COVID-19 saw our lives change nearly overnight. As Asia-Pacific responded to the crisis, organizations quickly adapted to support a remote workforce. Digital transformations that would normally take months, if not years, were managed in days and weeks.

While remote work isn’t new, COVID-19 made it a sudden priority. Across the region, many organizations are still navigating the new demands and constraints on their work. 

However, there are early signs in the region that working from home could become a permanent trend. Looking at job postings on LinkedIn across key APAC markets, the study can observes an uptick in remote job postings and applications.

Globally, the volume of job searches using the “remote” filter on LinkedIn has increased by 60 percent since the start of March. In Asia-Pacific, applications for remote jobs are growing too, showing an increasing demand for remote work among job seekers.

Strong growth can be observed in remote job applications across key markets, such as China, India, New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore.

India leads the pack in terms of remote job application growth, as it grew by a multiple of 4.65 between March and May. Malaysia recorded the slowest growth, with an increase of just 1.5 times.

The difference in uptake of remote work between countries can be attributed to a wide range of factors, from infrastructure capabilities and sector compositions - to cultural factors like presenteeism.

Early trends suggest organizations are recognizing these benefits, and embracing the change, although there are different rates of uptake across the regions.

Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines are leading the region for growth in remote job postings, while Singapore and Malaysia are nearly half the global trend.

Working from home and other flexible or remote work arrangements may not suit all roles, however, what 2020 have shown is that all workplaces can adapt and innovate new solutions quickly when called upon.  Looking across the talent market it’s clear some roles are more suited to remote work than others.

Further, LinkedIn pulled together the remote jobs that saw the most applications across key talent markets in the region. Frequent entries across the region include Technical Support Engineer, Customer Support Representative, and Solutions Architect - suggesting organizations are incorporating new technology into their operations, or perhaps helping customers adapt to new workflows too.

Here are the biggest gainers in key markets across APAC: