The company released its third quarter consumer survey yesterday, saying that a happy balance between work and home was the biggest concern of Indonesians after financial stability.
"What is interesting is that the work-life balance is the second concern for Indonesians, whereas in Asia-Pacific countries it only ranks fourth," Nielsen Indonesia managing director Catherine Eddy told reporters during a press briefing in Jakarta.
The Nielsen survey, which involved 500 Indonesian respondents through online interviews, showed that 24 per cent felt that balancing work and personal social life was a major concern that affected confidence indicators. The survey reported that 31 per cent of respondents ranked their economic situation as their most important concern.
Meanwhile, citizens in neighbouring countries do not think that their office workload affects their relations with family and friends, with the exception of those living in Singapore and Philippines.
Work-life balance was not listed as among the top-five concerns among citizens of Vietnam, Thailand and Australia, while it ranked fourth in terms of major concerns among Malaysians.
Based on respondent interviews, there is also a tendency among respondents to believe that their jobs had become more stressful in recent years, which Eddy argued was a rational consequence of the country's rapid economic progress.
"Employers [in Indonesia] have to respond [to this survey] by providing more flexible working hours for their employees," she suggested.
Despite the concerns, Indonesia retained its position as the country with the highest level of consumer confidence among the 58 countries surveyed by Nielsen, thanks to economic resilience stemming from its robust domestic consumption.
According to Nielsen, Indonesia's consumer confidence index was 119 in the third quarter, on par with India as the world’s most confident country. Consumers are considered optimistic if the index is above 100 and pessimistic if it is below 100.
The survey shows that 80 per cent of Indonesians are optimistic about the state of their personal finances over the next year, and 65 per cent of Indonesians are confident about job prospects in the country. In comparison, only 13 per cent and 6 per cent of Koreans are confident about their financial condition and job prospects, respectively.
Another interesting fact, noted by the survey, is the fact that Indonesian consumers are less keen to spend their disposable income, especially for the purpose of vacation or for buying new clothes.
Only 29 per cent of Indonesians opt to spend their spare money on holidays and vacations, well below Asia-Pacific countries’ average of 36 per cent, while only 16 per cent of Indonesians prefer to splurge on new clothes.
Most Indonesians, or 73 per cent, prefer to put their spare money into savings, making Indonesia the country with the highest savings rate among the Asia-Pacific countries surveyed by Nielsen.
"If you see people flocking to shopping malls in Indonesia, the question is: 'Are they really spending?' I think it [going to shopping malls] is more about lifestyle […] they are not all about shopping," Eddy said.-Asia News Network (November 01, 2012)
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