NEWS

Do the Futures of Corporations Depend on “Digital Shift”? A Majority of Employees Reply that They Do not Want to Work at a Company that is not Implementing Digital Shift

- Will differences between the perceptions of managers and employees lead to an employee turnover crisis? -

OPT Holding, Inc. (Head Office: Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo; President and Group CEO: Noboru Hachimine; hereinafter “OPT Holding”), which is leading the corporate digital shift across Japan, conducted “Research on Corporate Digital Shift,” a questionnaire targeting 300 managers and employees ages 20 to 60.

The purpose of this research was to measure the understanding of managers and employees about digital shift, currently in focus as a key issue for corporate management, and the current state of activities at their companies.

＜Main Research Results＞

1. 57.0% of respondents did not understand the meaning of the phrase “digital shift”
2. When managers and employees responded to the question about what their company’s management is focusing on or should focus on, “digital shift” was the lowest reply at 10.7%
3. Are managers complacent in thinking they are “committed to digital shift”? There is a large gap between the perceptions of managers and employees regarding digital shift at their own companies
4. Is there no future for companies where managers have a low awareness of digital shift? A majority of employees say they “Do not want to work” under such managers
5. Will low manager awareness of digital shift lead to employee turnover? About 70% of employees who said they “Do not want to work” under such managers are “Thinking about changing jobs”

TOPIC ① About “digital shift” awareness

57.0% of respondents did not understand the meaning of the phrase “digital shift”

In response to the question “Do you understand digital shift?”, 57.0% of respondents replied that they did not understand the phrase. (Managers: 36.0%, Employees: 67.5%)

TOPIC ② About management issues that are focused on by managers and employees

When managers and employees responded to the question about what their company’s management is focusing on or should focus on, “digital shift” was the lowest reply at 10.7%
 

The top three issues being focused on by corporate management were: “Improvement of work efficiency” (59.7%), “Reform of work styles” (51.3%) and “Hiring and development of young human resources” (39.7%). Digital shift was the issue with the fewest replies at 10.7%.

TOPIC ③ About digital shift at own company

Are managers complacent in thinking they are “committed to digital shift”? There is a large gap between the perceptions of managers and employees regarding digital shift at their own companies

In response to the question of whether “Your top management is committed to digital shift,” 57.0% of managers said that they were committed to digital shift. However, only 36.0% of employees agreed, resulting in a large gap in perceptions of about 20%. This result raises doubt about whether the digital shift policies being performed by managers are actually penetrating the company as a whole.

TOPIC ④ About manager awareness of digital shift

Is there no future for companies where managers have a low awareness of digital shift? A majority of employees say they “Do not want to work” under such managers 

In response to the question, “Do you want to work at a company where managers have a low awareness of digital shift?”, 55.5% of employees said they “Do not want to work” under such managers. The top reason employees gave for this was, “Because digital shift will greatly affect future corporate performance” (37.8%). From this we can see that many employees expect that the digital shift awareness of top management will affect the very core of corporate activities in the future.

TOPIC ⑤ About corporate digital shift and the desire to change jobs

Will low manager awareness of digital shift lead to employee turnover? Of the employees who said they “Do not want to work” under such managers, about twice as many employees are “Thinking about changing job” as those who had “No opinion”

As many as 68.5% of the employees who said they “Do not want to work” under managers with a low awareness of digital shift replied that they were “Thinking about changing job.”

■Questionnaire Outline: Corporate Questionnaire

Research Period: July 23 to 25, 2019

Research Method: Internet Research

Research Target: 100 managers and 200 employees aged 20 to 60

* When using the research results in this press release, please include the citation: “Research by OPT Holding Inc.”