29 percent of workers likely to change employers – survey

MANILA, Philippines — Around 29 percent of Filipino employees are likely to change employers in the next 12 months as they consider both financial concerns as well as their overall wellbeing, according to a survey conducted by PwC.

Based on PwC’s 2023 Hopes and Fears Global Workforce Survey, 26 percent of employees around the world said they are likely to change jobs in the next 12 months, up from 19 percent last year.

Workers who said they are most likely to change employers include those who feel overworked (44 percent), struggle to pay the bills every month (38 percent) and Gen Z (35 percent). In the Philippines, 29 percent said they are likely to change employers in the next 12 months.

The results of the survey showed that with high inflation rates experienced early this year, Filipino employees are also much more likely to ask for a pay raise (70 percent) and promotion (59 percent).

“There are different factors that drive an employee to consider changing employers. The most immediate one usually, like we mentioned earlier, is a pay raise or about a higher salary and higher package, or possibly a different role or a promotion,” PwC Philippines Consulting managing principal Veronica Bartolome said in a press briefing yesterday.

“But equally important is looking at the overall value proposition of, and their circumstances, whether the financial or the non-financial aspects are more important to an employee – that really plays a big role in their decision to stay with the firm or to move employers,” she said.

The global survey included over 1,000 Filipino employee respondents.

Bartolome said a key insight from the survey is that Filipino employees are more assertive and ambitious, as 74 percent of Filipino respondents whose jobs require specialist training are likely to ask for a pay raise, while 62 percent are likely to ask for a promotion.

“So workers are more assertive, more demanding, more ambitious, and the great resignation is far from over. So employers need to brace themselves as this will continue. But I think equally important is that employers are also looking at their overall well being,” Bartolome said.

PwC Philippines noted that there are six factors that are driving organizations to evolve. These are business viability, workforce skills, emerging technology, work environment, employee sentiment and climate action.

“The global workforce is divided into two: those with valuable skills who are well set to keep learning, and those without,” PwC global chair Bob Moritz said.

“We found that often, those without the skills are less financially secure and less able to access training in the skills of the future. In a world where CEOs know they need to transform their businesses to succeed, they need to combine the benefits of technology with a plan to unlock the talents of all workers. It is in no one’s interest for businesses to chase the same group of skilled workers while the rest of society gets left behind,” he said.

Moreover, results of the global survey showed that workers struggling financially are also less able to meet the challenges of the future, including the need to develop new skills and adapt to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).

PwC said that compared to workers who can pay their bills comfortably, those who struggle or cannot pay their bills are 12 percent less likely to say they are actively seeking out opportunities to develop new skills (62 percent versus 50 percent).

Similarly, workers who are more financially secure are more likely to seek feedback at work and use it to improve their performance (57 percent) than those who are struggling financially (45 percent).

More than half (52 percent) of employees globally expect to see some positive impact of AI on their career over the next five years, with nearly a third (31 percent) saying it will increase their productivity/efficiency at work. Many workers also view AI as an opportunity to learn new skills (27 percent).

Filipino employees, on the same note, foresee AI having mostly positive impacts on their jobs, with 46 percent saying that AI will increase productivity and efficiency at work (against 41 percent for Asia-Pacific) and 37 percent viewing it as an opportunity to learn new skills (versus 34 percent for Asia-Pacific). These respondents are more likely to be in industries such as business/professional services, engineering and construction, and banking and capital markets.

The survey also reveals stark demographic disparities across the world in employee attitudes toward AI. Younger generations are much more likely to expect AI to impact their careers across all of the surveyed impacts, both positive and negative, whereas a little over one-third (34 percent) of Baby Boomers think AI will not impact their careers, while only 14 percent of Gen Z and 17 percent of millennials agree.

“Generative AI applications entering the workplace brings excitement as it promises efficiency and productivity, which is palpable in the survey results. However, considering the other side of the findings, this excitement comes along with concerns such as worries about the need to learn new skills that employees are not confident in having the capacity to do, and thoughts about AI negatively changing the nature of their work or replacing their role entirely. This is another factor that business leaders should start thinking about and consider in their organization transformation journey,” Bartolome said.