While talent retention has lately been a big challenge for businesses, several studies have found that wellness has been one of the top reasons for attrition globally. At the People Matters TechHR Singapore Conference 2022, Sunil Setlur, Chief People Officer, Gojek, shared why a “listening” culture is crucial for businesses. 

During the session titled “Humans At Work: Creating A Listening Culture", chaired by Tanmaya Jain, CEO of inFeedo, Setlur emphasized the importance of seeking feedback from the workforce to build a listening culture, and that honest feedback can only be obtained when it is ensured that the workforce's feedback is acted upon. Adding to this, Tanmaya noted that sometimes surveys go unfilled by many employees because of the fact that the respondents are not ensured that their responses will be taken seriously.

It wasn't until the pandemic that the importance of physical well-being became apparent, Selur said. As a result of the overwhelming number of virtual meetings, employees felt exhausted and fatigued. Following a four-month trial of eliminating Friday meetings and granting employees paid time off on the last Friday of every month, the Gojek leadership scrapped the initiative after the reductions in working hours caused trouble with employees.

Setlur noted that managers have to put their foot forward in ensuring that the workforce is leveraging all such policies rolled out by any employer. He said, “Managers are not the only people who rate their employees; employees rate their managers too.”

Setlur pointed out that it can be difficult for managers to deal with negative feedback about ineffective communication, since natural instinct is to defend themselves. "In cases like this, we run active interventions from top notch people, mentors or others on how to effectively communicate." Setlur added.

In the past two years, such factors have changed the workflow, making people analytics more important than ever. According to Setlur, a CHRO can achieve a listening culture by collecting analytics on people's behavior and responding accordingly.

My strong advice to any CHRO will be to invest in people analytics function because you need that degree of thought process and precision when you respond to feedback," Setlur said in concluding the session.