'Tis the season for 'itchy feet' – what can HR do about it?
The holiday season can be a prickly one for employers in Asia due to the annual spike in employee resignations. Can HR help turn things around?
Employees across the region have spoken up: 85% believed that a ‘workplace culture that encourages respect for diversity of opinion’ was the most positive and impactful action companies can take to retain staff.
The second thing employees yearn for was ‘a diverse leadership team’, according to 79% of respondents in the annual study.
Employees across the region, including those in managerial positions were surveyed in the report by Hays.
READ MORE: How to prevent post-CNY resignations
Lack of leadership diversity in Singapore
Over in Singapore, almost nine in 10 professionals said that a positive, respectful and diverse work culture can improve retention.
About 73% added that their organisations already had the culture in practice – the second highest figures in Asia.
Another 82% said the recruitment of a diverse leadership team would help build an inclusive work culture.
However, more than half of employees felt their organisation actively worked to develop under-represented groups into leadership roles.
A further 27% were unsure as to whether their organisations work to develop under-represented groups into leadership roles.
D&I standards fail to match employee expectations
Across Asia, 71% of employees said actively working to develop under-represented groups specifically into leadership groups is crucial to talent retention, but only 38% of organisations practised this.
These figures show significant gaps when it comes to encouraging diversity through leadership, compounded by 61% of respondents saying their leaders were biased towards promoting people who think look or act like them.
Similarly, 80% said providing leaders with training to mitigate bias would be a positive step forward.
What more can be done?
Currently, most employers (79%) conduct employee feedback surveys as a safe channel to propose alternative viewpoints, which was also regarded by 49% of respondents as a positive action.
Organisations also regarded exit interviews (62%) and town hall meetings with mixed groups (47%) as effective channels to encourage diverse opinions.
Other important steps that can further foster diversity of opinion was the chance to comment on organisational culture during their review/appraisals (47%) and collaborative roundtable forums and discussions (40%).
