How KLC International Institute creates a people-oriented culture through EngageRocket's employee listening tool

High-quality academic experience for students and employees

KLC International Institute (KLCII) was established in 1988, providing over 30 years of training excellence. Initially focusing on early childhood education KLCII gradually expanded its suite of courses to meet market demand for quality higher education. KLCII is a member of the Crestar Education Group (CEG) which has more than 120 centers in its network of kindergartens, preschools, and enrichment centers spanning across Singapore, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Australia.

With one virtual and three physical campuses in Singapore, KLCII provides Singaporean and international students with continuing education and pathways to higher career achievement.

Its faculty is committed to providing exceptional educational programs and services. KLCII strongly believes the employees' positive experiences should be reflected in what they are providing to their students. KLCII aims to capture the voice of its employees in order to strengthen its culture and deepen their engagement.

 

 

"The use of technology already has an important place in our classrooms but we also need to leverage technology internally. This means not only embracing new technologies but also new mindsets. Our people are at the heart of our delivery of educational excellence, preparing and mentoring students for success in life. KLCII is a human capital development company, we want to provide the same level of commitment to our employees, as we do our students, through a forward-thinking and people-oriented approach."

Chua Ying Hwee, KLCII’s CEO and Principal

 

 

Employee engagement drives educational excellence

KLCII embraces a corporate culture advocating core values such as Teamwork, Management by Objective, Partnership, Continuous Learning, Care and Concern, and Accountability toward a lifelong journey of educational excellence.

With the vision of being a regional leader in lifelong education, KLC International Institute embarked on a digital transformation journey over the last two years. Mr Chua Ying Hwee, KLCII’s CEO and Principal, has spearheaded a technological transformation initiative, convinced that continuous innovation is essential to successfully transform work culture.

Education professionals must be provided with opportunities for continual learning and development, as well as the space to make their voices heard. Indeed, higher education institutes rely on their ability to attract, retain, and engage talented staff. It is important that institutions of higher education position themselves as an ‘employer of choice’ for talent.

Being part of Crestar Education Group with shared HR services, Mr Chua sought a solution that would allow employee feedback and needs to be acquired easily, while also limiting the number of hours that administration would need to spend on data analysis.

 

"Through this partnership with EngageRocket, we want to build an open feedback culture to better understand our people's needs and prevent attrition. EngageRocket provides an additional channel to improve communication and encourage employees to share their feelings seamlessly, in a trusted manner."

Chua Ying Hwee, KLCII’s CEO and Principal

 

Taking action by keeping a finger on the pulse of our organization

KLCII launched its first survey with EngageRocket within 15 days. Supported by internal communication and automated reminders, the inaugural launch achieved a notable participation rate of 95.5%.

KLCII uses EngageRocket’s Belong solution to send out engagement surveys to faculty and staff. Through the platform, the team is able to collect, analyze, and get immediate insights to boost employee engagement. KLC has many employees from different nations and the platform allows us to take into consideration different perspectives in our diverse workforce.

EngageRocket’s high confidentiality approach has given staff assurance to suggest areas for improvement, allowing KLC management to follow up quickly and as a result strengthen engagement further.

 

 

"We are now able to quickly identify subtle dynamic changes within departments as we implement new initiatives and preempt unwanted attrition. We are also able to benchmark scores internally and externally, allowing better sense-making”

Lee Siew Ling, KLCII’s Organisational Development Project Manager

 

The solution also enables managers to observe fluctuations in individual and team motivation over time, allows them to customize workplace training, and equips managers with the right information for 1-1 coaching. EngageRocket data has been a useful reference in 2020 for both tactical and strategic maneuvers for the company.

EngageRocket’s dashboard automatically generates data and insights in real time that can be communicated internally with the management team and the employees. Results and action plans are also shared during town hall meetings with the entire faculty.

 

"EngageRocket makes it easy for us to hear from employees more frequently, giving us detailed information about our workforce that we would never have had access to using a traditional annual engagement survey. With the intuitive dashboard and constant support of EngageRocket's customer success team, the experience is extremely fluid."

Lee Siew Ling, KLCII’s Organisational Development Project Manager

 

Building resilience in challenging times

Since 2019, KLC has sought ways to transform its business digitally, and the pace sped up in anticipation of the enforcement of the Circuit
Breaker in April 2020. Together with his team, Mr Chua managed to pivot the entire company towards digital transformation successfully. 

As soon as the pandemic hit in early 2020, EngageRocket played a key role at KLCII. Despite the challenging situation, Mr Chua and the team collected data to check in on its employees and develop a fast and efficient action plan. Over the course of nine months, KLCII launched three surveys, in which participation rates remained high, at 95.5%, 93.6%, and 96.6% respectively. 

Alongside ensuring safety and sharing regular information and leadership support, KLCII management took a proactive approach,
implementing Home-Based Learning (HBL) and later synchronous online learning, providing well-being incentives, and increasing the
number of engagement surveys in order to measure and improve employee morale. Mr Chua also guided the management team through
various leadership and sense-making frameworks to navigate the team through turbulent times.

EngageRocket’s latest study revealed that, compared to other industries, employees in the education sector report rather high amounts of COVID-19-related stress (30%). With regard to the top challenges faced by employees in this sector, they mentioned working more hours than usual and having limited access to resources. 

However, despite the Circuit Breaker and the harsh impact of the pandemic, KLCII’s overall engagement score actually increased. The organization also successfully maintained the engagement driver “relationship at work” at a constant level throughout the year. 

 

"COVID-19 evidenced the importance of employee engagement for improving performance and building resilience in challenging times of change."

Lee Siew Ling, KLCII’s Organisational Development Project Manager