While staff in SG most digital-ready, they are also the most likely to leave

Employees in Singapore are the most prepared in Asia Pacific for increasing digitalisation in the workplace according to a new report by Workday, a enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resource firm said.In a study conducted by Workday and global market intelligence firm, IDC, titled "The Drive for the Digitally-enabled Workforce", it was revealed that more than two-thirds (68%) of Singaporeans are confident that they have the right skill-set to thrive in digital economy, followed by Australia and Malaysia (tied at 63%). 82% of Singapore employees see better career prospects because of the digital economy.Singapore is among the top two countries with high digitalisation awareness. Around three quarters (74%) of respondents say they expect a high impact of technology in the workplace after Korea at 81%.“Our research shows that Singapore’s efforts to prepare the country’s workforce for rising digitalisation, including the Smart Nation initiative are paying off. Singapore is clearly leading others in the region in digital preparedness,” said Jasie Fon, managing director, Workday Southeast Asia.“While there is clear recognition among workers of the benefits of digitalisation, we also see that there is room for Singapore employers to be more proactive in engaging their employees for increased productivity,” added Fon.War on talentSingapore employees have the highest expected turnover rate in Asia Pacific where 46% are likely to leave their jobs within a year, followed by Malaysia (38%) and Australia (35%).The main ‘pull factors’ for switching jobs in Singapore include better pay/rewards (26%), better career prospects (15%) and better work-life balance (13%). The main ‘push factors’ are lack of career prospects (16%), being underpaid (15%) and not enjoying the work that they do (13%).Almost half of Singapore employees (49%) feel their managers are not proactively engaging them about digitalisation to future-proof their careers. New Zealand was the highest at 61%, closely followed by Japan and Korea (tied at 60%). One in two employees in Singapore see digitalisation as a threat to their jobs, one of the highest in the region, after Korea (62%) and Hong Kong (57%).The study was based on a survey with over 1,400 employees in eight countries across the region: Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia and Thailand. The respondents surveyed included representation from start-ups, 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%).