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Quiet quitting trends spurred by the pandemic have sent shockwaves through the world of work. It has woken business leaders up to the importance of improving employee engagement among a disparate, demotivated workforce. Previous insights from global research firms like Gallup and Gartner highlight that labor turnover is higher than ever as organizations are struggling to retain their staff. However, leaders are yet to enact meaningful strategies reflective of technological advancements to tackle the problem at its core.

At Unily, the author conducted extensive research to uncover the new pillars of an employee retention blueprint and unpick the intersection of digital communication, engagement and retention. The survey was completed by 218 Heads of Internal Communications, Heads of HR, IT Leaders and Intranet Managers at international businesses with over 10,000 employees.

The findings indicate that a high-quality digital experience is key to employee engagement with over half (53%) of those surveyed stating the two are linked. As the consumer world moves in the direction of superapps, such as TikTok, X and Instagram Threads, the digital age has heightened expectations of communication, blurring the lines between personal and work spheres. The author also found that employees now expect a smooth, multichannel, digital experience with WhatsApp (31%) text (47%), emojis (41%) and memes and GIFs (33%) as cited as common new modes of communication.

This study enriches existing research on employee retention and engagement by offering solutions on how to leverage digital communication to re-engage a dissatisfied, dispersed workforce.

Though to stay competitive is important for an organization's survival, today's organizations need to deal with various challenges. For example, organizations need to deal with the future uncertainty; need to know when to embrace change; need to recruit the right talent; need to keep abreast with the rapidly changing technology; need to remain ethical in doing business; and need to deal with increasing competition in the market. Thus, good strategies are needed if they want to stay competitive. Organizations must be able to know the competition and be different; update the organization's image; look after the existing customers; target new markets; be the best employers; be able to foresee the future; exemplify and position strengths from weaknesses; take into consideration the local context; use data and analytics to support strategies; prioritize creativity and innovation; utilize the data; remain relevant; and explore partnership opportunities. As for Malaysia, various strategies have been developed to support organization sustainability. These include transforming the school system in order to produce high-skilled and semi-skilled workers; strengthen Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education activities; digitalize Malaysian employment landscape; and create good networking and collaboration with other countries. Malaysia also introduces various initiatives to support business sustainability such as awarding Sustainable Business Awards Malaysia to any Malaysian company that has shown a balance between making profit and acting sustainably; come out with competitive fiscal and monetary policy; and strengthen the human capital development.