Employees in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region prefer to be treated as individuals rather than collectively with team members, says a survey by recruitment company PERSOLKELLY.

The survey, which included over 9,000 hiring managers, candidates in nine APAC countries, including India, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Australia and Malaysia, highlights that over half of the employees desire to be treated as an individual than as part of a team.

What Workforce Wants

India (59 per cent), Indonesia (56 per cent) and Thailand (57 per cent) placed the highest value on individuality. Malaysia (48 per cent), Australia (48 per cent), and Hong Kong (49 per cent), on the other hand, placed the least value on individuality.

The main reasons for the preference towards individuality are the desire for individual skills and talents to be recognized (69 per cent), and for personal contributions to be rewarded (60 per cent).

Other Key Findings

The “2018 APAC Workforce Insights Personalised Workforce: The Individual vs the Team” report had some other interesting findings as well.

It found that freelancers are more likely to agree that workers today prefer to be treated as an individual rather than as part of a team. “This is not surprising given the likelihood that freelancers have chosen this way of working so they can find roles that fit their individual circumstances and/or interests,” says the report.

Different sectors threw different findings, education (55%),legal (56%), arts/entertainment (55%), and other industries were most likely to acknowledge that employees prefer to be treated as individuals rather than as part of a team.

When one of the hiring managers in the survey was asked what they thought were the main challenges facing organizations today with regards to recruitment and retention of staff, the response was: “Culture is everything and most corporate governance is focused on employee performance with little offered in terms of social development. Understanding individuals and appreciating their value within an organization is often shadowed by KPIs (key performance indicators).”

According to the findings, the freelancers (57%) were likely to agree that workers today prefer to be treated as an individual rather than as part of a team. While permanent full-time workers (53%) as well as casual/temporary workers (50%). The least likely to value individuality were those, who were looking for work (45%).

Age Matters

Gen Zers are more likely to agree that job seekers are looking for individualized employment experiences. To better attract and retain young talent, managers need to increasingly understand what makes each team member tick, as well as their personal and career aspirations, the report says.