The ‘new job honeymoon’ phase is over for workers in Singapore
AT A time when workers in Singapore are switching or considering changing jobs at record rates, new research from Qualtrics reveals many are considering leaving before they have even completed six months in the role.
This is a worrying trend that could be costing employers in terms of escalating hiring costs and declining productivity. And with economic growth in Asia predicted to slow in 2024, addressing the employee experience for new joiners must be a key priority as leaders find themselves under increasing scrutiny to demonstrate the impact of their investments and programmes, and lift productivity.
In the past, starting a new job was a time of excitement. It was when employees felt most positive about their future in the organisation. However, the latest findings in the 2024 Employee Experience Trends Report from Qualtrics reveal that, compared to more tenured employees, new hires have the lowest levels of engagement, intent to stay, well-being, inclusion, and are the least likely to say their expectations are being met.
The employee experience satisfaction gap between new joiners and the rest of the workforce is growing too. Since 2021, the proportion of workers in Singapore who have been with their current employer for less than 12 months, and who are planning to stay in their role for three or more years, has fallen from 31 per cent to 19 per cent of Singapore’s workforce.
In fact, the indicators of an optimum employee experience in Singapore do not start trending upward in a meaningful way until employees have been with the company for at least two years.
Singapore’s unhappy services sector
To compound the issue, “frontline” – or customer-facing – employees have the lowest levels of morale in the workforce, according to the Qualtrics study. Compared to all employees, this group – which includes retail workers, restaurant servers, cashiers, teachers, healthcare workers, and more – are less likely to say they are happy with their pay and benefits, satisfied with their career development, feel prepared to adapt to change, challenge the traditional ways of doing things, or trust leadership.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
Considering Singapore’s service sector is already understaffed, the increased hiring underway for customer-facing roles, which themselves are often the most important factor in making customers happy, the critical need to improve the employee experience for new joiners is elevated further.
Keeping talent in the business
It is clear the first several months of a new job are critical to building committed, loyal, and high performing employees. Yet, only one-third of human resource (HR) leaders in Singapore say they are prioritising the onboarding experience for new employees.
Leaders need to take advantage of the slowing hiring rates in Singapore to identify what they need to do to keep the talent they have worked so hard to attract. Rethinking the onboarding experience so that it is not a checklist, and designing related programmes for a hybrid world, will go a long way in addressing the employee experience gaps that have emerged for new joiners.
SEE ALSO
The impact of showing new joiners the growth and development opportunities that await them cannot be overstated either. This is because growth and development is often a key driver for employee experience, yet early tenure employees in Singapore are the least likely to feel their career goals can be met in the organisation they work for.
Workers are willing to go to new lengths for better experiences
Such is the desire for a better experience at work, you might be surprised by the insights workers are willing to trade for one.
Workers in Singapore said they are comfortable with their employer capturing and using insights from work systems like e-mails, chats, and call transcripts to help them deliver a better experience at work. There is a boundary in what information people are willing to share, however, which is using social media posts.
For organisations, this openness among employees means leaders no longer have to solely rely on the annual employee engagement survey to understand how their teams are thinking and feeling. But for those that do decide to collect more passive data, there are some golden rules to follow:
- be intentional about why the data is being collected;
- be transparent about where the insights go and how they are used;
- have a strong governance framework; and
- maintain an open dialogue with employees every step of the way.
Another thing to call out is that a passive approach to employee listening is not, and should not, be seen as snooping or productivity monitoring. Rather, it is understanding the behaviours and systems for the purpose of making jobs easier and improving people’s experience at work.
High expectations & high rewards
Employees have higher expectations at work than ever before, and the best experiences people have can often start before they have even sent their application. With businesses working hard to attract and retain talent in tight labour markets, not to mention the pressure to drive business outcomes in uncertain markets, employee experience is one of the most important strategic levers.
There is a well established connection between employee engagement and organisational performance – from innovation and profitability, through to better customer service and employee health outcomes.
Organisations that maintain their people-centric focus, and effectively enable their teams to do great work, will be the standout performers in years to come.
Cecelia Herbert is principal XM catalyst at Qualtrics’s XM Institute
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
