Forum: Follow through on workplace initiatives to get trends on staff improvement
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The article “Only 1 in 10 young Singapore workers is engaged at work: Gallup report” (June 22) should prompt more than another debate about whether younger workers are resilient or committed enough.
It should also raise a harder question about the workplace surveys and HR initiatives Singapore already has: Do these identify the conditions that prevent employees from contributing more, and do organisations act on what they reveal? Employer-of-the-year and employee-engagement awards can recognise worthwhile initiatives and improvements in satisfaction, retention and productivity. But without follow-through, they suggest only a snapshot of one great period.
Do award-winning employers sustain better retention, development and confidence through restructuring or AI adoption? The public, job seekers and policymakers should be able to distinguish sustained practice from one-off achievement.
Rather than create another award or label employees as disengaged, existing recognition schemes could place greater emphasis on follow-through. A one- and three-year update could show broad trends in retention, internal mobility, career progression and relevant organisational outcomes.
Beyond analysing HR data, AI could make engagement more participatory, using short workplace scenarios and interactive prompts to surface concerns that annual surveys may miss. Its value should lie not in monitoring individuals, but in helping organisations act on patterns and show employees that their feedback has led to improvement.
Publicly listed companies, government-linked firms and major public agencies should lead by reporting, through existing channels, whether workplace initiatives produce measurable improvements in retention, mobility, capability and organisational performance over time. Moving from one in 10 to one in nine engaged workers would be meaningful, but most would still remain outside that category. The real test is whether organisations use feedback to fix recurring problems and improve work, career opportunities and results.
Daniel Chong
