"A thriving workforce makes for a thriving business." In a world of constant change, your workforce has to be more than just satisfied and productive, they need to be energised and engaged in order to contribute to the rapid business growth. "In view of the flourishing local economy and low unemployment rate for years, as well as the emergence of new technologies and increasing number of millennials in the workforce, these factors had led HR professionals facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities in their day to day work," says Peter Chan, Principal at Career Consulting of Mercer Hong Kong. "Senior management and HR should adopt forward thinking strategies in order to build a thriving workforce so to cope with new business competitive landscape."

The world's largest human resources consulting firm, Mercer is also a subsidiary of global professional services giant - Marsh & McLennan. Headquartered in New York, Mercer has branch offices in more than 40 countries and serves clients from more than 130 nations and territories with a total staff of over 20,000.

"Thriving organisations do not happen by chance – they are created through intentional decision making," adds Chan. "The same way these companies are obsessing about their customers, HR practitioners are also obsessing about ways to enable their workforce to thrive. They put people at the heart of their business."

In today’s digital era, nurturing an engaged, thriving workforce is not a destination, but a journey, according to a Mercer report published last month. "Through people analytics, organisations can use employee feedback programmes to find out how their employees feel about their career paths and how connected they are to their work." The report highlights the fact that that, aligning with the big data trends, people analytics is effective in uncovering the essential factors that can empower your employees by connecting your employees’ work with a sense of purpose, and improving both internal and external user experience, and most importantly providing a platform for your employees to voice opinions and suggestions.

Run the Thrive45 Survey at Zero Cost with Big Data Analysis
Nicole Luk, Senior Consultant at Career Consulting of Mercer Hong Kong, says that HR should take on a business partner role and start answering the question "How effectively is your organisation delivering on the thrive imperative?" She explains that Mercer has designed a 45-item diagnostic survey – Thrive45 to assess the extent to which companies have developed the environmental factors that enable a thriving workplace and workforce while also help their employees thrive both professionally and personally.

"Under an open, transparent and fair approach, we at Mercer Hong Kong help manage the Thrive45 survey as a third party independent research organisation," says Luk. "The survey serves as a low cost, simple and easy tool while delivering high impact results. It is an accessible platform where employees would spend around 7 to 10 minutes to complete the questionnaire either on their computers or smart phones. We’ll monitor the response rates throughout the process to ensure a greater and more representable turnout."

After collecting the data, the Mercer team analyze the results and produce a company specific report, which HRs not only be able to identify overall company results. but also their position in the market as well. As an option, participating companies can choose to upgrade the survey to obtain more in depth analysis, such as demographics cuts, item by item analysis for better future action planning.

"To recognize well performed organizations, shortlisted companies with better thriving results will be invited to the Thrive Awards held this coming March 2019," adds Luk. "The winning companies will be recognized and can take this opportunity to share their best practices and strengthen their employer brands to attract more brilliant talents."

"The Thrive45 survey measures eight common enabling factors of a thriving workforce," concludes Chan. "These include: culture integrity, equitable rewards, organisational agility, compelling careers, effective leadership, healthy work environments, thriving individuals, and engagement. This comprehensive and effective survey can help HR diagnose and increases visibility about their workforce’s strengths and weaknesses as well as better understand the current needs and motivators of staff."