11% of Singaporean workers 'fully engaged' at work: study

The figure was notably lower than the global average of 14%.

Only 11% of Singaporean employees said they felt “fully engaged” at work in the past year, according to a study commissioned by global HR and payroll leader ADP.

The figure is considerably lower than the global average of 14%.

“Engagement levels in Singapore have been steadily declining, dropping a mammoth 9% between 2018 and 2020,” the research said. “The global average decline in engagement levels during this same time period was just 1%.”

Contrastingly, Singaporean workers ranked high in terms of employee resilience, placing fourth at 19% and outperforming the global average of 15%.

Researchers discovered employees who had a close, personal experience with COVID-19 were 3.8 times more likely to rank “highly resilient”.

“These findings reinforce the well-known notion that people can often emerge stronger after a setback or crisis,” commented Yvonne Teo, vice president for HR Asia-Pacific at ADP. 

Interestingly, a strong correlation between the severity of the pandemic’s impact to a country and the average workplace engagement and resilience was not recorded, contrary to what researchers anticipated.

The report also observed that whilst Singaporean employees could weather challenges, their low engagement levels could mean their potential at work couldn’t be fully maximised.

“The figures, for Singapore but also internationally, show there is still work to be done by employers to get employees more engaged and build workplace resilience,” Teo added. “To achieve this, employers need to work on improving their communication with employees and to strengthen the employer/employee relationship to build a bond of trust and mutual sense of appreciation.”