By Erica Mae P. Sinaking
Southeast Asia is shaping up to become a laboratory for testing inclusive, technology-driven workforce models, as companies rethink how to incorporate automation and AI.fiSocial Intelligence (AI) in their business models.
Malaysian Vijay Iswaran, who serves as executive chairman of QI Group, said businessworld Companies can use technology to redesign work rather than replace workers, and inclusive, skills-based strategies are essential to prepare the workforce for future roles in both domestic and regional economies.
“The smartest way to think about technology is not 'losing jobs versus gaining jobs,' but redesigning tasks,” Mr. Easwaran said in an e-mail interview. “AI, automation and digital tools don't replace people so much as they replace parts of the job. This is a huge opportunity to increase productivity while broadening participation.”
Citing the 2025 World Economic Forum (WEF) Future of Jobs report, he said that 92 million positions could be displaced globally, while 170 million new positions are expected to emerge. He said this means inclusion must be designed as change from the beginning.
Mr. Easwaran recommended designing “enrichment-first” roles. “Start by mapping tasks across frontline, service, operations and admin roles, then introduce tools that take out the hard work and enhance decision-making,” he said, citing customer problem-solving, exception management, relationship management.
Widening digital access is also essential, he said, with WEF data showing that 60% of employers consider this the most transformative trend.
He said, “The future of work is not about replacing Filipinos with machines; it is about upgrading the work of Filipinos so that talent can move up the value chain.”
This approach is important for a country that is currently enjoying a “demographic dividend” – the working-age population is projected to increase until 2045.
“This window will not last forever without the right policies and business action,” he said, adding that inclusion “must be practical, not performative,” focusing on mobile-first learning and local training centers that reach the archipelago’s provincial communities and MSMEs.
According to Mr Easwaran, the biggest mistake is to treat upskilling as a check-the-box exercise for HR rather than a core business redesign.
He said, “If learning doesn't change the job, it's not skill development, it's just entertainment.” He highlighted the growing trend of “training for certification”fiCompetencies, not capabilities,” where employees collect credentials that have no impact on their day-to-day productivity.
To deal with this, Mr Easwaran proposed creating role-based “skill stacks” and providing “protected learning time”.
The WEF report identifies the skills gap as the biggest barrier to business transformation, affecting 63% of employers.
Another mistake is “one-size-fits-all learning”, in which the same material is provided to everyone regardless of their role. He said that workers are expected to learn in addition to their regular workload due to lack of time, equipment or managerial support.
“People learn fastest when learning is tied to outcomes,” he said, adding that without such internal dynamics, “employees upskill… then leave, because there is no visible path inward.” fi“RM.”
The Philippines is not starting from scratch. Mr. Iswaran pointed to the country's existing structural advantages, such as the Dual Training System Act (RA 7686) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) ecosystem as powerful foundations. However, he noted the limitations of the government-led initiative.
“TESDA cannot do it alone,” he said, advocating for courses that are “co-owned” by the private sector and not merely “consulted.” He warned that the government’s “Trabahong Digital” initiative, which aims for 8 million digital jobs by 2028, should link training to actual employer demand to avoid a surplus of highly trained individuals without any relevant role.
Filipinos' English proficiency remains the primary accelerator, he said. 28th rankth Globally on the EF EPI Index, the Philippines has a platform to move beyond call centers and into “high-value knowledge work” when combined with AI and data skills.
For long-term investors, he said human capital has become the main metric of resilience.
“No company can afford to live alone anymore. Not with AI, cybersecurity threats, changing customer behavior, climate risks and changing regulation.”
With a 39% shift in core skills expected by 2030, companies that upskill with internal mobility and expand the talent pool – including women, seniors and persons with disabilities (PWDs) – will be better positioned to adapt and grow.
He said, “In the intelligent era, people are not the cost line; they are the flexibility strategy.”
Mr Easwaran urged management teams to focus on internal mobility and expanding the talent pool – including women, seniors and PWDs – noting that diversity is now a key driver of talent availability.
Mr Easwaran sees the wider ASEAN region as a “laboratory” for future work.
Because ASEAN includes every stage of economic development – from frontier digital hubs to vast informal economies – it is the ideal location to pilot models that prioritize skills-based recruitment over traditional credential filtering.
“ASEAN can prove that the future of work does not have to be unequal,” Mr Easwaran said. “We can design it to broaden opportunity while increasing competitiveness.”
He said the real test for enterprises is to harness technology to transform work, make strategic investments in their people and build partnerships that bring together government, industry and academia.
Done well, this approach can make the Philippines not only a beneficiary of global workforce trends, but a global benchmark for inclusive, future-ready work.