Qualtrics’ Employee Experience Trends reveals change management key to employee engagement in Hong Kong in 2021

Annual report finds top engagement drivers shifted significantly during 2020

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 8 February 2021 - New research released today by Qualtrics, the leader in employee experience (EX) and creator of the experience management (XM) category, has revealed significant shifts to the drivers of employee engagement in Hong Kong in 2021.

According to the 2021 Hong Kong Employee Experience Trends Report, four of the top five employee engagement drivers changed over the last year. Feeling organisational changes are managed well, having in place processes allowing employees to be as productive as possible, and resources to explore new ideas emerged as the new top three drivers of engagement in the country. Open and honest communication, and confidence in senior leadership - last year's top driver - completed the top five.

The engagement drivers to drop out of the top five were a clear link between work and the company's strategic objectives, managers who help employees with career development, opportunities for learning and development, and recognition for good work.

Employee engagement in Singapore on the rise 

While global employee engagement levels rose 13% in the last year (66% in 2020 vs. 53% in 2019), engagement of employees in Hong Kong fell to 57% in 2020, from 63% in 2019.

An important contributor to overall employee experience, well-being continues to be a priority for workers across the globe and is predicted to be a key trend for organisations in 2021. Among employees in Hong Kong, more than six in 10 (62%) rated their well-being as favourable, just below the global average (67%). Most notably, a sense of belonging at an organisation has the greatest impact on overall wellbeing. Employees in Hong Kong who feel like they belong are more than 3x as likely to rate their well-being favourably (80% vs 26%).

Lauren Huntington, EX Solutions Strategy, Qualtrics Southeast Asia, said: "2020 has irreversibly changed the working world, and so it is unsurprising we have seen engagement drivers shift considerably this year. As businesses and governments look forward to 2021 we expect to see these engagement drivers change once again as restrictions continue to change. To ensure teams are provided with the support and services they need in fast changing situations it is critical leaders are able to understand how emerging trends are reshaping the workplace, and what they can do to design and improve employee experience."

The importance of action

According to the Qualtrics study, more than nine in 10 employees in Hong Kong (90%) believe it's important their company listens to feedback, an increase of 24% from 12 months previously. However, the number of employees saying they've an opportunity to feedback decreased to 56% (vs 81% in 2019), with just 14% saying their employee acts on feedback well (vs 53% in 2019).

"Listening, understanding, and acting on employee feedback is now critical in Hong Kong. By capturing responses from their teams across the entire employee lifecycle and in key moments that matter, businesses are able to design and improve experiences."

"The business impact of listening and acting on feedback is huge. When organisations do take action, scores increase across employee engagement (92%), wellbeing (93%) and intent to stay (94%)," said Huntington. 

About the study

The 2021 Global Employee Experience Trends Report examined more than 11,800 full-time employees across 20 different countries around the world, to find out what's changed in employee experience, and what is driving employee engagement in a post-COVID world. More than 210 respondents polled were from Hong Kong.

To download the full 2021 Global Employee Experience Trends Report, please click here. 

About Qualtrics

Qualtrics, the leader in employee experience and creator of the Experience Management (XM) category, is changing the way organizations manage and improve the four core experiences of business----customer, employee, product, and brand. Over 12,000 organizations around the world are using Qualtrics to listen, understand, and take action on experience data (X-data™)----the beliefs, emotions, and intentions that tell you why things are happening, and what to do about it. The Qualtrics XM Platform™ is a system of action that helps businesses attract customers who stay longer and buy more, engage employees who build a positive culture, develop breakthrough products people love, and build a brand people are passionate about. To learn more, please visit qualtrics.com.