Employee

engagement and
experience in
Malaysia 2023
How the COVID-19 pandemic
has reshaped what people
want at work
Employee engagement and experience in Malaysia 2023 2

Foreword
At Mercer, based on our more than 50 years of conducting Engagement
research, we believe that gathering feedback more often across the
employee lifecycle and turning feedback into action creates tangible and
significant impact on improving the organisation’s bottom line.

As we continue to grapple with the fragility, uncertainty and evolvement of

the business landscape post-pandemic recovery, the fundamental change in
people’s values and priorities are underpinning a structural shift in the labor
market. Employees today do not want to work for their company, they want
their company to work with them. Relatable organisations are employing
more ways to listen, learn and find ways to adapt to the employees’ needs
than what we have ever seen before.

In this report, we have compiled our findings that will help our clients
understand the levels of engagement in Malaysia. We have also included
prominent insights that our clients can take away from, featuring the
potential factors that contribute to talent retention issues from an
engagement standpoint based on the key observation from the Malaysia
market.

The Mercer Malaysia team would be glad to embark in this journey with
you to better understand your employees' underlying needs and concerns
and most importantly support you in devising, implementing and
sustaining an effective listening strategy that can make a meaningful
difference for your company.

Koay Gim Soon

Market Leader, Mercer Malaysia
gim.soon.koay@mercer.com
Employee engagement and experience in Malaysia 2023 3

The three C’s of engagement

Mercer assesses employee engagement by measuring In essence, engagement is a measure of how much
levels of employee commitment, contribution and how energy people feel at work and the extent to which they
captivated employees feel. feel passionate about what the organization stands for,
along with their willingness to drive success.

Committed Contributing Captivated

Wanting to stay with the Motivated to help Feeling energized and

organization and feeling the organization looking forward to coming
passionate about its succeed to work
mission
Employee engagement and experience in Malaysia 2023 4

Engagement levels in
Malaysia: 2023

Our analysts reveal that 75% of employees in Malaysia are

engaged at work, 2 points lower than the Southeast Asia
Growing Markets region (SEA GM: Indonesia, Malaysia,
Philippines and Thailand) and the global average of 77%.

This 2023 score has increased slightly from 74% from

the preceding year.

Diff
SEA GM: -2%
Global: -2%
Employee engagement and experience in Malaysia 2023 5

The impact of COVID-19 on

engagement

We see a common trend among the components that
make up engagement; pride, willingness to recommend
working for the organization, satisfaction at work, and
willingness to stay peaked in 2020 but have since dipped
to pre-COVID levels. Motivation level peaked in 2021
after climbing steadily for the past three years but have
since returned to pre-COVID levels too.
It is interesting to see a significant climb (+5 percentage
points) in the satisfaction component between 2019 to
2020. A possible cause could be the increased
engagement by employers in response to the pandemic,
and it is an interesting component to watch as we move
into a period of re-adjustment (“The Great Resignation”).

Engagement levels in Malaysia over a five-year period

89
88 88
87
86
85 85
84
83 83
82
79
78
77 77 77
76 76
75 75

70
69
68
67
66

Pride Motivated Satisfaction Recommend Stay

2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

 Employee engagement and experience in Malaysia 2023 6

Identifying the gaps between

regional and global
engagement levels

We have already observed that Malaysia’s engagement score lags

slightly behind SEA Growth Markets and Global. Compared to the SEA
Growth Markets, employees in Malaysia score lower in terms of
motivation, overall satisfaction, willingness to recommend their
company as a place to work, and willingness to stay with the company.
However, employees in Malaysia are more positive when it comes to
looking forward to coming to work.

