Two in five Malaysians fear losing their jobs in the digital economy

By Digital News Asia July 9, 2018

Thirty-seven percent of employees feel they do not have the right skills to compete.
Positive work/life balance is the main driver for happy and engaged employees.

Two in five Malaysians fear losing their jobs in the digital economy

MORE than two in five Malaysian employees (43%) feel their jobs are at risk due to an increasingly digital economy, according to Workday, a leader in enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources.

In a study conducted by Workday and global market intelligence firm, IDC, titled ‘The Drive for the Digitally-enabled Workforce’, it was revealed that while Malaysian employees have a high awareness of digitalisation, with almost three-quarters (73%) expecting greater use of technology in the workplace, over a third (37%) feel they do not have the right skills to compete in an increasingly digital economy.

The study was based on a survey with over 1,400 employees in eight countries across the region: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

It comes as there is an overwhelming trend towards digitalisation in the Asia Pacific, with at least 60% of its GDP (excluding Japan) being digitalised by 2021.

“The research shows there will be growth in every industry driven by digitally enhanced offerings, operations and relationships,” said Workday Southeast Asia managing director Jasie Fon.

“This wave of digitalisation brings both new opportunities and threats. Businesses in Malaysia must invest in training and reskilling initiatives to ensure their employees are prepared for the challenges ahead,” added Fon.

The key findings of the report include:

Digital workplaces

Malaysia is among the top three countries with a high digitalisation awareness in the Asia Pacific.

Around three quarters (73%) of respondents in Malaysia say they expect a high impact of technology in the workplace - following South Korea (78%) and Singapore (74%).

Despite the high digitalisation awareness, 44% of Malaysian employees feel their managers are not proactively engaging them about digitalisation to future-proof their careers.

Around two in five (43%) Malaysian employees see digitalisation as a threat to their jobs.

Thirty-seven percent of Malaysian employees feel that they do not have the right skills to compete in the digital economy.

The war for talent

Malaysia has among the highest turnover rates in the region with 38% of employees saying they are likely to switch jobs in the next 12 months.

In Malaysia, positive work/life balance (15%) is the main driver for happy and engaged employees, followed by positive work relationships with colleagues and managers (13%) and work which leverages on employees’ strengths, experience and capabilities (12%).

The main ‘pull factors’ for switching jobs in Malaysia include better pay/reward (23%), better career prospects (17%) and better work/life balance (14%).

The respondents surveyed included representation from start-ups to established enterprises, across different genders and a mix of 50% millennials, 40% Generation X’ers and 10% Baby Boomers.

Respondents were primarily professionals (36%), clerical workers (31%), service and sales workers (10%) and legislators and senior officials (7%).