Asia is facing massive changes in its labor landscape. Opportunities and challenges in the job market have changed with new emerging economies and technologies that are transforming work itself.
Currently, the region is suffering from a labor shortage situation. According to the 2016 Hays Asia Salary Guide, 96 percent of Asian employers are worried that a lack of skilled workers will impact their business. Another 34 percent state that they do not have the talent to meet current business objectives. Companies affected include diverse industries—from accountancy, finance, and engineering to IT, marketing, and human resources. In Singapore, labor shortage was cited as the biggest challenge to economic growth according to Monetary Authority of Singapore chief Ravi Menon.
On top of this, innovations like automation are being introduced. Its potential for improving productivity has profound implications for not only the world but for Asia especially. According to participants in the most recent World Economic Forum, this “fourth industrial revolution” could disrupt the region’s low labor cost model.
For organizations encountering these challenges, the Adobe Digital Insights (ADI) team has uncovered unique discoveries that could help shed light on the situation. At the “Think Tank by Adobe: Future of Work” event, Adobe unveiled new data through its analysis of 3 million social mentions. They revealed some clues on what the Future of Work (FOW) might look like:
1. People believe in automation
While it is no surprise that topics such as machine learning, artificial intelligence have led to wide-ranging conversations about automation, what was more interesting is that they received plenty of positive sentiment. On the whole, automation mentions have doubled year-over-year (YoY), and average daily mentions of robots and jobs have increased 70 percent YoY. Some still worry about how robots and automation will impact labor (-2.1 and -1.8 FOW net sentiment, respectively). However, people are increasingly discussing how it can take on mundane tasks and allow them to focus on creative and strategic responsibilities that are at the core of their careers. Benefits such as saving time (30 percent) and big data analysis (25 percent) are mentioned most frequently. This seems to indicate that a significant number of professionals are looking forward to automation capabilities that could make repetitive tasks history.
2. Big data, better talent
Human resources is beginning to incorporate big data analytics into its decision making. Throughout the world, executives are leading the charge to incorporate analytics into managing their talent pool. The concept of harnessing big data to recruit, improve management, replace performance reviews, and cultivate workplaces was the most popular FOW topic. Discussions over people analytics with respect to FOW have seen a 20 percent increase YoY. This goes to show that companies are concentrating efforts on their people, continuously transforming their workplaces into new, better environments.
3. Rocking the gig economy
Employees are motivated by flexibility and impact. More people could be gravitating towards the gig economy—contractor-type of work that offers immense flexibility. Gig economy mentions have tripled YoY, which could mean that more employees want to see change in their company culture. This might include mandatory office shutdowns and more versatile work schedules. PTO social mentions have dipped, which could signal a worrying trend of increasing stress.
4. “Space-age” commuting
People are also excited about faster, self-propelled transportation that could revolutionize commuting. Social media is ablaze with comments about Hyperloop and self-driving cars—with a total of over 1.1 million mentions in 2016. Hyperloop’s speed and futuristic designs received 50 percent more positive sentiment as compared to buses and twice more than taxis. Brands like Tesla, BMW, Ford, Volvo, and GM are also the top five brands mentioned for self-driving cars.
FOW is coming and brings many possibilities to today’s organizations and employees. Many are excited about the creative freedom that automation might bring. Big data analytics is also beginning to play a bigger role in acquiring and maximizing talent, as well as creating more flexible workspaces for employees’ changing demands.