Job security fears over lack of digital skills

The world is fast transforming into a digital one with consumers changing their purchasing habits, as well as organisations adopting new digital strategies to grow their business and maintain a competitive edge. This seems to have hit the confidence of employees in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia with many stating that in order to guarantee employability in the future, they need to acquire more digital skills.

When looking at the regional average across Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, 84% of employees stated they needed additional digital skills to guarantee future employability compared to a lower global average of 64%. 59% of employees across the three countries went on further to explain that their current roles involved large amounts of repetitive tasks that could be automated, compared to the global average of 44%.

Employees in Malaysia held the highest concern for their job security with nine in ten stating that they needed to acquire digital skills. In addition, seven in ten stated that their current jobs involved a lot of repetitive work that could be automated, a major reason for their concern over their aptitude for digital work.

Ever the pessimist

Hong Kong millennials, were the only respondents among Singapore and Malaysia to feel a stronger need to digitally up skill than their older colleagues, aged 35 to 54.

While many feel that their organisations in the region are prepared with digital strategies, 84% of employees in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia also feel that the skill sets required to drive these strategies forward are lacking in their respective countries. In comparison, only 58% of employees mirrored these sentiments on a global level.