Qualtrics’ Employee Experience Trends reveals change management key to employee engagement in Hong Kong in 2021

Annual report finds top engagement drivers shifted significantly during 2020

HONG KONG
SAR – Media OutReach – 8 February 2021 – New research released today by Qualtrics, the
leader in employee experience (EX) and creator of the experience
management (XM) category, has revealed significant shifts to the drivers of
employee engagement in Hong Kong in 2021.

 

According to the 2021 Hong Kong Employee Experience Trends Report, four of the top five employee
engagement drivers changed over the last year. Feeling organisational changes
are managed well, having in place processes allowing employees to be as
productive as possible, and resources to explore new ideas emerged as the new
top three drivers of engagement in the country. Open and honest communication,
and confidence in senior leadership – last year’s top driver – completed the
top five.

 

The engagement drivers to drop out of the top five were a clear link
between work and the company’s strategic objectives, managers who help
employees with career development, opportunities for learning and development,
and recognition for good work.

 

Employee engagement in
Singapore on the rise 

 

While global employee engagement levels rose 13% in the last year (66%
in 2020 vs. 53% in 2019), engagement of employees in Hong Kong fell to 57% in
2020, from 63% in 2019.

 

An important contributor to overall employee experience, well-being
continues to be a priority for workers across the globe and is predicted to be
a key trend for organisations in 2021. Among employees in Hong Kong, more than
six in 10 (62%) rated their well-being as favourable, just below the global average
(67%). Most notably, a sense of belonging at an organisation has the greatest
impact on overall wellbeing. Employees in Hong Kong who feel like they belong
are more than 3x as likely to rate their well-being favourably (80% vs 26%).

 

Lauren Huntington, EX Solutions Strategy, Qualtrics Southeast Asia,
said: “2020 has irreversibly changed the working world, and so it is
unsurprising we have seen engagement drivers shift considerably this year. As
businesses and governments look forward to 2021 we expect to see these
engagement drivers change once again as restrictions continue to change. To
ensure teams are provided with the support and services they need in fast
changing situations it is critical leaders are able to understand how emerging
trends are reshaping the workplace, and what they can do to design and improve
employee experience.”

 

The importance of action

 

According to the Qualtrics study, more than nine in 10 employees in Hong
Kong (90%) believe it’s important their company listens to feedback, an
increase of 24% from 12 months previously. However, the number of employees
saying they’ve an opportunity to feedback decreased to 56% (vs 81% in 2019),
with just 14% saying their employee acts on feedback well (vs 53% in 2019).

 

“Listening, understanding, and acting on employee feedback is now
critical in Hong Kong. By capturing responses from their teams across the
entire employee lifecycle and in key moments that matter, businesses are able
to design and improve experiences.”

 

“The business impact of listening and acting on feedback is huge. When
organisations do take action, scores increase across employee engagement (92%),
wellbeing (93%) and intent to stay (94%),” said Huntington. 

About the study

 

The 2021 Global Employee Experience Trends Report examined more than
11,800 full-time employees across 20 different countries around the world, to
find out what’s changed in employee experience, and what is driving employee
engagement in a post-COVID world. More than 210 respondents polled were
from Hong Kong.

 

To download the full 2021 Global Employee Experience Trends Report,
please click here.