85
Pride 85
83

82
Motivated 83
82

75
Overall Satisfaction 77
75

73
Recommend 75
77

75
Look forward 71
73

62
Stay 68
69

Malaysia SEA GM Global

Employee engagement and experience in Malaysia 2023 7

Understanding what
drives engagement

Beyond measuring engagement itself, it’s also important to
understand the specific elements of the employee’s working life that
drive engagement, because these drivers can act as “levers” to help
boost engagement levels.
We observe that employees in the Southeast Asia Growth Markets
have a fairly unique set of engagement drivers when compared to
global data.
Job security is the top driver for employees in SEA GM, possibly a
continued response to the disruptions from the pandemic. The
prospect of a company’s future and commitment to organization
are the second and third drivers respectively.
In keeping with the job security, we see a further emphasis on growth
within the company, specifically in terms of being able to reach full
potential at the company and the organization’s ability to attract
high quality employees as being the fourth and fifth drivers of
engagement.
This tells us that organizations in Malaysia will need to have robust
people strategies with strong value propositions targeted at talent
attraction, as well as active communication and engagement with
employees aimed at maximizing their development and growth.
The table below shows the top five drivers of engagement for the SEA
GM region and Globally.

SEA GM Global
(IN, MY, PH, TH)
I am satisfied with my level of job security. 1 -

I am excited about my Company's future. 2 2

I feel a strong sense of commitment to my organization. 3 1
My Company attracts high quality employees. 4 -

I feel I can reach my full potential at the Company.

5 4

I feel energized and enthusiastic in my current role at work. - 3

I feel valued as an employee at my Company. - 5
Employee engagement and experience in Malaysia 2023 8

How employees’ views in

Malaysia have changed over
time

Looking more broadly across the employee experience, the

past two years have seen companies in Malaysia struggling
Improved
to manage the disruptions caused by the pandemic, but
their efforts are making a positive difference in the
employee experience. The five questions most improved since 2022 norm

Employees in Malaysia believe their companies take a

genuine interest in their well-being, and they feel My Company takes a genuine interest in the well-being of its
employees. (+7%)
energized and enthusiastic at work.
I feel energized and enthusiastic in my current role at work (+6%)
They also enjoy an increase in collaboration between
different part of companies in the interest of high- The different parts of my Company cooperate with each other in the
quality performance at the organisational level. There is interest of high-quality performance of the company as a whole. (+5%)
also a high level of confidence in the company and the
leadership; senior leaders are seen to ‘walk the talk’. At my Company, senior leadership’s actions are consistent with what
Finally, a heightened sense that there is fair treatment they say (they “walk the talk”). (+4%)
of all employees in the company.
My Company treats employees fairly regardless of their age, family /
marital status, gender, disability, race / color, religion or sexual
However, looking at the questions which have orientation. (+4%)
declined in favourability since 2022, less
employees feel satisfied with their benefits
package. They also feel that their companies do The five questions most declined since 2022 norm
not make full use of their skills and abilities, and
we see fewer employees feeling confident that
something would be done if they were to speak My Company is an environmentally responsible company. (-1%)
up about an inappropriate business practice or
ethical issue. I have a clear idea of the results expected of me in my job. (-1%)

I am confident that if I report an inappropriate business practice or an

Finally, more could be done in providing clear
expectation of the results expected of
employees, and in driving the belief that they
work for an environmentally responsible
company.
ethical issue something will be done about it. (-1%)
My job makes good use of my skills and abilities. (-1%)
I am satisfied with my benefits package. (-3%)

All these reflect the changing motivators and

stresses experienced by the employees as we
settle into the new normal after the pandemic.
Declined
Employee engagement and experience in Malaysia 2023 9

Malaysia’s bright spots

and hot spots

Diving deeper into the employee experience in Malaysia and

comparing these to views in the region reveals positive “bright
spots” and less favorable “hot spots” in the employee
experience.

Bright spots

Employees feel confident about their company’s offerings and value to the industry. They agree that clear instructions
have been well communicated for them to succeed at their jobs.

of employees agree that they are would recommend their company’s believes their company has the right
truly customer-focused in products and services to friends and products and services for the
everything they do (they put relatives. (+6) marketplace. (+2)
customers first). (+2)

of employees believe their of employees say that they have of employees agree that they have
organizations have ensured clear clearly defined performance goals enough information to do their
priorities are set for what needs to and objectives. (+2) jobs well. (+2)
be done. (+2)

Mercer | Malaysia 2023benchmark (compared to SEA GM 2023benchmark).

