According to Workplace Consulting & Global Research experts Gallup, companies with engaged employees show higher productivity when compared to those that do not. For its study, Gallup compared business units with high engagement levels with those that don’t, and it discovered how high employee engagement levels account for:

• 23% increase in profitability
• 18% increase in sales
• 14% increase in productivity
• 10% increase in customer ratings

As organisations move to their workforce and, at the same time, boost employee experience, how can your business leverage these various employee experience trends that are expected to shape the workplace in 2023?

First, define what engagement means for your organisation

While businesses continue to grapple with employee engagement capabilities, it is critical for them to get maximum clarity on what it means to keep their workforce fully engaged. So, this begs the question, ‘What is employee engagement?’ 

According to a recent Forbes article, employee engagement (or employee experience) continues to be one of the biggest focus areas for human resources (HR) professionals. At its most basic, employee engagement is the measurement of how businesses connect and interact with their workforce and the overall sentiment between both parties. In essence, are your people happy, turning up to do their best work and do they feel valued and appreciated for their efforts? Are they willing to give discretionary effort in line with the values and purpose of your organisation?

It’s one thing to know what employee engagement is, and another to understand how HR and the wider business can reach and maintain high levels of employee engagement. After all, employee engagement is not just the job of HR – it's something that every employee has a role to play in. For businesses in Malaysia, this trend focuses on three pillars - up-skilling or re-skilling the workforce; providing and enabling empowerment to employees; and being more employee-first.   

Employee Engagement goes Beyond Happiness

During our recent webinar, ‘Transforming Employee Engagement for Success: Insights and Best Practices for HR’, our expert guest speakers were all in agreement over one key point:

Employee engagement must go beyond a simple vie of ‘happiness’ and also focus in on well-being, career growth, and must be sustainable.

This discussion – featuring Chen Fong Tuan, Senior Executive Vice President, Group Human Capital, Maybank; Nathalie Huynh, Cluster HR Director (Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei), Schneider Electric; and Sophia Bernard, APAC Employee Success Director, The Access Group – answered the following questions:

• What strategies and initiatives can keep the workforce continuously engaged and productive?
• How do organisations include feedback into operations and management processes?
• What are the traits of a good leader? Why are good leaders, and good leadership, key to driving employee engagement?

What strategies and initiatives can keep the workforce continuously engaged and productive? 

Any successful management team understands the impact and benefit of having highly engaged teams.

According to Chen Fong Tuan, Senior Executive Vice President (Group Human Capital) at Maybank, “ It goes beyond preparing activities and conducting surveys to rank engagement rates. In fact, it is no longer just about making the workforce happy – it must also be about personnel well-being, career growth potential, and retaining talent through upskilling enablement.”

Businesses can no longer solely depend on HR and leadership teams. This is one of the critical points Chen made during the panel: “Employee engagement is not just about making the workforce happy, as it now encompasses other factors that reinforce their interest and, in the long run, retention.”

As for Nathalie Huynh, Cluster HR Director (Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei) at Schneider Electric, employee engagement is dependent on a business sharing a common purpose with its workforce. This is achievable when both are aligned on what they want to focus on and achieve. It’ll be even better if this can be done holistically and sustainably.

“How we shape the workplace culture will also power workforce engagement. It’s also about making sure there is a space to build trust within the team – they must embrace this complexity and acknowledge the need for inclusivity and equity. It cannot be overstated that power and trust – two equally important values – will power the sense of happiness and value,” Huynh shared.

What both Chen and Hunyh refer to will require some level of feedback from the workforce.

According to Sophia Bernard, APAC Employee Success Director at The Access Group, conducting pulse checks will help with that.

An end-to-end HR Management Solution (HRMS) can help streamline and optimise the process of managing and engaging employees. This includes updating core functions like storing workforce data; tracking, processing, and analysing employee performance; and providing proper operational insights that help with decision making.

How do organisations include feedback into operations and management processes?

To ensure employees are consistently engaged and productive, businesses must consider how they enable this productivity through the right tools, systems, and processes. Feedback is one such system.

As the workforce and workplace continue to be disrupted, organisations must consider future capabilities and to ensure employees can be productive and engaged, no matter where they are working from.

“Tech in HR has helped make better decisions and also keep the workforce more engaged – HR functions have helped the workforce and tools, when used with the human touch, will ensure this ongoing growth,” Huynh added. The ‘human touch’ here is key, particularly when considering giving and receiving feedback.

Chen also noted how leaders are not there to just make advancements. "Their job is to provide a platform to solicit feedback so operations can move forward and change accordingly. It’s about managing chaos – it’s no longer uncertainty but also constant change. This mindset shift is not easy for all, so it’s about finding the tools that can help,” he shared.

For him, it’s more about going beyond the “one-way street” arrangement that HR and administrative teams are used to. Generating and accepting feedback that can help transform how businesses operate will empower the workforce with new opportunities. This includes upskilling and re-skilling; customising how, why, where, what, and when people want to learn; and knowing as well as understanding that they can ultimately choose how they want to achieve the goals that have been set for them.

“Having all these options will enable them to step up and achieve their greatest potential. That is the end result of embracing equity and pushing towards creating equitable opportunity,” Chen added.

Bernard also noted how employee feedback as it is – via surveys – is important. "It provides data for management to help with decision-making – it must include what is working and what isn’t to ensure maximum collaboration and to ensure there is a proactive connection with the workforce and management,” she said.

“It cannot be just any survey when it comes to generating employee feedback. Beyond determining what is working and what isn’t, feedback surveys can also enable better collaboration within the workforce. It will also create a proactive connection that is high in interaction between employees and management,” Bernard said.

In a recent article on HR trends, Sarah McCann Bartlett, CEO, Australian HR Institute, HR teams and noted how processes cannot slip back to the old ways of working.

“While all these digital technologies and advances are going to be essential and inevitable, it’s also essential that we continue to develop and nurture our people,” McCann said.

Hyunh shared a similar view, noting that employee engagement must be holistic and sustainable.

While surveys are the primary go-to platform to track and process workforce sentiments, making use of these insights is equally as critical. Based on key 2022 workforce trends, boosting employee engagement is a must. With actionable insights and data, businesses can enable operational transformation to show appreciation for their people and drive performance. That’s the real recipe for an engaged workforce.

What are the traits of a good leader? Why are good leaders, and good leadership, key to driving employee engagement?

Leadership is not about having all the answers, but about helping others find them. It has often been said that in doing something for someone else, it robs them of the opportunity to learn.

These are the primary essences of a good leader.

A leader and a manager are very different concepts – whilst a manager is tasked with ensuring the job is done and teams deliver to their promise, a leader is someone who guides their people and inspires them toward a common goal. By definition, a manager is a role, while a leader is about how you turn up for your team.

While knowing this information is important, businesses must commit to making use of these insights.