prefer hybrid work, similar to the results of other surveys of the
same nature conducted under COVID-19. As remote work and hybrid work are new
trends during and post-pandemic, they are posing an unprecedented challenge for
Hong Kong enterprises and their employees. Enterprises will need to strengthen
IT infrastructure and staff training to achieve higher productivity and
competitiveness.

 

HKPC always
strives to provide support for enterprises to embark on the journey of
innovation and transformation. It organises various courses on FutureSkills
development to strengthen the talent pool, enabling enterprises to grasp the
latest digital and STEM technologies to enhance enterprise skills and market
competitiveness. The Survey reported that 82% of employees felt the need to
upgrade their IT knowledge and digital skills, with 83% wishing their employers
to arrange the relevant trainings. HKPC Academy will organise more related
courses for enterprises and staff to better “equip for the future” under the
post-pandemic new normal.

 

Also, nearly
60% of employers demanded technical support for data security risks. To address
the potential data leakages and cyber security vulnerabilities, the Hong Kong
Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT) of HKPC regularly
organises cyber security seminars and releases educational videos to remind
enterprises of the correct application of cloud and Internet of Things technologies to guard against cyber attacks. In
the future, it will be more proactive in working for the cyber security of Hong
Kong enterprises and their employees.

 

Mr Mohamed
Butt, Executive Director of HKPC, said, “The pandemic has accelerated the
digital transformation of enterprises around the world. With remote operation
and work becoming a trend under the new normal, many Hong Kong enterprises are
facing unprecedented challenges. More and more of them are aware of the
importance of ‘equipping for the future with FutureSkills’ to enhance digital
skills and industry knowledge to cope with the new future trend at work. In
terms of nurturing of talents, HKPC has been sparing no effort. HKPC Academy is
providing various courses on FutureSkills development to strengthen the local
talent pool, helping enterprises and workers understand the latest digital and
STEM technologies while enhancing company skills and market competitiveness.”

 

Ms Eliza Ng,
Chief People and Culture Officer of HKPC, said, “HKPC attaches great importance
to staff training and offers training subsidies to encourage staff to achieve
self-enhancement by enrolling in courses relevant to their job duties. It also
collaborates with universities to provide on-the-job training for tertiary
students to acquire actual work experience and explore employment opportunities
in the research sector to enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong. Last year,
it even launched ‘Winter Internship’ and organised
‘Smarter Talent Gala’ for young people to learn about local research
development and opportunities and the efforts of HKPC in promoting the
development of smart city with I&T.”

 

Ms Karen Fung,
General Manager, InnoPrenuer (SME & Startup
Growth) and FutureSkills of HKPC, said, “With technology
being applied in various sectors, training of talents has become the most
imminent task for enterprises. As the best partner in training, HKPC Academy is
committed to promoting diversified FutureSkills courses, offering appropriate
training for skilled and non-skilled workers. It also supports the Government’s
‘Matching Grant Scheme for Skills Upgrading’ with a
matching ratio to cap at 3:1 and ‘Reindustrialisation and Technology Training Programme’, to enable employees
from various sectors to equip themselves for transformation in order to cope
with future challenges at work.”

 

For more
information about HKPC Academy’s FutureSkills courses, please read the
attachment or visit the dedicated website: https://www.hkpcacademy.org/futureskills/.