Engage and grow
> Boosting employee productivity and corporate sustainability in today’s workforce
LAST week Dale Carnegie Training Malaysia, an international employee engagement consultancy firm, held a conference – Engage 2016. The inaugural employee engagement half-day seminar gathered individuals from various industries, providing valuable insights about Malaysian corporations and how they could increase their workforce productivity and sustainability. Discussions also covered rising concerns faced across the globe on issues like high turnover rates.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
The event which incorporated two talks, focused on the theme “Building Talents for Impactful Results”. It aimed to raise awareness about the importance of employee engagement in creating a healthy and robust sustainable workforce.
Dale Carnegie Training research reported that disengaged employees are more than 13 times likely to move to another job for as little as a 5% pay increase. Corporate intelligence firm Gallup Inc in Malaysia recorded that only 11% of employees are “engaged”, 81% are “not engaged”, and a mere 8% are “actively disengaged”.
Shocking were these revelations, which led the Sun to conduct a little more research and highlight this critical issue which will have serious impact on not just the industry and those in the workforce, but society at large.
VITAL INSIGHTS
The word “engage” according to the Oxford dictionary online is explained as: to occupy or attract, to involve or to initiate participation, to make meaningful contact with, to hire or employ, to pledge or enter into a contract, to reserve, accommodate, to put into position, preparatory to fighting or enter into combat. Its origin is said to have come from the word “gage”, which means “to pawn” or “pledge”/ “pledge oneself”.
At Engage 2016, the first speaker Mark Cosgrove shared relevant insights about a large portion of today’s working society, the millennials - those born between 1980 and 1996. Apparently, millennials are estimated to form 50% of the global workforce by 2020. These younger set are also portrayed as “spoiled, lazy and disrespectful of authority” and are said to be more likely to be fully or partially engaged than older non-millennials. The point to highlight is that millennials have the potential to be the most productive generation, if they are engaged correctly, even though some might find them cocky, delusional and tech-obsessed.
TIME FOR CHANGE
Within the workforce in Malaysia, it is important for those holding high managerial and decision-making positions to get a grip on millennials. While in the good old days it might have been de rigeur to be focused and do one thing at a time, those from generation Y can actually muster a few responsibilities, and be fully-focused too, simultaneously. What may come across as passive or being sluggish could express the millennial’s resistance to hard work as a huge percentage stand with the “work smart” culture.
Like it or not, the world has progressed, developed and moved forward. Those holding the reins in the corporate world can either move up or sadly, sooner or later, shut down. Change is never easy but as time does not stand still, in order to move forward and progress in line with evolution, we need to toe the line or be left behind.
According to online research and information from the conference, here are some characteristics and mindsets of millennials: making a difference in society generating impact and effecting change for the better leadership positions that can cause growth flexibility in working smart and not hard personal development and change achieving work-life balance instead of success, money and status friends, family and their networks for ideas and comments/observations challenging work that stimulates the mind and soul having freedom to get the work done according to their way motivation by meaning an fairness having a solid and transparent work relationship with their boss task and not time orientated a hunger to learn and improve they want recognition, to be heard and constant feedback
Look out for part 2 over the next few days, touching on today’s new work culture and solutions for positive change.