The writing is on the wall! 

2020 Employee Experience Report [1] shows that the engagement rating in Singapore is below the numbers of many other major countries. Not only are Singapore employees are not just one of the least engaged in the world, but also declining by 9% year on year.

So what is the fuss about engagement?

High Employee Engagement doubles your success

Employee engagement refers to the level of an employee’s commitment and connection to an organization.

According to SHRM, employee engagement is a critical driver of business success in the competitive marketplace.

Organizations with high employee engagement goes beyond productivity to double the success rate. They have lower absenteeism, lower turnover, and fewer safety and quality incidents. The company is also able to attract talent, acquire more customers, foster customer loyalty, improve organizational performance, and increase stakeholder value.

In contrast, low levels of engagement means a huge drain of resource as employers are paying for employees who are not providing their best value, high attrition rate which escalates the costs to recruit and train new employees, not to mention the time, effort and disruptions to business. 

What if the team has just one or two individuals who are disengaged? You can easily spot them as they complain, refuse to work as a team, unleash their emotions at work or even play politics for self interest to the point of sabotaging the business. One rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel. Team performance spirals downward and even the good people leave!

In 3 year’s time, Singapore employees will just come to work

A global engagement study[2] shows that only 16% of employees are “Fully Engaged”. That means…

84% of employees are just “Coming to work” rather than fully contributing all they could to the organizations.

Globally, engagement is on a decline by 1% between 2018 and 2020. In contrast…

Singapore employee engagement has declined by 9% vs 1% globally!

That means, in three years’ time, most Singapore employees will just be coming to work without contributing fully to the organization!

If you are a business owner, employer or Human Resource professional, you need to read the writing on the wall! Will you invest in your employees first? The busines targets will not go away. In fact, the margins are thinning. Employees are more stressed with work from home.

If you believe that employees are our greatest assets and believe in empowering them. It is time to develop an employee engagement strategy and plan.

Covid presents an opportunity to activate employee engagement

The year 2020 with Covid-19 has created major shifts in how people work and communicate with one another. It has created a gap and new set of needs from the employees that need to be addressed.  The continued work from home and pandemic situation in 2021 is only making it harder for employers to keep employees engaged.

As employers and leaders, we need to effectively activate and connect with the team.  We can support by refining the work environment and creating opportunities for people to do what they do best. Engaged employees feel heard, valued and challenged, and are most likely to put their best foot forward. They are motivated and desire to bring their best self to the workplace.

Some organizations are asking their managers to make care calls to ask how they are coping with the situation, sending fruit baskets, providing training, running performance competitions, layering incentive programs or creating fun family days on Zoom. 

Companies committed to employee engagement triple their performance.

A sporadic, one-time activity may help to boost morale. But to create a change with sustained impact to shift the mindset will need a deliberate and structured program.

Start with the leadership and build the kind of culture that will promote engagement. Then let that infuse into the various departments and functions and through every level of the organization.  It takes brain and heart, belief and the tenacity to do this. An external coach will always provide a neutrality to let the team work through their differences and bring a new energy and cohesiveness.

When employees take the leadership to build the culture they want together, it is like an unstoppable surge of energy to achieve a whole new level of success”

Anne Phey, Leadership Coach

Companies that I have worked with that have this commitment to make a change have seen triple their business performance.  

How is your organization driving engagement and productivity in these times?

[1] 2020 Employee Experience Report by Deloitte [2] ADP Report

Singapore employees are one of the least engaged in the world!

About the Author
Anne Phey is the  Founder of Business Consulting & Coaching Pte Ltd, a regional firm specializing in Leadership, Engagement and Culture, Coaching and Mindfulness. Anne and her associates have conducted more than 2500 hours of coaching with clients from more than 50 organizations from Fortune 500, MNCs, government bodies and SMEs.