Talent trends in Asia: How to boost workforce productivity and well-being

Drawing insights from 3,600 executives, HR leaders and employees in Asia, Mercer’s Global Talent Trends 2024 Asia (GTT) has uncovered organizations’ three key employee-related concerns:

As employers in Asia adopt new technologies to boost productivity gains, they need to ensure that their human capital strategy aligns to their technology roadmaps, while also making considerable improvements in fostering trust and well-being.

Work redesign, a process where existing job responsibilities and tasks are reviewed, revised, and reallocated, can reveal skills gaps as well as opportunities to upskill and reskill to bring about productivity. This process can benefit many organizations as existing models, which are more focused on job functions versus skills, often lack the agility to respond to new technologies. Many organizations in Asia are just beginning to transition to a job-based construct, which lags behind the best practices of more mature global peers. Unless job roles are clearly defined and skills are aligned with the new work design, new technology may compromise workforce productivity.

Organizations should:

To fully leverage AI and technology, companies must redesign workflows and provide adequate training. In China, only 45% of surveyed employees believe that their companies will provide sufficient training, while 56% of executives believe that the pace of technological development exceeds the speed of employee retraining.

As organizations seek to boost productivity by leveraging technology, their ability to adapt people strategy and gain the trust of employees will determine whether they can realize productivity gains.

Establishing a redesigned workforce and a skills-based strategy is a journey and can get overwhelming. Depending on the organization’s maturity level, it is important to identify and plan a starting point that works best for the organization.

As the strongest variable influencing how energized employees feel at work, it is imperative for organizations to build trust through empathy. Employees who trust their organization are three times as likely to report they are thriving, and more likely to stay.

To alleviate the risk of broken promises, organizations can facilitate two-way communication with employees. Regular updates on the company’s goals, strategies and decisions on pay equity, including actively listening to employees’ feedback and suggestions with follow-up actions, can lead to greater employee trust.

Organizations can provide equitable benefits, particularly healthcare and medical insurance, at every level, especially for employees at lower job bands who typically need it more, by:

In Asia, one in two “dual caregivers” – employees financially supporting both children and parents – feel “somewhat stressed” every day. As Asia’s ageing population grows, employers can support caregivers to build trust.

A good example is a pharmaceutical company in China that provides professionally trained caregivers for their employees’ hospitalized family members, enabling peace of mind for employees who work in the city and find it difficult to care for their loved ones.

According to GTT, providing financial well-being benefits is eighth on HR’s list of priorities, even though it is the top reason for burnout in Asia. Organizations can take these two actions to alleviate financial strain among employees:

Low levels of financial literacy can lead to stress and anxiety. Financial planning talks on topics around investment, retirement and children’s education can help employees make well-informed financial decisions. Companies can also consider contributing to employees’ retirement funds to ensure they have sufficient retirement savings.

To help employees cope with inflation and rising cost of living, companies can work with local communities to secure preferential rates through economies of scale for big ticket items such as housing loans, childcare fees, mobile plans as well as daily necessities.

As Asia’s workplace evolves rapidly, fundamental changes to employee experience can have unintended impacts. Organizations will need to weave together their human capital strategy and technology roadmaps, while also make considerable improvements in fostering trust and well-being to build a thriving workforce.