Tag Archive for: culture

Are your employees engaged at work?

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Employee engagement is a key point for a well-established and profitable business.

It can be seen as the emotional commitment the employee has to the organisation and its goals.

This emotional commitment means that engaged employees actually care about their work and the company they work for. They are not just motivated by their next payday or waiting for the next promotion. They work on behalf of the organisation’s goals.

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Benefits

Taking care of your employee engagement can lead to many benefits for your company in terms of costs and efficiency. In fact, having engaged employees increase general wellbeing at work. The American Psychological Association estimates that more than $500 billion is lost every year due to workplace stress. Employees will feel happier if they feel like they are part of the business and not just working for one.

1 | Boost productivity

According to an Automatic Data Processing report “Employee Engagement: Power Your Bottom Line”, organisations with engaged workers are 18% more productive than their competitors, 12% more profitable and have employees who are 57% more effective and 87% less likely to leave.

2 | Lower your turnover

A high turnover rate costs both money and time to the company. Furthermore, it can also interfere with your daily operations of the business and even affect the company’s overall efficiency. This can even cause a higher, cascading turnover rate throughout the company, at the extreme end (as more people bandwagon).

3 | Lower absences from work

According to a report from Gallup “State of the American Workplace Report” (featuring 195,000 US employees), building good employee engagement can reduce the absence from work by 41%. Engaged employees will make a point of going to work rather than trying to avoid it altogether.

Best practice employee engagement can have many more benefits that you would not even have thought of. For example, it can increase employees’ safety by 70% as employees are committed to adhering to best practices that prevent safety incidents.

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Simple ways to boost engagement

Here is a list of simple ideas that you can use to improve your employees engagement:

  • Always put your employees first: don’t forget that there is no business without them;
  • Promote training: show your employees that you give them all the keys to succeed and you care about their growth both personally and professionally;
  • Provide clear career opportunities: it will motivate your employees to be more involved;
  • Ask for realistic and manageable goals: employees will make an effort to reach them without being discouraged;
  • Give them responsibilities: show them that they are useful and you believe in their capacity to do their job;
  • Focus on communication: employees need to know what is going on to feel integrated;
  • Employee engagement surveys: why don’t you just ask them what would make them more engaged? Never underestimate the wealth of ideas they have to share with you and your business!

Source: Engaged Workplaces Are Safer for Employees, Employee Engagement: Power Your Bottom Line, State of the American Workplace Report, How To Establish A Culture Of Employee Engagement, What Is Employee Engagement, 5 reasons why employee engagement is important, 14 Benefits of Employee Engagement – Backed By Research.

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ASEAN Now

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We have always been proponents for trade with our neighbours up north, the ASEAN Community, a name which was self-declared at the end of 2015. This help setup the ASEAN Economic Community which offers a framework for simplifying, standardising and facilitating economic trade activity between its member states.

As the world’s third-most populous economy (637 million) in 2016, after China and India, it presents massive opportunities for Australian businesses to engage and embrace this rapidly growing region. While only making up 3.4 percent of the world’s GDP, its average annual growth in GDP in 2016 was 4.6 percent, higher than the world’s average of 3.2 percent for the same period. The ASEAN Community also represents the third largest economy (US$2.5tn, 2016), only following China (US$11.2tn, 2016) and Japan (US$4.9tn, 2016).

 

business strategy Asia market research ASEAN graphic GDP

ASEAN – GDP 2016 – Research by Design.

 

ASEAN Now: Insights for Australian Businesses, Commonwealth of Australia 2017

 

Australia has much to gain from embracing the growth in the ASEAN Community:

  • Much closer in proximity than many of our other major trading partners, e.g. China, Japan, U.S.
  • Expanding cities
  • Rising demand from a rising middle-class
  • Increasing integration and interconnectivity through free trade agreements (FTAs)
  • Access to digital innovation

Australia’s lifestyle, products and services have a reputation of being high quality and are widely recognised. Businesses should take advantage of this reputation by tailoring an Australian solution to a Southeast Asian problem. We all mutually benefit.

ASEAN Now is a fantastic read for those who are not familiar with the region and a great top-up for those who are already familiar (click for PDF).

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What is inhwa?

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Historically, ancient Korean dynasties adopted an extreme form of Confucianism, introduced by the Chinese around 108 BC, to control citizens and safeguard the government by discouraging individual thinking or acting. The Choson dynasty later formally introduced a class system and officially prescribed etiquette kingdom-wide. These mandated manners are the foundation of a circumstantial morality system. Only those citizens that followed the conduct prescribed by the Confucian government were regarded as morally upright and proper, while those neglecting to do so were regarded as immoral and socially sanctioned.

Korea is widely regarded as the most Confucian nation worldwide, an important factor when considering engaging or interacting with the Korean business world. A hierarchical structure is deeply rooted in Korea’s authoritarian and militant history. Today, Koreans still relate to each other in a class system guided and defined by particular etiquettes and customs.

When engaging with Korean people in a business context (e.g. a business venture), understanding and respecting local custom and cultural norms is directly correlated to that venture’s success.

In order to establish a positive relationship, Korean culture demands the maintenance of stable environment of kibun, which can roughly be described in terms of pride, face, mood, or state of mind. Disturbing others’ kibun, by disregarding social hierarchy, giving negative feedback, displaying emotions or openly criticising someone is considered extremely impolite, as it disrupts the harmony between people. Koreans are willing to go to great lengths to maintain their and others’ kibun. This conditional cultural reflex can have detrimental effects on business ventures, as negative information may be withheld or softened for the sake of maintaining inhwa and not disturbing the other party’s kibun. Furthermore, a violation of a business partner’s or one’s own kibun might make the development or sustaining of positive, long-lasting relationships impossible and could potentially be very costly to the business.

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