Employee engagement and experience in Malaysia 2023 10

Hot spots

However, compared to their peers in Southeast Asia, fewer employees in Malaysia are favourable about workplace efficiency,
and more can be done to support employees in achieving work life balance.

To maximize the full potential of employees in the organization, companies should look at opportunities for leadership to
engage in regular two-way communication with employees as well as to build a psychologically safe environment.

of employees say that where they work,
there is little wasted time and effort
(e.g., redundant work, unnecessary
paperwork, poor quality work that has
to be redone). (-11)
of employees report that they are able of employees report that the amount of
to detach from work during non-work work expected of them is reasonable.
time (i.e., when they choose not to be (-4)
working). (-2)

of employees feel that the company of employees feel that of employees feel that they can
takes a genuine interest in the well- management makes an effort to get express their ideas / views without
being of its employees. (-3) input, ideas, and opinions from fear of negative consequences. (-3)
them. (-4)

Mercer | Malaysia 2023benchmark (compared to SEA GM 2023benchmark).

Employee engagement and experience in Malaysia 2023 11

About the Mercer benchmarks

Analysis from this report is derived from the Mercer

database of responses from client surveys. These
responses are collected as part of employee survey
programs that measure employee engagement along
with other strategic areas that impact overall business
performance.

The average survey uses 37 of the more than 600 items we

track; these items fall into 30 areas, including:

Job challenge/ Training/ Career Teamwork Rewards and Employee

use of skills performance development recognition engagement
development

Work Communication Workload Resources Diversity, Customer focus

environment/ equity and
safety inclusion

Vision/ Culture and Innovation Risk Organizational Business

direction values management change performance
Employee engagement and experience in Malaysia 2023 12

2023 norm Companies Projects Employees

Malaysia 50 97 34.428

SEA GM 88 154 188,308

Global 805 1253 8,400,000+

Unless stated otherwise, the data presented in this report are

aggregated from company responses to multiple surveys over
the past five years (2018–2022). Hence, comparison of data
from previous years’ index reports should be approached with
the knowledge that scores in each specific year are moving
averages of data over the past five years.

6012752-CR © 2023Mercer LLC. All rights reserved.

Employee engagement and experience in Malaysia 2023 12

Taking a multi-method
approach to listening

What’s the best way to listen to our employees? Organizations often assume the best
way to listen to their workforce is to conduct a pulse survey, but that’s not always the
case. Surveys are effective for measuring attitudes about topics that are well known
and empirically established. But for new, emergent, or ambiguous events like this
pandemic, exploratory research techniques using qualitative methods often generate
better insights. Considering the complexity of current events, we think the best way to
listen to your employees is to take a multi-method approach.

Listening Full-Census Pulse Digital Focus Total 360

Approach Survey Surveys Group Rewards/ Assessment
EVP
Research

Description Robust continuous Agile, targeted Enable Used to Part of a leadership

listening to continuous organizations understand development
understand listening with to crowdsource what issues program to assess
employee strategic people and rewards/ behaviors and
experiences and employee insights in a benefits are competency areas.
perceptions. research live, collective most pressing
programs. conversation. and/or
preferred by
your workforce.

Recommended Every year or 18 Quarterly to Periodically Every 12 to 24 Every 12 to 24

Use and Timing months for an track priorities as needed months or as months to help
organization-wide and/or on- to deep dive major shifts leaders identify
snapshot and to demand for on- on a specific take place development focus
reset priorities. boarding, exit, challenge. in the work areas and track
role transition, environment. progress.
etc. Redefining
rewards/EVP

This report has been prepared by members of the Mercer

Contact
Regional Employee Engagement Solutions Center of
Excellence team, Marieke van Raaij and Derek Teo, together Lim See Er Divyaa Sritharan
with See Er Lim and Shakira Helmi of the Mercer Malaysia see.er.lim@mercer.com divyaa.sritharan@mercer.com
Career team.
Shakira Helmi Andrew Samuel
nurul.helmi@mercer.com andrew.samuel@mercer.com

6012752-CR © 2023Mercer LLC. All rights reserved.