SINGAPORE (Dec 7): While business leaders in Singapore do not deny an organisation’s success is intrinsically linked to the happiness of its people, nearly half say they have lost valued human resources as a result of failing to ensure employee satisfaction.
This finding comes as part of a global study com missioned by Fujitsu, which explores organisations’ relationships with their employees, customers and society – and how vital each group, along with culture, creativity and digital technology, is to achieving business success.
In line with trends in other regions, a significant proportion (68%) of Singapore’s business leaders said they prioritised customers (66%) and the society (30%), although they understand the need to find a way to deliver for all audiences in order to ensure sustained success.
In particular, almost one in two (48%) business leaders in Singapore admit they have lost great employees because they felt stifled in frustrated.
42% of local business leaders said they did not feel confident in their organisation’s ability to unlock employee creativity.
Other challenges believed to limit the potential of employees in their organisation include too much focus on day-to-day tasks and too little on employee development (52%); limited opportunities for growth and development (34%); and limited chances for employees to contribute new ideas (38%).
About 40% believed that maximising the potential of, and creating new opportunities for, employees, is a factor to define their organisations’ success – albeit not as much as having a good reputation (50%) and achieving financial growth (78%).
Among the respondents surveyed in Singapore, 68% feel the duty to improve the lives of their employees, followed by their customers (66%) and their wider society (30%).
68% also admit the difficulty in balancing the expectations of all three audiences, which is higher than the global average of 60%.
Globally, two thirds (66%) of leaders surveyed believe employees have an increasing influence on their business, while 73% say unlocking employee creativity is vital for growth.
Wong Heng Chew, country president, Fujitsu Singapore, believes the future of business success in general will be driven by “knowledge, creativity and trust, supported by digital technology advancements and an evolved business approach with people at its heart”.
“People have always been vital to business. The survey findings show that over the last few years, businesses have shifted their focus - where once, success felt very much hinged to the customer, it is increasingly clear that employees and citizens within society play a big role as well,” says Wong.
