Dell EMC Philippines recently hosted Dell EMC Realize 2018, a flagship annual event for its customers and partners in the Philippines to meet, connect and get insights from Dell EMC’s business leaders and experts to help accelerate their digital transformation journey. At the same time, the company officially reveals country insights from the recent global study titled “Gen Z: the future has arrived”, a study commissioned by Dell Technologies.
The study reveals that Generation Z (Gen Z) entering the workforce is bringing with it a technology-first mentality will propel business further into the digital era while potentially deepening the divide among five generations in the workplace. According to the research, post-millennials – those born after 1996 – have a deep, universal understanding of technology and its potential to transform how we work and live, and Filipino Gen-Z have the most confidence in their technology skills among their peers in Southeast Asia and global (Philippines: 68%; SEA: 62%; Global: 52%) and are optimistic that they have the technology skills employers need.
“While digital transformation journey in the country is unique for every business, this survey shows that Filipino youth are ready to be part and shape that journey,” said Ronnie Latinazo, Country General Manager, Dell EMC Philippines. “It is a very encouraging development but also creating challenges for these businesses as they need to have the right strategy and technology to invite the right talents while at the same time find common ground for multi-generation workers in the workplace.”
The study looked into 730 Filipino high school and college students, while globally more than 12,000 high school and college students in 17 countries were interviewed. A total of 4,331 students across six Southeast Asia countries – i.e. the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia – also participated in this study.
According to the study, the Philippines youths ranked the highest in almost all the study’s research categories:
- 88% want to work with cutting-edge technology; (SEA: 90%; Global: 80%)
- 40% are interested in IT careers (SEA: 43%; Global: 38%)
- 60% aspire to be involved in technology research and development (SEA: 53%; Global: 46%)
- 97% say the technology offered by an employer would be a factor in choosing between similar job offers
- 100% have used technology as part of their formal education
Technology-first mentality, yet socially-aware
The Philippines’ first batch of Filipino students under the K-12 education system have recently graduated in 2018; as such, there will be 1.25 million grade 12 students who can choose to pursue tertiary education or now apply for work. According to the Department of Education (DepEd) a significant majority of these senior high graduates took the K-12 Academic Track, which means they have two years of specialized training on areas like Accountancy, Business and Management and IT. The Gen Z research revealed Philippines is one out of two countries that implemented technology as part of formal education with 76% of Filipino students rated their education as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ in preparing them for the workplace.
“It’s almost a given that this new pool of talents has advanced technology and data science skills, but what is surprising is the level of digital maturity they are bringing to the workplace,” said Pang Yee Beng, Senior Vice President, Commercial Business, South Asia & Korea, Dell EMC. “Yet we haven’t raised a generation of robots. Gen Z sees technology not only as a tool for enabling human progress, but also as a means for levelling the information empowerment playing field. Their combination of vision and optimism is remarkable.”
Gen Z Filipinos have a technology-first mentality but also seek more than just money for their work.
- 84% believe technology and automation will create a more equitable work environment by preventing bias and discrimination
- 60% want jobs that allow them to use technology to help others or the environment
- 67% believe their work must give them refreshed skillsets and new experiences on the job
- 53% want to work for an organization that is socially/environmentally responsible
Gen Z still values the human element
Rather than being replaced by machines, an overwhelming 94% of Filipino respondents recognize that we are entering the age of human-machine partnerships. 35% Filipino youths believe that humans and machines will work as integrated teams, while 59% see machines as tools for humans to use as needed.
“In the age of human-machine partnerships, all businesses must come up with strategies to seamlessly integrate humans and technologies to thrive,” said Latinazo. “Organizations must adopt an approach that can harness the tremendous potential of emerging technologies, increased connectivity and processing power, with the ability to manage and protect vast amounts of data. This technology must go hand-in-hand with a digitally adept and highly-able workforce in order to fully realize digital transformation.”
Although they have interacted with electronic devices practically since birth and grown up with social media, Filipino Gen Z-ers still yearn for human interaction in the workplace.
- Interpersonal communication and collaboration are very important for Filipino Gen Z-ers, with 77% expecting to learn on the job from coworkers or other people – not online
- 53% said in-person communication is the preferred method for communicating with coworkers, compared to phone (18%) or messaging apps and texting (10%)
- 91% say that social media can be a valuable tool in the workplace
- 60% prefer to go to a workplace versus working from home, and 74% prefer to work as part of team rather than independently.
“Today’s young professionals grew up in a collaborative educational environment and they are bringing those same expectations to the workplace,” said Pang. “Though face-to-face communication isn’t always possible in today’s modern workplace, immersive technologies are enabling all types of workers to collaborate in both the physical and virtual worlds.” Workforce readiness, potential generational rifts
Despite Filipino Gen Z-ers being the region’s most confident respondents in their technology skills, they are also the most worried about their employability (96%) 60% of respondents saying they lack the working experience employers look for. · 68% are confident they have the tech skills that employers want, but not necessarily the non-tech skills
At the same time and by contrast, senior professionals are concerned they are being outpaced and that a majority of leadership roles in the future will be filled by digital natives. With up to five generations now in the workplace, businesses must help workers find common ground while they push to create a digital-first culture.
“When it comes to welcoming Generation Z to the workplace, organizations need to rise to the challenge of creating a digital-first environment – from the hiring process, to onboarding, to the daily work experience,” said Pang. “Understanding the skills that this generation possesses can open up new opportunities for businesses – and especially if those skills can be successfully democratised across the workforce, narrowing the digital divide amongst employees and strengthening technological capabilities overall.”
Among the Filipino youth respondents, 86% would be willing to mentor an older co-worker who was not as comfortable with technology. Up to five generations are now in the workplace and businesses must help workers find common ground as they push to create a digital-first culture.
With Gen Z willing to be tech ambassadors, organizations can create cross-functional teams with complementary skillsets to encourage knowledge-exchange and initiate a fresh approach to problem-solving. Internships, rotation programs and other early-career development opportunities can help young professionals gain experience and develop soft skills on the job. And, reverse mentorship programs can enhance technical competencies throughout an organization, with Gen Z leading the way.
