ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an acceleration unlike any other in terms of digital and technological acceleration for the entire world and also within Malaysia. The sudden and rapid need for organisations as well as businesses to shift their day-to-day operations online has changed the way people are working everywhere. And what that means is now more than ever, there is a huge increase in demand for a workforce that is ready and can pioneer this new age of rising technological needs in conjunction with the government's aim of heading towards Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0). Micro-credential (MC) has grown in popularity in recent years and have been labelled as a new disruptor to lifelong learning and higher learning. The Malaysian workforce and job seekers now have more options in their reskilling and upskilling efforts as they seek to remain relevant in the present-day job market which has shifted towards a digital transformation. An extensive study is proposed to be done to explore the current status quo of MC in Malaysia from the viewpoint of the hiring parties in the tech-related job markets as well as how MC will be able to play a part in the continuous growth of the tech and digital ecosystem in Malaysia. © 2023 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Almost half of all jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area are "remote-eligible” – more than any other metropolitan area in the United States, due to the high concentration of employees in the technology sector who were early to embrace teleworking at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Any significant share of these tech workers staying remote may have profound long-term impacts on aggregate travel patterns in the region. This research seeks to predict the magnitude of these impacts and derive insights about the newly learned behaviors of tech workers, as indicative of remote-eligible workers in general. A survey of over 660 tech workers ran from November 2021 to March 2022, asking about participants' employers and remote work policies, commute details and mode preferences, non-work trips, and interest in relocation. Respondents expected employer-driven hybrid arrangements of 2–3 days per week in the office after the pandemic, which in turn dictated the number of predicted future commuting trips and suppressed interest in relocation. Though almost half of respondents expressed interest in moving, they only planned to move a median of 20.93 miles – staying within the region but shifting away from their offices and towards less dense and more automobile-oriented suburban neighborhoods. Additionally, those moving more than ten miles from their office are likely to switch to less sustainable travel modes. On the other hand, robust observed retention of online shopping habits for groceries and food delivery may mitigate the added vehicle trips caused by rebound effects. © 2023 The Author(s)