What discourages Singapore employees from work?

Poor delegation could leave workers feeling overburdened and unsatisfied.

A study by experience management firm Qualtrics revealed that Singapore’s employee engagement or their level of enthusiasm with their jobs falls behind the global average. In Asia, it lagged behind India, Thailand and Hong Kong, although it outpaced Japan and South Korea. A 2018 survey by Mercer confirms this as well — only 72% of Singaporeans felt satisfied with the companies they work for, compared to 82% in Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam.

Also read: Singaporeans show low level of enthusiasm at work

Matthew*, who works in a communication company, told Singapore Business Review that work culture felt rather rigid and stifling and that firms tended to go through the motions of playing by the rules and following process. “Work here feels very transactional, and there’s nothing wrong with that except when employees start to feel as though their supervisors only notice their mistakes but pay no attention to their successes,” he said.

Poor delegation of tasks can leave some employees overburdened, overworked and unsatisfied, especially if their hard efforts are unrecognised, explained Robert Walters’ HR director for South East Asia, Tricia Tan. “Employees who feel valued will continue to work hard to impress leadership. Those who are not recognised as a contributor will eventually stop trying,” she said.

Further, Matthew felt that hyper-productivity has been so ingrained amongst Singapore workers that it was common amongst his peers to feel guilty for even taking a break.

“The scary thing is that this has been so deeply ingrained to the extent that I sometimes find myself judging a colleague who has left the office at the dot even if they have work to be completed. It is our prerogative to work within our stipulated working hours but we’re so great at worshipping productivity that we begin to police each other,” he added.

David Lim*, an employee working in a law firm, also felt that there is a need for a better work-life balance, especially for the lawyers he works with. “That may be because the nature of their work inherently takes a significant chunk out of time out of their personal lives as well. They are literally at the beck and call of their clients most of the time, most especially when they need to provide advice urgently as the situation requires. So they have to reply at 2AM or work through the morning,” he said.

Feedback programmes
As a way of improving the workplace environment, some companies hold feedback programmes. The Qualtrics survey revealed that firms conducting these programmes recorded a higher level of employee engagement, compared to those who do not.

Mercer International Region partner for employee experience practice, Lewis Garrad, noted various ways of holding feedback programmes, including a cyclical employee survey, gathering of feedback in moments like during an on-boarding process or a leadership change, digital focus group and natural language processing, employee preference tools and anonymous polling tools during townhall meetings.

Garrad noted that most multinational businesses and large local firms have well developed employee feedback programs. He found that companies that gather systematic feedback and use it to improve their business do gain real results.

David’s company did not offer any feedback programme that he knew of -- instead, feedback is taken directly to their manager. “From what I've seen direct feedback, especially when it comes from our Partners, are very much taken into consideration and are acted upon, so long as the action doesn't come directly against firm directive or tradition,” he noted.

In contrast, Matthew’s company holds one-on-one feedback sessions with their line managers every quarter, centred around their individual career journeys. However, he felt that there was only so much that an individual could do, citing an instance of a coworker being advised against commenting about some of their company’s practices by their line manager.

He stressed a need for a system where employees can empower each other. “For me, the mark of a company that truly cares about employee welfare is the existence of employee welfare taskforce, which has employees coming together in conversation around what is wrong and what more can be done to improve company culture,” he said.

Likewise, Garrad recommended for companies to put more focus on action and improvement, rather than just measurement for these feedback programmes. “If employees provide feedback, they want to see it being acted on by their employer,” he said.

*not their real names