Surprise Finding: Tiny Malaysia Has Employee Engagement Down Pat

The importance of employee engagement, which is defined as the emotional and functional commitment an employee has to his or her organization, cannot be overstated.

Companies with engaged employees outperform those without. Engaged workers stand apart from their not-engaged and actively disengaged counterparts because of the discretionary effort they consistently bring to their roles. These employees willingly go the extra mile, work with passion, and feel a profound connection to their company. They are the people who will drive innovation and move your business forward. While the benefits are clear, employee engagement is a struggle for most companies.

And then there’s Malaysia, which according to a recent study, is doing rather well in terms of their employees. The study examined 25,000 employee responses and survey data suggest that “from CEOs and HR directors, senior leaders at [the] best employers are better at providing a clear direction for the future (81 percent vs. 60 percent of market average); 90 percent of job openings were filled at best employers in previous 12 months with 25 percent filled internally, compared to 77 percent and 20 percent respectively at the market average.” (via The Star Online)

Essentially, the leaders are doing their jobs well, at least according to the employees.

Engagement simply means people want to come to work, understand their jobs, and know how their work contributes to the success of the organization. So what’s the struggle?

Many organizations fail to make engagement a part of their overall strategy, or clarify why employee engagement is important, or provide quality education to help managers know what to do with the results. That is why a workforce optimization (WFO) solution can help fill in the gaps.

Workforce optimization will make sure that members of the workforce are positioned to do their best work, which in turn helps customers, which in turn helps employee esteem and sense of accomplishment.  

A good workforce optimization solution can provide insight into your employees’ wants and needs -- insight that could help you make better, more strategic decisions about your workforce, and help keep employees engaged and happy.