Australian employers must lead the way in digital era

The majority of Australian employees believe their employers are responsible for creating innovative work cultures, according to new research by BMC.

The global study surveyed 3200 office workers across 12 countries and found that large numbers of workers are enthused by the potential for technology to enhance their work lives and create new career opportunities.

“The massive digital disruption we’re experiencing is forcing societies and businesses to create new learning environments to train their labour forces so they’re able to meet the demands of digital industry,” said Paul Appleby, EVP of Digital Transformation at BMC.

“This study shows employees want to be ‘digital change agents’ and are actively looking to acquire new skills, but asking their employers to help them and offer more training opportunities to meet requirements of the digital era.”

Of the Australian workers surveyed, 85% felt that their employers were responsible for creating innovation in the digital era.

As Australian workers aim to acquire digital skills, 41% said they would look to their manager to secure training, 37% said they already have resources available to them and 29% said they would seek training in their own time out of the office.

Despite many workers being active in their pursuit for new digital skills, only 26% of Australians strongly agreed that they felt empowered to do so. Compared to other regions around the world, only 59% of Australians agreed to feeling encouraged in some way, compared with an average of 74% globally.

The survey also found that 43% of Australian workers believe they will have to learn how to use new software and applications in the next few years. Recognising that digital industry is enabling machines to take a larger role in the workplace, 35% of Australian employees expect that some of their tasks will become automated by 2020.

An average of 40% globally fear they will not be able to keep up with the rate of change required by digital business, while 38% of Australian workers are concerned with the increasing demand for digital skills.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Grapestock

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