TALENTED, DISILLUSIONED
How to find out which of your best employees is ready to leave
By Cesar Bacani

All CFOs know who their most talented employees are. But how many know which ones are ready to walk out the door?

That’s a question managers in Asia, particularly those in Malaysia, should ask themselves, suggests a new study by ISR. The global employee research organization surveyed more than 3,000 employees regarded as talented by their supervisors and who work in 120 companies in Australia, Hong Kong/China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. The key finding: many are disillusioned or disengaged from their jobs.

In Hong Kong and China, 31% of talented workers are unhappy; in Malaysia, 47% are. Of the talents “at risk,” 61% (Hong Kong/China) to 78% (Singapore) are open to other job offers (see chart, “Make Me an Offer”), even though they say they work for a good company. The rest will bolt as soon as they find an acceptable post elsewhere.

At the other end of the scale, fewer than half of the respondents are “fully engaged” (see chart, “Love and Hate on the Job”). That is, they are proud of their company, believe in its goals, are prepared to put in extra effort, and plan to stay. The rest are complacent (willing to stay, but won’t make any extra effort), disillusioned (willing to exert extra effort, but won’t stay), or fully disengaged (won’t exert extra effort and will leave soon).

These results may have implications for a company’s performance. “In another study,” says Hamish Deery, ISR’s director for Australasia, “we found that talented employees who are fully engaged are much more productive [than other employees], particularly in complex roles.”

ISR’s research shows that organizations with high employee engagement posted an average 19.2% growth in operating income over the past 12 months, while those with low employee engagement saw operating income shrink by an average of 32.7%. The first group of companies also showed superior performance in income growth and earnings-per-share growth.

So how do you keep your talent happy? More money may not be enough. “Financial rewards matter in recruiting talent, but they become of lower priority when it comes to talent retention,” says Deery. Career development and training, the quality of the company’s leadership, and the company’s reputation emerge as more important factors.

Talented employees want their employer to help them achieve their full potential, which means having formal talent management and succession planning systems in place. They expect their bosses to make decisions that are consistent with the organization’s values, create a climate of continuous learning, and foster “an entrepreneurial, long-term oriented, proactive, participative, and flexible approach to management.”

Deery also emphasizes the importance of an attractive employment brand within and outside the organization. “We’re actually finding that in Asia, corporate social responsibility is increasingly becoming important as a source of competitive advantage for an organization in attracting and retaining talent,” he says. Insofar as they burnish a company’s brand, initiatives such as social action programs and good corporate governance bolster a talented employee’s pride in the organization.