According to Mercer’s Engagement Index , one in four (or 26 percent) of employees in Malaysia do not feel engaged at work. This number is among the highest in the Asia Pacific region, and can impede the prospects of corporate growth and economic growth more broadly.
A more engaged workforce is healthier and happier, and a healthier and happier workforce is more productive. Malaysia’s score on the Employee Engagement Index leaves substantial scope for improvement in the way companies treat their employees, and suggests there is much upside to be had if human capital is given due consideration.
Human capital plays an important role in a country’s GDP growth, and its contribution to growth can be directly related to the levels of employees’ engagement and experience at their workplace. How employee experience is measured, in turn, has evolved in recent years. Previously, organizations would conduct an annual or biannual survey to measure levels of employee motivation and satisfaction to understand their views and expectations from the organization, and to get a sense of what changes and/or improvements employees wanted.
So what does the employer and employee relationship look like in Malaysia? Malaysia has laid down a myriad of policies to become a high-income and developed nation. One of the core focuses and pillars of the policies is on empowering human capital development. It continues to be one of the key priority areas for the Malaysian government to foster economic growth. As such, it is important for government bodies and ministries to drive growth by measuring the pulse of employees as Malaysia moves in to the next phase of growth. It is pertinent to incorporate these values in government agencies and then in government-linked companies to effectively set the agenda for other companies in the country to follow.
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