Filinvest Group’s innovation arm F(DEV) initiated a digital readiness research revealing that the majority of Filipino workers consider digital innovation crucial to their work, but only half believe that the companies they work for are putting in the resources to drive innovation. In partnership with market research firm Tangere, the Philippine Employee Digital Readiness Report polled more than 700 professionals from different industries to gauge the digital readiness of companies and their employees.
The Philippine Employee Digital Readiness Study by innovation outfit F(DEV) is a nationwide survey that reveals TikTok is the most effective method of consumption of educational content on digital innovation and skills
This
study is driven by Filinvest's commitment to fostering a workforce that is
future-ready and globally competitive. The report gives a wider perspective of
the Philippine companies’ level of digital presence and adoption as well as the
key barriers to innovation. With people transformation deemed as a crucial
aspect of digitalization, the report offers insights on how companies can
leverage employee dispositions toward strengthening a culture of innovation and empowering their employees.
“We believe that innovation is
about disrupting ourselves first before others can disrupt us. While we've
initiated various programs internally in collaboration with industry experts,
our primary objective was to gather unbiased data into employees' perspectives
on innovation and the factors that drive their ability to innovate. The
findings have not only reaffirmed the effectiveness of our existing programs,
but have also unveiled exciting opportunities to elevate our strategies for
empowering our workforce to be future-ready,” said Xavier Marzan, Group Chief Digital
Officer of the Filinvest Group and CEO of F(DEV).
Marzan
added, “We are excited to release the
insights from this study with the aim of
fostering growth and innovation across various industries in the Philippines.
By gaining deeper insights into our workforce, we empower our industry peers to
embrace new ways of working and become more innovative as well.”
Digital innovation and key
barriers
Majority of Filipino employees
consider digital innovation as highly important to both their individual (91
percent) and team-related (98 percent) work.
Although 52 percent of employees surveyed deem their companies to be
highly innovative, and 88 percent believe their work environment is suitable
for innovation, 47 percent cite the lack of resources and support to innovate
or unpreparedness for innovation as the biggest barrier to digital adoption. Budget or financial cost comes
second at 42 percent, and the lack of relevant knowledge or skills comes third
at 38 percent.
PH employees’ readiness for innovation
Interestingly,
despite these barriers, Filipino employees remain keen on upskilling. Most are
eager to explore new ways of learning. Seventy percent of the respondents are
willing to invest in and learn more about business innovation and leadership.
Other areas of interest include design thinking, product development, graphic
design, and marketing (65 percent), as well as data-related skills such as
collection, analysis, and laws (59 percent).
Understanding where and how
employees prefer to upskill is crucial. Social media platforms have emerged as
the most favored source of learning today. Notably, 44 percent rank TikTok as
the most effective platform for consuming educational content, followed closely
by YouTube at 38 percent, and Facebook at 36 percent. These preferences open up
opportunities for companies to leverage these platforms for effective skills
development. Gone are the days of
traditional corporate training methods and organizations need to open up easily
accessible content and development opportunities for their people.
People Transformation: Bedrock of digital transformation
The findings of the survey
corroborate the people transformation agenda of the Filinvest Group . Through F(DEV), the group has been leveraging people transformation programs to future-proof Filinvest for
its employees, customers, and stakeholders.
“Guided by our people transformation agenda, our Open
Collaboration and Open Learning programs
have evolved our workplace dynamic into one that encourages
everyone to create and innovate. These
initiatives have fostered a culture of customer-centricity, accountability, and
innovation,” shared Isabelle Yap,
Chairperson at F(DEV).
In partnership with industry experts, startups, and tech
enterprises, F(DEV) has been creating various “Open Collaboration” and “Open
Learning” initiatives to ready its people for a dynamically and fast-changing
environment. A series of free learning and upskilling events for Filinvest
employees runs throughout the year, with themes focusing on a wide range of
topics – from Design Thinking, Customer Centricity, User Interface (UI) / User
Experience (UX), Data & Analytics, and AI. F(DEV) also holds an annual
conglomerate-wide Hackathons to
challenge and empower Filinvest’s employees by allowing them to create
innovative ideas and address real operational dilemmas.
HR
and Digital Transformation leaders in the Philippines can look further into the
Philippine Employee Digital Readiness Report for insights into the critical
intersection of people transformation and digital innovation. By understanding
the challenges, interests, and preferences of employees, businesses can take
proactive steps to bridge the gap between digital aspirations and
implementation.
The Philippine Digital Employee
Readiness Report can be downloaded through this link.