PH employees find digital innovation crucial to work but lack resources and support, survey finds

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

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.

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.