Pinoy Gen Zs prefer remote work – survey

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino students prefer to work remotely and expect to earn an annual salary of P374,403 or around P31,000 per month once they finish school, according to a survey conducted by an employer branding firm.

While lower from last year’s P495,966 or P41,000 per month, this year’s average salary expectation of students is still significantly higher than the minimum wage for Filipino workers, Universum’s Talent Survey 2023 showed.

A majority or 82 percent of the respondents said that they are interested in remote work opportunities. But they also cited possible issues with that setup, with internet connectivity on top at 46 percent.

The survey, conducted from November 2022 to March 2023, polled 5,698 students from 103 universities across the country.

Most of the respondents were Gen Zs or those between 16 and 23 years old.

In Metro Manila, the minimum wage is P570 per day for non-agricultural workers or around P12,540 per month with 22 work days.

The survey found that the average annual salary expectation of male respondents were 10 percent higher than women at P399,081 against P360,606.

The annual salary expectation is also higher among students taking up science, technology, engineering and mathematics or STEM (P394,422) compared to those in business and commerce (P357,570) and humanities, liberal arts and education (P355,207).

Concerns

Other concerns related to remote work include failing to maintain work-life balance (42 percent), isolation and missing out on social connection with co-workers (42 percent), employer bias for in-person workers (39 percent), less earnings (38 percent), getting left out of important meetings (33 percent) and ineffective onboarding into the organization (16 percent).

In terms of what respondent students are looking for in a company, professional training and development took the top spot, followed by a friendly work environment, flexible working conditions, high future earnings and ethical standards.

Completing the list are encouraging work-life balance, respect for people, secure employment, good reference for future career and opportunities for international travel or relocation.

More respondents prefer an established organization (79 percent) over a startup (21 percent) as well as an organization with global operations (74 percent) over those that operate solely in the Philippines (26 percent).

More young Filipinos also prefer to work in the  private sector (54 percent) over government (46 percent), as well as in a large city (69 percent) over a small to medium-sized town (31 percent).

Top preferred employers include Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Philippine Airlines, Google, Ayala and San Miguel for business and commerce students; Google, Microsoft, Intel, Ayala and Pfizer for STEM students and Google, ABS-CBN, GMA Network, Philippine Airlines and Microsoft for those in humanities, liberal arts and education.

“The findings of our latest study reveal that the country’s future workforce is attuned to the challenges faced by the Philippine labor market. This means that the future job-seekers will be more selective with their choice of employer and will look not only at what the company is about but also at how the employer can help them achieve their mid- to long-term professional and personal goals,” Mike Parsons, Universum’s managing director for Asia Pacific, said in a statement.

“The findings of this study remind us of the importance of understanding the preferences of the country’s future talent pool and how organizations can prepare or address those. The challenge for employers who want to attract the best and brightest is to juggle providing a work environment that presents opportunities but at the same time offers flexibility and work-life balance,” he added.

“Awareness among companies of what future employees seek would be valuable not only in hiring the best candidate but also in retaining them, which is essential for both the individual’s and the company’s growth and success,” Parsons said.