Engaging the Singaporean Workforce

This was the first trip I've made to Singapore since I saw the Gallup Q12 data that showed Singapore having the least engaged workforce in the world.

Marcus Buckingham makes a pretty big deal out of it in his TLC presentation, roughly saying, "When they offer you that great job in Singapore, don't take it".
The statement, like many of Marcus' statements, draws a big laugh (dry British humor wins the day, again).

Gallup reports that only 4% of the Singaporean workforce would call itself 'engaged' (compared to 29% in the US, or 9% in Japan, at the time).
Since I lived in Singapore for two years, everyone asks me, "Is it true? And why?"

Well, yes. The data has the ring of truth to me. Why? I'll try to answer that. 

First, I wanted to know how Singaporean workers would respond to the data.
I showed the data to my friends, including the HR director, and asked, "Is it true?"
After a moment of silence, they nodded. "Yes".

Does that mean you shouldn't take the job in Singapore?
Are you kidding? Take the job, I say!!

When the management bar has been set that low, you can't fail.

Want to make a difference? Go to Singapore and engage 5% of your employees (or better)...

But there's still the nagging question - Why would only 4% of Singapore's workforce consider themselves 'engaged'?

In 1997, I was managing a young, new Customer Service group in Singapore.
I'm the kind of manager who tries to catch people 'doing good' and then reinforce that behavior, so I walked around a lot, looking for the type of behavior I wanted to see and complimenting it.
More than once, people commented on how much praise I delivered. They weren't used to it. It scared them.

One Monday morning, at a staff meeting, I called out the extraordinary efforts an engineer made to get a specialized oscilloscope from a vendor. This allowed him to fix a difficult issue that was critical to our customer.
This, I said, is the type of initiative that makes us part of the solution, and not part of the problem.

After the staff meeting, my Singaporean manager called me into his office.
"Glenn," he said, "I want to give you some feedback".
Sure.
"We don't give compliments in Singapore. You'll need to stop."
Ummm... please explain.
"Well, if we compliment our workforce, they will think they are good."
Okay, I'm with you so far.
"If they think they are good, they'll want raises and promotions. And then they'll leave."

I see. Let's assume that's true. Let's agree that complimenting will drive out employees.
How is the 'no compliment' scheme working out for you.

Well, turnover in the group at that time was about 20%.

I decided that I couldn't do much worse than that by giving compliments.
I'm a guy who's unafraid of failure. In fact, I welcome failure if I can learn from it.

One thing I can't stand, however, is making the same old mistakes.
If I'm going to fail, I want to fail in new and interesting ways.

So, my manager and I agreed to disagree, and I went on with my positive ways.

Result - in two years. I lost only one employee, who I actually encouraged out (great guy, wrong place).

Note - this pattern repeated itself over the next 5-7 years.
Chinese Manager - high turnover
Western Manager - low turnover
In other words, it wasn't any magic gift I had..... (damn...)
So, what was it?

Over those two years, I interviewed many engineers who wanted to work for me.
I always asked the standard interview question, "Why do you want to work for KT?"
Some answers -
-"You are an American company"
-"You are Caucasian"
-"You are not Chinese"
-"I want to work for a Western Manager"

These responses always came from Chinese Singaporeans, and came often enough to create a pattern.

My read on this?
I think a combination of status, hierarchy, fear, and freedom created a conflict.
The East/West mix of Singaporeans means that hierarchical structures and relationships are often in place, but the workers are westernized enough to not like it.

• Sometimes that manifests in a "I'll get promoted so I can boss them around" thought process (If you can't join them, beat them).
• Other times it results in "I'll work for a Western Manager". On average, a Western Manager will provide a more nurturing, involving, rewarding environment for a Singaporean worker.
• Or it just creates surrender.

But not an 'engaged' workforce.

I'm sure there are 100 other reasons for the 4% result.
But I'm also sure that any manager in Singapore who makes an effort to get positive responses from his team on Gallup's 12 Questions will be, as Marcus Buckingham says, 'an employer of choice'.