A recent OECD survey found that Koreans work the longest hours per year (2,193 hours) among OECD countries. The OECD average stands at mere 1,749 hours. However, working long hours is not necessarily linked to higher productivity.

In fact, SAS, a software company well-known for its great working environment, recommends its engineers to work strictly eight hours as it is more costly to find and correct errors made by disengaged or overworked engineers.

Similarly, Towers Watson’s recent employee survey “2012 Global Workforce Study” revealed some alarming issues with Korean employees today, including low sustainable engagement.

Sustainable engagement, which refers to employees maintaining a positive connection to their companies that yields consistent productivity, has three elements.

The first element is traditional engagement, defined as employees’ willingness to give extra effort to their employer; the second, enablement, defined as having the tools, resources, and support to get work done efficiently; and the third, energy, defined as a work environment that actively supports physical, emotional and interpersonal well-being. When these three elements are well-balanced, employees are considered highly engaged in a way that is sustainable over a longer period of time.

Companies have known for years that performance is tightly linked to engagement. In a study of 50 global companies, we found that the average operating margin of companies whose employees are sustainably engaged were three times higher than that of those suffering from a low level of employee engagement.

Unfortunately, our study found that only 16 percent of the Korean employee respondents were “highly engaged.” This is significantly lower than the global average (35 percent) or the average of fast-growing emerging markets, such as China and India (around 50 perccent). Moreover, the tough business climate of the past half-decade has shown that engagement is fragile and is unsustainable over time without paying careful attention to very specific elements in the work environment.

Therefore, it is important to diagnose the cause of Korean employees’ low engagement to enhance corporate sustainability and performance. The study revealed that the top drivers of sustainable engagement in Korea include senior leadership, goals and objectives, stress and workload balance. Not many Koreans feel satisfied with these factors.

From the survey, leadership was identified as the most important driver for sustainable engagement in Korea. However, only 37 percent of the subjects rated their senior leaders’ performance good to very good. The level was similar to those found in countries stricken by the economic crisis, such as Spain, Italy, and Ireland.

Meanwhile, sustainably engaged Korean employees were 3.4 times more likely to deem their senior leadership as effective. This implies that employee engagement and leadership effectiveness are highly correlated.

In addition, the low level of engagement seems correlated with health and well-being. As many as 22 percent of the subjects, three times more than the global average, responded that they have some health problems or serious medical conditions.

Over the past 12 months, however, only 26 percent of the Koreans missed more than a day of work due to illness or injury (the global average was 58 percent). As expected, Koreans are more likely to suffer from a low level of energy at work, evidenced by the fact that 33 percent of Korean employees experienced a decrease in productivity as a result of health problems within the 4-week period before the survey.

Identifying, attracting, and retaining “key talent” can also help pave ways to corporate success. When asked to select the most important reasons why they joined their current organizations, Korean respondents picked job security, competitive pay, and a convenient work location as the most important factors. This is a clear message that Korean job seekers place the greatest importance on tangible factors under uncertain economy.

The importance of job security cannot be emphasized enough. While it is obvious that many Korean employees suffer from high pressure at work, they still prefer to stay with their current employer until retirement because they feel insecure about their post-retirement life.

This suggests that job security has become a priority to most employees, and offering a competitive retirement plan could be a good retention strategy.

Retaining key talent is as important as attracting them. At the bare minimum, organizations must offer competitive pay to retain key employees. But, that is not all. People consider leaving their current organizations for reasons they didn’t consider seriously when they joined. Most prominent reasons (other than keeping up with competitive pay) include the ability to manage work-related stress and opportunity for career advancement.

As mentioned above, Korean employees are suffering from a great deal of work stress. In fact, 45 percent of Korean employees picked stress as a reason for leaving their current jobs. Moreover, intensifying cost pressures puts even more pressure on already stressed-out workers. Furthermore, Korean employees do not agree that their employers are doing enough to offer work arrangements flexible enough to meet individual needs.

Although the survey provides a meaningful snapshot of the Korean employees’ attitudes and concerns, organizational leaders must also understand that employee behaviors differ by industry, company, and corporate culture.

Therefore, a single solution does not exist for all. However, leaders must remember that understanding what effect employee engagement, attraction and retention of key talent, and choosing the right drivers to apply for their organizations will definitely help them make their organization more successful. Finally, leaders should be patient with the engagement improvement progress as it is something that cannot be dramatically changed at once. Engaging employees for better performance is a journey, not a station.

By Charlie Kim
Representative director, Towers Watson Korea