Lauren Huntington eyes Singapore employee experience

Employee experience, pre and post-pandemic, has shifted, with employees putting a high value on good working relationships at the workplace to achieve overall positive results in terms of performance and outcomes.

Huntington shared Qualtrics’ Employee Values survey and the findings showed that:

• 60% of respondents in Singapore believe it is more important than ever for leaders to speak out about social, environmental, and political issues
• Nearly two-thirds of the 1,015 respondents said they would likely look to leave their employer if the company did not prioritise work-life balance or well-being
• In contrast, 86% of respondents said they feel motivated to go above and beyond what’s expected of them when their employer’s mission, values, and vision align with their own

“Many people are looking at their jobs, their companies, and work in general through a completely different lens than they were before the pandemic. For employers, this new perspective represents a significant opportunity to strengthen relationships with their teams, which can lead to improved wellbeing, higher engagement, greater retention of high-performers, and better outcomes for customers,” Huntington says.

COS Asia: What steps should HR leaders take to address the latest survey results? 

Huntington: HR leaders must focus on the essentials – attracting, retaining, and enabling employees. The most important step they need to take right now is to regularly tune into employees’ evolving and diverse needs. Then, take swift targeted action on what’s important to them with empathy, speed, and scale. When organisations do this, they are twice as likely to retain employees. The insights make this possible by helping them effectively respond to unexpected events, spot risks, and unmet needs, prioritise investments and deliver the right support and services to employees. 

For example, as employers continue to evolve their hybrid work environments, regular insights into employee needs can help them deliver environments and technologies that maintain productivity, engagement, and well-being regardless of location. 

Similarly, as Qualtrics research shows the impact of company values, employee feedback can help the business create shared social responsibility programs and actions. This can cultivate belonging and a greater sense of purpose among the workforce.

Empathy is a major force in the workplace

COS Asia: Why is empathy a major driver for resignation? 

Huntington: The last few years have highlighted a need for empathy in every part of our lives, especially as people seek out experiences and roles that align with their individual needs and preferences. Leaders should take a deeper look at why employees seek such changes to be able to identify the root cause of employee needs and then build a culture that values people’s interests, well-being, and health from the outset. 

A good example of this in action can be seen around the four-day workweek discussion in Singapore. Despite recognising some benefits of working one fewer day a week, three-quarters (78%) of Singaporean respondents to a Qualtrics study said they would expect to work longer hours under this model, while many expected it would frustrate customers and that company performance would suffer. 

These findings highlight the importance of being able to understand and meaningfully deliver what people want and ensure everyone benefits from ongoing transformations.

COS Asia: Many say employees resign because of their bosses, not their jobs. Do you think your survey proves this to be true?

Huntington: It is important to look into concrete employee feedback and data surrounding employee exits to avoid any blind spots and enable the organisation to productively improve workplace practices and talent retention. 

In a large-scale study across 20 countries, Qualtrics validated the top three drivers of the intention to stay as a culture of belonging, feeling positive about oneself at work, and feeling like career goals could be met. While we certainly found that factors like “trust in the manager” were critical, there are others that influence people’s decisions.

Huntington underscores DEI in Singapore’s workforce

She discussed diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) in Singapore and what governments and businesses should do to highlight this facet of company culture to foster inclusivity and equity.

Given that Singapore’s workforce is made up of a melting pot of culture and nationality, DEI is paramount in ensuring that employees are not left out or feel excluded in the work workplace.

 

COSA: The correlation between employee values and company culture is paramount. How do senior Singaporean workers cope with the emerging office culture trends?

 

Huntington: It’s important to point out that concepts like well-being, DEI, and work-life balance, although becoming popular, are not new work focuses. The focus must be on ensuring that employers can tailor these for the entire workforce to experience.

 

Leaders can understand how the decisions they make will impact their teams using direct employee feedback.

 

For instance, the shift to hybrid environments impacted everyone. Employers can launch tailored and targeted initiatives to ensure productivity and safety by knowing what people need when working from home.

COS Asia: In the survey, DEI places the top spot among the surveyed employees. Why is this so?

 

Huntington: Singapore is a multicultural society and this demonstrates the importance of DEI to local society and its microcosms, such as workplaces.

 

According to the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), the majority of Singapore firms recognise DEI’s positive impact. However, much more is needed to ensure related programs drive meaningful and measurable improvement in employee perceptions of equitability and a sense of belonging.

