How to Keep Workers Engaged

Imagine a company where the majority of its employees are like Mr Kenneth Tan, managing director of Golden Village. In a recent interview with The Straits Times, he said: “At the risk of sounding perverse, I love my job. I can't wait to get to work every morning.

For the past two years, I've set my alarm to ring at 6am, and every day, I beat it.” Wouldn't that be great?

Surely the business results of a company with an army of engaged employees will be much better and more sustainable than one with an entourage of disengaged ones? A company with many engaged employees is like a product or a brand with many engaged customers. Customers can be engaged to the point where they eagerly await whatever new products a company puts out. They cannot wait to get their hands on the new products, be it an iPod, an Xbox, a Cartier watch, or a limited-edition Louis Vuitton bag. Similarly, engaged employees are 'tuned in', committed and passionate, and they make a company successful. They are value creators, and are emotionally committed to their jobs, companies and careers. Engaged employees want to help their companies progress and succeed. They are not there to just pull a '9 to 5' and earn their keep.

COMPETITIVE LEVER FOR COMPANIES

In a business environment that gets increasingly difficult to compete, Singapore companies still pay scant attention to the competitive lever of having engaged workplaces with engaged leaders, managers and employees. Instead, many focus on what can be easily emulated and copied. Singapore companies like to tune and fine-tune their strategies, processes, systems, technologies and policies. We focus on an unending quest for certifications. But the question we need to ask is: “Is that enough?”

Other than telling the world that we have robust processes and systems, does going after more certifications or tweaking strategies, processes, systems, technologies and policies give us a competitive advantage which our competitors will find hard to replicate? Have we increased dramatically our nation's and our companies' competitive lead and advantage?

Based on Gallup research, engaged work teams across the world are 1.7 times more productive, achieve 1.7 more revenues, and attain 1.7 times more profits than those who are not. Employee engagement is a prize very much worth fighting for. Last year, Gallup's poll showed that for every one 'engaged' employee, there were two 'disengaged' ones, and 14 'not engaged'. Simply turning the 'disengaged' employees into 'engaged' ones has an annual economic prize for Singapore, which Gallup estimates to be $6 billion.

VALUE-ADDING WORKFORCE

In its Singapore poll, Gallup found that engaged employees take greater pride in the companies they work for, are more likely to build their careers in their companies, are happier with the salaries they are receiving, have more fun at work, and are more upbeat and confident in Singapore's economy.

Disengaged employees always see a negative picture, whether it relates to their work, their personal lives or their countries.

Engaged employees, on the other hand, always see a brighter side and are willing to walk the extra mile to 'make things happen'. Engaged employees are value-adding: They work longer hours, produce better results and do so with less strain and stress. They feel happier with their bosses, with the companies they work for, and with their families and lives.

An engaged workforce is more productive, performs better for a longer time, does so much more happily, and is much more open to innovation and change. A nation of engaged employees will greatly raise Singapore's competitive advantage.

ONE FIRM, ONE TEAM, ONE WORKER AT A TIME

The Singapore Government is doing a fantastic job creating nationwide manpower policies and programmes that support lifelong learning, skills certification and job restructuring. We have new and periodic campaigns such as Gems (Go the Extra Mile for

Service) and work-life balance. But these campaigns, policies and programmes are not sufficient.

To build engaged employees, we need every company, every leader and every manager to do their part. Companies need to encourage their leaders and managers to build workplace and workforce engagement one team at a time, one individual at a time. It is similar to raising a country's birth rate with one household, one family, and one couple at a time.

Building an engaged workforce for Singapore is a possibility. The Government needs to continue to provide the right manpower frameworks and human capital policies for employee engagement to flourish, but things must be worked on one company, one team, and one individual at a time. There is no exception and every person counts.

STATUS QUO NOT AN OPTION

From 2001 to last year, Gallup's polls have shown that at best, one in 10 employees in Singapore is engaged. Singapore's overall workforce engagement level has got to improve if our nation wants to continue to prosper and thrive. We cannot afford to keep the status quo.

As we move towards the status of a developed nation, Singapore employees will expect, need and want more. The human capital policies and programmes provided by the Government and the companies they work for will be seen as nothing more than basic infrastructure, to be expected by a decent worker doing a decent job for a decent wage. It is like buying a birthday cake: At the very minimum, one will expect to have the cake, some cream saying 'Happy Birthday' on top, and some candles. Likewise, to have a job and a career, we expect good human capital policies and programmes. They are not sufficient in themselves to make the employees engaged - at best, they ensure that employees are not actively disengaged.

Take work-life balance, for example. Many companies have implemented very good work-life balance policies and programmes, but does that stamp out actively disengaged employees? No, employees just have fewer hours at work to be disengaged. On the other hand, there are employees in professions where there is no such thing as work-life balance, for instance, investment bankers, private bankers, management consultants, auditors and lawyers. These people are known to work the hardest and longest, yet a lot of them have very fulfilling careers, are very passionate and engaged in their jobs, and cannot wait to get to work every morning.

TOWARDS A NATION OF ENGAGED CITIZENS

Engaged employees have a greater propensity to become engaged citizens. If Singapore wants to build engaged citizens who are deeply committed to the country, we must move beyond job creation, job restructuring, skilled manpower and process certification, and look towards creating ever-increasing pools of engaged employees. This is, I believe, a fundamental and key component in Singapore's march towards a world-class business environment and civil society. Where should we start?

At the national level, Singapore needs to take the engagement levels of its workforce very seriously and develop manpower policies, programmes and incentives that will facilitate every company to build up its engagement levels.

At the company level, CEOs need to treat employee engagement as a strategic and competitive business lever. It is not enough just to 'win the war for talent'; they need to build teams of highly engaged leaders who are accountable and measured for growing highly engaged managers. These managers in turn have to build engaged and high-performing work teams every day.

At the work team level, managers need to engage their employees. Managers should not 'manage from afar' with the 'sounds of silence'. If the world's a stage where each must play a part, managers should seek to cast employees into job roles where they can put their talents, passions, skills and experience to good use. They also need to speak and listen to employees, focusing on constructive elements in addition to 'areas for improvement'.

For Singapore to continue to thrive and grow, we need more of our workforce having their 'head, hands and hearts working together'.