BEIJING: Young people have shown increasing preferences for flexible work — both in locations and schedules — because of the growing digital economy and emergence of new professions.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China’s digital economy has increased by 15.9 percent annually since 2012, reaching 45.5 trillion yuan ($6.32 trillion) last year.
Facing the growing digital economy and new vacancies incubated in the sector such as deliverymen and livestreaming anchors, young people, especially those born after 2000, are expressing a stronger willingness for flexible work relations with companies, and also wish to become “digital workers” with flexible work locations and schedules.
A report by recruitment platform Zhaopin and Peking University’s National School of Development released on Wednesday said that nearly 66 percent of surveyed employees born after 2000 prefer to work from home. The number is higher than surveyed people born after 1970, with about 54.4 percent of them preferring the new way. The report said that about 76.4 percent of these young employees born after 2000 have a willingness to be flexible “digital workers”. Also, roughly 54 percent of employees surveyed have side jobs using their professional skills, according to the report. n“The internet can do anything for me. I check emails from my clients and submit my proposals through WeChat, then we discuss plans via teleconference. I love working from home actually,” said Mi Lu, a 28-year-old new media operator in Beijing.
–The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
