TAIPEI (Business Today/TVBS News) — The global workplace has entered a new phase, transforming from a “buyer's market” to a “seller's market.” Jobs now seek people rather than the other way around. This era is hailed as the best for workers but the worst for companies.
June, the graduation season, has intensified labor shortages across all sectors, impacting blue-collar and white-collar jobs. HR teams are actively recruiting on campuses, and even TSMC (台積電) faces recruitment pressures. A global trend emphasizing "employee experience" (EX) is gaining momentum to address such a dilemma.
Yes, you heard it right: EX. Historically, stakeholders such as business owners, customers, shareholders, suppliers, and employees have focused mainly on customers and shareholders, seldom addressing "talent sustainability." With severe labor shortages, employees who can deliver have become more crucial than customers. Companies must now consider employees' feelings while crafting "customer experiences."
"Employees are not merely employees; they are also customers. Many people join a team because they like the brand. Managers should adopt the employees' perspective; the better the experience, the higher the retention and engagement, fostering sustainable development," said Jeannie Liu (劉靜穎), vice president of Mercer Taiwan (美世顧問公司). "Just as customers return and become loyal fans with good experiences, the same applies to employees. The principles of managing talent and customers are the same."
Since 2016, Mercer has been publishing the "Global Talent Trends" report. Surveys from the past three years have found that the primary focus for HR departments globally, including in Taiwan, is "enhancing EX to retain talent."
In the first half of 2023, Weber Chong (鍾文雄), senior vice president of 104 Job Bank (104人力銀行), attended a talent forum. He recounted a speech by Lora Ho (何麗梅), senior vice president of HR at TSMC, who said that TSMC plans diverse experiences around each stage of an employee's career. These experiences encompass every interaction throughout their lifecycle with the organization, creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive (DEI) EX from "attraction, recruitment, onboarding, engagement, performance, development to retirement."
On Jan. 28, Ho also spoke at a forum co-hosted by Acer Inc (宏碁集團) founder Stan Shih (施振榮) and the Thunderbird School of Global Management (雷鳥學院). "I heard her say that 2024 is the first year of TSMC's cultural transformation. I'm certain about what I heard," said Jiang Hsin-lan (姜欣嵐), Taiwan general manager of organizational, talent, and rewards consulting at Willis Towers Watson (WTW, 韋萊韜悅).
Coincidentally, MediaTek (聯發科) has undertaken similar initiatives. At the end of March, Lin Hsiu-yu (林秀瑜), senior vice president and HR head, highlighted at the "Talent, In Taiwan" forum that when discussing EX, people often think of MediaTek's daycare centers, gyms, and restaurants, which are only a part of it. The deeper meaning is the "journey employees and the company experience together," aimed not just at benefiting employees but also ensuring the company's sustainability.
MediaTek did not anticipate that emphasizing EX would bring rapid advantages. In 2022, the turnover rate for its Taiwan operations fell to 5%, markedly lower than the 13.7% average in Taiwan's high-tech service sector.
Not only TSMC and MediaTek, but also startups like PressPlay place great importance on EX. They encourage more companies to start the journey of workplace experience with their employees, facing the challenges of the new century together.
This article is excerpted from the June issue of Global Views Magazine; for more articles, please visit the Global Views Magazine website: www.gvm.com.tw. Here is the link to the Chinese story: 連台積電都搶推「員工體驗」，你一定要知道的企業徵才新顯學
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