This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on May 25, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian employers, together with their counterparts in Singapore and Hong Kong, are ignoring the importance of work-life balance, though employee preference for the same has peaked, according to a study by recruitment firm Randstad.

Based on the study, the importance of work-life balance has continued to rise to become one of the most important attractiveness factors in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

However, employers in all three markets performed “so poorly in the aspect of work-life balance that the factor ended close to the bottom of the ranking”, it said in a statement yesterday.

In comparison, employers ranked financial health and good reputation the highest. To potential employees, however, while a company’s financial health is considered “fairly important”, good reputation is not much of a priority.

This, according to Randstad, further highlighted the expectation gap between employers and employees.

“A gap in expectations of a pleasant work atmosphere was also found between employees and employers. The attractiveness factor ranked fairly highly among employees. However, employers scored poorly in this area — just one position higher than work-life balance,” it said.

Randstad Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia managing director Michael Smith said the results revealed by this year’s Randstad Employer Brand Research were far from encouraging.

“It’s widely known that work-life balance has become highly important for employees of all demographics. Our research just reaffirmed and measured that attribute.

“Whether organisations are resting their laurels on being financially healthy and having a strong reputation, or whether their current work-life balance initiatives are not strong enough, it’s clear that employer branding efforts need to be very carefully re-examined.

“The stakes are high for these organisations. By not addressing the evolving wants and needs of employees, they risk losing the very talent that helped them build their strong reputations and financial health,” said Smith.

The findings of the annual research, covering 75 largest companies across the globe with over 160,000 global respondents, culminate in the Randstad Employer Brand Award, which is in its 17th edition this year. The award is presented each year to the most attractive employer in 26 countries across the globe.