Workers in Asia Pacific See Digital Economy as Threat

Almost half (47%) of employees in Asia Pacific, or APAC, see the rising digital economy as a threat to their jobs, according to a new report by 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 employees in South Korea (62%) felt most at risk, followed by employees in Hong Kong (57%) and Singapore (50%). New Zealand (31%) and Australia (39%) felt the least at threat, CMO.com reported.

The study also found that 43% of employees in APAC plan to switch jobs within the next year. The country with the highest forecast employee turnover in the next year is Singapore at 46%.

“Digitalization brings both threats and opportunities. Businesses across the region need to accelerate re-skilling initiatives and engage employees proactively to prepare them for the digital challenges ahead,” said David Hope, President, Workday Asia Pacific.

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

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

The respondents surveyed included representation from startups, established enterprises, various sized companies, 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%).