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In today’s competitive business landscape, achieving gender equity in the workplace is not just a moral imperative – it’s a strategic necessity.
Our Michael Page Talent Trends 2024: The Expectation Gap Report sheds light on the current state of gender equity in Hong Kong’s workplaces, revealing both progress and persistent challenges.
Understanding these insights for hiring managers and leadership teams is crucial for creating more inclusive and equitable work environments that attract top talent and retain top performers.
The pandemic catalysed a significant shift in workplace dynamics across APAC, with flexibility emerging as a new norm.
Our talent trends 2024 report shows that professionals in Hong Kong now consider flexible work arrangements as the third most important factor after salary when job hunting.
This change, born out of necessity during lockdowns, has become a permanent feature of the work landscape in Hong Kong’s compact urban environment and tech-savvy workforce.
While offering potential benefits for work-life balance, this shift also presents new challenges for gender equity in the workplace.
Gender equity focuses on fairness by providing support based on individual needs, recognising that different genders may have different starting points. In contrast, workplace gender equality means giving everyone the same rights and opportunities. Both approaches foster gender diversity, with equity ensuring individuals get what they need to succeed.
Gender stereotypes can hinder progress by reinforcing traditional roles and expectations, limiting opportunities for all genders to thrive equally in diverse environments.
Also, gender discrimination, which involves treating individuals unfairly based on their gender, creates further barriers to equal opportunities and undermines efforts to achieve both gender equity and diversity.
Together, these challenges highlight the importance of breaking down gender bias to foster a more equitable environment.
As organisations in Hong Kong adapt to these evolving expectations, the impact on gender equity remains a critical consideration in fostering inclusive work environments.
Our data reveals a nuanced picture of how women feel about workplace gender equity efforts in Hong Kong:
Hong Kong’s gender pay gap initiatives appear to be falling short of expectations, with just 23% of women satisfied with their employers' efforts. The predominant neutral response (37%), combined with dissatisfaction (27%), suggests a critical need for more transparent and decisive action on pay equity.
The level of disinterest (13%) could indicate fatigue with ineffective initiatives or a lack of confidence in current approaches. These findings point to an urgent need for Hong Kong organisations to strengthen their commitment to pay equity through more visible, measurable actions and improved communication about their efforts and outcomes.
Related: The role of salary transparency in reducing workplace inequality
Hong Kong organisations appear to be facing substantial challenges in their women’s equity and inclusion efforts, with an overwhelming majority of women either neutral (43%) or dissatisfied (33%). The strikingly low satisfaction rate (14%) suggests current initiatives may be missing the mark or falling short of expectations.
The level of disinterest (10%), combined with the high neutral response, could indicate a need to fundamentally rethink approaches to gender equity in Hong Kong workplaces. These findings point to an urgent need for organisations to revitalise their commitment to women’s inclusion through more concrete, impactful actions and measurable outcomes.
Female leadership representation in Hong Kong appears to be falling significantly short of expectations, with nearly half (44%) of women expressing dissatisfaction. The equal split between satisfied and neutral responses (28% each) indicates that even among those not actively dissatisfied, there's considerable room for improvement.
These figures suggest that despite Hong Kong’s position as a global business hub, organisations may be struggling to create effective pathways for women’s advancement into leadership roles. The data points to an urgent need for more targeted efforts to identify and remove barriers to women’s leadership progression, and to implement more effective programmes for developing and promoting female talent.
Related: Asia's female leaders: How to be more confident at work
Our report also highlights significant differences in how men and women prioritise various Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives:
The prioritisation of DE&I initiatives in Hong Kong shows a clear gender divide in perceived urgency of various issues. Women’s priorities reflect immediate concerns about gender equality, particularly around pay and leadership representation, suggesting these remain significant challenges in Hong Kong workplaces.
Men’s priorities demonstrate a stronger focus on age discrimination and racial/ethnic diversity, with gender issues appearing lower in their rankings. This disparity in priorities might explain some of the challenges in advancing gender equity initiatives, as those in leadership positions (predominantly men) may not share the same sense of urgency about gender-related workplace issues as their female colleagues.
Related: How HR needs to evolve to support the future of work
While our data reveals clear differences in how men and women prioritise DE&I initiatives, it’s crucial to recognise the role men play in advancing workplace gender equity.
The fact that closing the gender pay gap appears in men’s top five priorities, albeit at a lower rank, indicates some level of awareness and concern. Having two women-specific issues in men’s top priorities suggests some understanding on the issue.
This discrepancy highlights the need for increased awareness and engagement among men, particularly those in leadership positions, regarding the challenges women face in the workplace.
Bridging this perception gap is essential, as men often hold positions of influence that can drive significant change in organisational policies and workplace culture.
Related: How leaders can gain better engagement with their teams
These findings have several important implications for hiring managers and leadership teams:
Bridging the gender gap in Hong Kong’s workplaces is an ongoing process that requires sustained effort and commitment. While progress has been made, our Talent Trends 2024 report clearly shows that there’s still work to be done.
By understanding and addressing women’s perspectives on workplace equity, organisations can create more inclusive environments that attract and retain female talent, foster innovation, and improve overall performance.
The message for hiring managers and leadership teams is clear: prioritising gender equity is not just about meeting DE&I targets but creating a workplace where all employees can thrive, contribute their best, and drive the organisation forward.
Discover the latest in workforce trends in our latest Michael Page Hong Kong Talent Trends 2024 report: The Expectation Gap. This survey report findings are based on responses from 12,940 job seekers, employees and employers across Asia Pacific, of which 464 are from Hong Kong.
It covers career insights that talent leaders and hiring professionals need to know to attract and retain talent. Also, download our report or use our interactive online tool to gain deeper, up-to-date insights into the current talent market.
Read more:Why should someone be led by you?5 ways to use negative feedback to your advantage9 common mistakes hiring managers should avoid in job interviews
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