 

Prioritising DEI and making workplaces more equitable will nurture a greater sense of belonging among employees. The business impact of this approach cannot be understated, with our research revealing a greater sense of belonging correlates to enhanced employee engagement and greater intent to stay.

COS Asia: Are there available digital tools for organisations and employers to understand their workers more?

 

Huntington: Businesses need to use experience management technologies to identify employees’ needs throughout different stages of their employment, allowing them to respond intentionally to key groups in real time.

 

For example, one of Asia’s leading communication technology organizations began an experience transformation program with Qualtrics to rethink its employee experience. The organisation moved away from its annual engagement survey toward frequent employee pulses for it to quickly understand its employee experience.

 

The company also introduced continuous listening at an employee’s key moments, such as workplace anniversaries, onboarding, and exit. Then it integrated feedback from third-party sites into the platform to inform and guide decision-making.

Qualtrics harmonises leadership and employee experience

Fostering a good working relationship between employers and employees and the need to incorporate diversity, equality, and inclusion has been major pain points in the Singapore workforce.

While both are important in keeping employees happy and ensuring that the employee and the company perform well, attrition is still a major problem employers face.

 

The conversation with Huntington continued. She talked about the difference between employee experience (EX) and experience management (XM), and how the breakdown of this understanding leads to attrition.

 

COS Asia: Have you done any surveys among leaders that indicate any correlation to the result of your employee survey?

 

Huntington: Industry research shows the gap between the experience company leaders think they deliver, and what experiences employees say they receive.

 

A powerful example of the importance of experience management in today’s fast-changing environments was when Deloitte found more than eight out of 10 company executives said their staff was doing well in terms of physical, mental, social, and financial well-being during the pandemic. But fewer than two out of three employees rated various dimensions of their health as “excellent” or “good”.

 

Similarly, 88% of executives felt like they made the best leadership decisions for the organisation, although just 53% of employees agreed.

 

This gap between what people think and what’s being experienced could cause losses in talent and productivity.

 

COS Asia: How does specialising in employee experience shape the way you form surveys such as this?

 

Huntington: Employee experience extends beyond just capturing feedback. It is about actively listening through multiple channels, democratising data, and most importantly, taking action with empathy, speed, and scale.

 

Qualtrics established the XM Operating Framework to help organisations develop their experience management (XM) capabilities and maximise the impact of their investments. It has six key competencies they need to master:

 

1. To lead through a clear XM strategy over multiple years

2. To realise strategic and financial value

3. To activate by ensuring the organisation has the skills, support, and motivation to achieve the desired results

4. To enlighten by transforming data into useful information

5. To respond by acting on learnings

6. To disrupt by identifying and creating experiences that differentiate.

 

Qualtrics also formed the Centre for XM Innovation in Asia to develop the XM discipline in Singapore, build professional capabilities for XM locally, and foster a community of XM professionals to further the category.

 

COS Asia: What made you focus on and become an EX strategist?

 

Huntington: A key driver throughout my career as an organisational psychologist has been to make workplaces more equitable and enjoyable, considering we spend much of our lives engaging in work. Today, as we see unprecedented challenges and increased experimentation with workplace practices, I believe this goal has never been more important or impactful.

 

HR and people leaders have a rare opportunity to positively define the way we work for generations to come. Because of this, it’s key we use direct employee feedback to design the experiences people want and need. Equally paramount is to continuously listen so we are agile enough to respond when new experiments are not landing as we expect, or unintentionally marginalise groups within our organisations.

COS Asia: Would you like to add anything?

 

Huntington: For HR and people leaders, knowing what matters most to employees is mission-critical in today’s fast-changing environments. By understanding and acting on what’s important to employees, employers will be well-placed to retain employees and keep them engaged and productive. The companies that get their responses right stand to pick up outsized gains in market share.

 

Some of the most innovative and impactful experience management programs we see are when organisations integrate insights from their customer and employee experience programs on a single platform. This allows businesses to understand how their employee experience impacts customers and tells them what they can do to improve outcomes for both.

For instance, a hospitality brand was able to pinpoint the areas of its employee experience that are the biggest drivers of positive customer experiences. With this understanding and the ability to quickly act on feedback, the company can prioritise the investments and actions it takes, while simultaneously delivering better customer and employee experiences. These are key advantages in the current economic environment.

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