Survey Shows Tourism and Hospitality Tops in Engaging Their Employees in Singapore

SINGAPORE, 29 January 2015 – Employees from the tourism and hospitality industry were found to be the most engaged in Singapore according to human capital consulting firm EON Consulting & Training (EON).

The tourism and hospitality industry has the highest score of 84.29%, followed closely by the healthcare industry (82.99%) and the engineering industry being in the third place (79.92%).

EON’s report is based on the survey findings on the engagement level of 146 employees working in Singapore, over a five-month period, from August 2014 to December 2014. The respondents gave score ratings to questions that correspond to six dimensions of employee engagement, such as, job characteristics, perceived organisational support and leadership, perceived supervisor support, rewards and recognition, perceived procedural justice and belief in the organisation and its culture.

“As the current labour market continues to tighten, it is becoming increasingly important to understand which industries best engaged their employees, and what influences their engagement levels,” says Mr William Thien, Principal Consultant of EON Consulting & Training. “Businesses in their respective industries can then deploy the most effective measures to increase the employee engagement of their staff, and reap the benefits of having an engaged workforce.”

Tourism and Hospitality Employees – Most Engaged by Cohesive Organisation Culture & Work Life Harmony

Employees in the tourism and hospitality sector were found to be the most engaged by being in a cohesive organisational culture and through achievement of work life harmony.

Ms Ong Jie Xin, Consultant of EON Consulting & Training and main analyst for the report suggested that, “Being in a labour intensive and people-oriented industry, tourism and hospitality companies are constantly searching for employees and trying to retain them. It is therefore important for these businesses to continue to strive towards building a distinct company culture with a close-knitted work community in order to maximise engagement with their employees.”

Ms Ong adds, “Employees in this industry also indicated that support from their supervisors were the most important factor in engaging them as well. They value supervisors who are able to organise work efficiently, values them and support them in their work. Therefore, businesses in the tourism and hospitality industry should continuously train and equip their supervisors with the right skills, knowledge and autonomy to be able to support their employees promptly whenever needed.”

Healthcare Employees – Desire Strong Support from Supervisors

Similarly, employees in the healthcare industry desired strong support from their supervisors. Such support may come in the form of coaching, or providing sufficient resources for employees to complete their job.

Mr Thien says, “To effectively engage employees in this industry, companies must seek to equip its supervisors and managers in people management skills. Training and development is a useful platform to start developing such capabilities. Companies should also develop and implement coaching and mentoring programmes to provide some forms of structure for their supervisors to support their employees in their jobs. At the same time, the management must be willing to empower their line managers so that support can be given timely whenever necessary.”

Engineering Employees – Aspire for Challenging Work that Uses and Develop Their Skills

On the other hand, employees in the engineering industry are most engaged by the characteristics of their job roles. They are motivated by challenging work that provides opportunities for them to use and develop their skills.

Ms Ong explains, “In our survey, employees in this industry expressed that having a challenging and meaningful job scope with opportunities to use and develop their skills are the most important factor to engage them. Therefore, businesses should look to set individual work targets for employees to achieve. In addition, the management may explore setting stretched targets to encourage performance and engagement. Of course, this should also be supported with coaching, training and the necessary resources so that the goals remain realistic and achievable to the employees.”

For more information, please contact:
Name: Jonathan Chang, Consultant
Email: jonathan@eontraining.com.sg
Office Number: 6220 4008