Ineffective Employee Engagement Can Cost Companies

Feb 28, 2022

Welcome back to an all-new Head’s Up. This week, we are looking into addressing ineffective employee engagement and why if left unresolved, could cost companies more than just a good employee. Victor Phang of WorkSmartly shares his thoughts with us and ways to better to manage communication.

But just before you head off to read the piece, here are some news and announcements to start your week with.

Till our next issue, stay safe and stay healthy!

News

Ministry of Health (KKM) and Futurise Announce Major Milestone with the Launch of Online Health Service Regulatory Lab (OHS RegLab) for Malaysian Healthcare Industry

The Ministry of Health (KKM) together with Futurise Sdn Bhd (Futurise) today announced the launch of the Online Health Service Regulatory Lab (OHS RegLab) marking a major milestone in the evolution of a regulatory framework for Online Healthcare Services (OHS) in the country.

This announcement augurs well for OHS players within the Malaysian healthcare ecosystem striving to provide healthcare services to patients online. The OHS RegLab will run via a strategic collaboration between KKM and Futurise, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cyberview Sdn Bhd under the Ministry of Finance, that leads the National Regulatory Sandbox.

Once open for submissions, interested OHS companies or platform providers may apply to enter this Regulatory Lab. Entry and registration into the Regulatory Lab is voluntary. The scope of OHS for the Regulatory Lab, enrollment criteria and requirements for operating in the Regulatory Lab are stated in the guideline. For more information and to be part of the Online Health Regulatory Lab (OHS Reglab), please visit: https://futurise.com.my/ohs

GK Aqua Seeks To Raise RM2 Million Via ECF Platform, pitchIN

GK Aqua Sdn Bhd (GK Aqua), a Malaysian Biotechnology company is looking to raise a minimum of RM2 million (USD478,000) for 4.26% equity with a maximum target of RM8 million (USD1.912 million) for 15.09% equity via the Malaysian equity crowdfunding platform pitchIN.

Founded in 2016 with a vision to make Malaysia an export country of top-quality freshwater prawns, GK Aqua is currently at a pre-money valuation of RM45 million (USD10.75 million).

GK Aqua has raised a total of RM4.6 million from PlatCOM, SME Corp, and Cradle through grants which were used to solidify their biotechnology research and digitising their farms.

To get more information and to invest in GK Aqua, do visit: https://equity.pitchin.my/businesses/gk-aqua-sdn-bhd

Sunway University, Sunway Innovation Labs and Daikin Refrigeration’s Graphene-Based Nano-Fluid Successfully Reduces Daily Energy Consumption

Sunway University, Sunway Innovation Labs (iLabs) and Daikin Refrigeration Malaysia Sdn Bhd today announced that their pilot trial of graphene-based nano-fluid in industrial chillers has successfully reduced daily energy consumption by up to 10% (kwH) consistently over a trial period of one-month, compared to when a chiller is running using regular tap water.

The nano-fluid results in almost 40% faster heat transfer, i.e., transferring the same amount of heat in a much shorter time. Resultingly, the chiller consumes less energy as it reached the setpoint temperature faster

For more information, please call +603 5639 8636 or e-mail ilabsfoundry@sunway.edu.my.

Ineffective Employee Engagement Can Cost Companies

Communication has always been a key tool in creating an efficient workplace operation for any company. British academician, John Adair once said, “Communication is the sister of leadership” and this holds more truth than ever particularly in the current times we live in.

With remote and hybrid working arrangements now in place for many across the business landscape, ineffective employee engagement can cost a company dearly. According to Victor Phang, Chief Executive Officer, and Founder of WorkSmartly, impacts of ineffective employee engagement can include higher costs for companies, with disengaged employees caring less about their jobs and o start looking for the exit at best.

“This could lead to companies spending more in training new employees and these costs to compensate constant changes adds up. Ineffective employee engagement might also kill the morale of an employee and eventually cause disruption and dissatisfaction within the company,” Victor points out, adding that it would lead to a chain effect throughout the workplace.

He also shares that not only will the workplace feel the impact of it but it will greatly reflect on customer satisfaction.

Areas of Concern

Remote working arrangements without a doubt has had a tremendous effect on employees’ relationship with their jobs, employers, and managers. Victor lays out three main concerns and these include the feeling of isolation, an employee’s engagement, and an employee’s experience.

Speaking on the first concern, Victor says that although there are a lot of tools and applications that can support communication, based on a survey by WorkSmartly, the team found more than 80% increase in sending messages within the organisation that are purely work related.

This signaled a decline in social interaction and with more employees feeling left behind by their bosses, who did not provide adequate support during the pandemic.

Victor encourages companies to enhance their employee engagement digitally and to start from the workflow itself and eventually look into building a support system in place to aid employees who face issues with their work.

“The pandemic has increased the trend of employers playing an extended role in their employee’s financial, physical and mental well-being. Support included better sick leave, financial assistance, adjusted hours of operation and childcare provisions.

“In some circumstances however, some companies have pushed their employees to work in conditions that are high risk with little support, treating them as workers first and people second. Be very careful in which approach you take, be mindful of the effect of the employee's experience, which would be long-lasting,” Victor says.

“In a post-pandemic era, I’m seeing the need for more custom-made appreciation programmes and highly flexible benefits to work for each individual employee. The kinds of benefits and facilities we see in practice now would become less and attractive to employees,” Victor shares.

However, he also urges employers to first go back to basics and revisit the existing forms of engagements with employees from time to time and the willingness to support.

For instance, companies could launch flexi-benefits which employees get to choose their preferred benefits based on the budget provided by the company to each individual employee.

Integrating A Designated Communications Platform

According to Victor, a designated communications platform can easily unify all the various forms of communication, including telephone, messaging and document sharing systems.

“With multiple systems of communication, it is easy to lose messages. For example, you might miss a reminder to a last-minute meeting because you had not opened the app that contained the message.

“With a more unified designated communications platform, the messages could be sent via one system, such as instant messaging, you could also receive it through email, allowing you to receive the notification in your preferred communication platforms and ensure that you don’t miss out the messages,” Victor highlights.

Companies can also integrate other preferred communications method into a unified communications platform, so that it could be easier to collaborate with other businesses and clients no matter their communication style.

Victor shares that with features available on WorkSmartly such as Smart Stories, Value Go-Live and Mission Whiteboard, companies are enabled to create more effective employee engagement.

HR teams could look to employ HRM tools to make these available for all to see, serving as a guidepost for employees. For example, WorkSmartly has successfully assisted Sony employees in creating this effect through their Mission Whiteboard and Value Go-live features.

“Ultimately, features offered by tools like WorkSmartly can assist an HR department to manage the changing and increasing workload while keeping things simple and easy for employees,” he says.

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