It's not just about the money for engaged workers

But Thai Yamaha Motor’s Phongstorn Ermongkonchai has found a simple synopsis: employees who are engaged are often the ones who love to do their jobs.
“It’s like ‘back to basics’,” he said.
It is the duty of the human resources (HR) department to try linking the key performance indicators for whichever jobs their workers are in.
“When they wake up every morning, they can answer themselves what they are working hard for,” he said.
The chief of finance, corporate planning and administration was speaking at a seminar on “Shaping and Sharpening the Future Roadmap of Thailand and Asean’s Human Capital Management” held by the Sasin Graduated Institute of Business Administration and The Nation.
Agreeing with Phongstorn’s notion of the importance of value or purpose-driven culture in keeping employees engaged, Steven Miranda, managing director of Cornell University’s Centre for Advanced Human Resource Studies, said his daughter had just turned down an offer from a big tech company and opted for a job at a smaller, less-known organisation because of her “value and mission-focused” mind-set.
Artirat Charukitpipat, chief human resources officer at Bumrungrad International Hospital, said HR professionals should try to figure out what are the real needs of their employees.
In her industry, she has found it is neither the money, nor the chance to climb up the career ladder to managerial posts that many medical professionals desire.
Rather, they want to hone their skills to become specialised in a particular area.
This is a major reason why Bamrungrad decided to invest in its research laboritories, which provide the necessary tools and space for its staff to excel in their jobs and feel proud of their profession.
No recruitment methods effectively work to draw in the Generation Ys more than the “friends-get-friends” tactic, if not going for a campus recruitment, because Gen-Ys really stick with their friends, he said.
Chutima Sribumrungsart, HR director at Microsoft (Thailand), said companies should pay attention to their workforce retention strategy because the costs of keeping their staff are usually cheaper than the costs of acquiring new employees.
To achieve the retention goal, HR managers should partner with their line managers who should also perform another role as a “people manager” taking care of their subordinates.
“There is no way HR will know the staff better than their line managers,” she said.