Poor employee engagement in Singapore? Bosses must walk the talk

FOR a workforce that once upon a time used to rank among the world's most productive, survey findings of late (indeed, consistently over several years) that Singapore's employee engagement levels have been below the global average would pique interest.

In fact, according to HR consultancy Aon's latest study, which covered more than eight million employees at over 1,000 organisations worldwide, Singapore's 59 per cent employee engagement level (below the 65 per cent global and regional average) is the lowest amongst the dozen or so Asian countries surveyed. Staff engagement in Indonesia, India and the Philippines, in comparison, exceeds 70 per cent. As surveys go, the Singapore findings by Aon - which says the concept of engagement is not about "satisfaction or happiness", but more about an employee's "psychological investment in their organisation and motivation to produce extraordinary results" - are no anomaly. Other studies over the years have also found Singapore staffers relatively less inclined, or able, to go the extra mile for their organisation. A 2012 report on employee engagement by the Hay Group similarly noted that Singapore performed "marginally lower than the Asia average", while figures from Gallup have been far more damning - apparently only 9 per cent of Singaporean staffers were engaged at work in 2011-2012, the number improving to only 23 per cent in 2014-2016.

So why are Singapore staffers seemingly less than enthused, motivated or committed at work - a less than desirable state of affairs with obvious implications for productivity and business performance? A BT poll of business leaders on the issue drew strong response, with various reasons and "remedies" proffered. Not a few CEOs attributed it to a "lack of hunger" in an affluent economy where there are options, and it's relatively easy to move on to another job. Changing expectations of an increasingly millennial-dominant workforce, who want more than a paycheque from a job, also came up. Others cited the fast pace of work here, that gives rise to fatigue and disengagement. Interestingly, out of almost 70 respondents, only one CEO said it was not his experience that Singapore employees are any less engaged at work than others in Asia, and another expressed surprise.