By Angie Tay
TDCX Group COO and EVP

Recognition in the corporate world might feel too self-congratulatory. When grounded in data, however, it tells a powerful story, one that highlights a company’s tangible value in driving business success. That’s what makes The Financial Times and Statista’s list for best employers for Asia Pacific significant. Based on feedback from more than 50,000 employees, it assesses what really matters: the workplace and employee experience (EX).

TDCX’s inclusion in the list reflects our people-first strategy that aligns employee satisfaction with measurable business success. In customer experience (CX) and outsourcing, the quality of interactions relies on the people behind them. Being a top employer is a business’s competitive edge. 

It’s more than just having a strong employer brand. It’s all about highly engaged and motivated teams bringing their best every day. The result is always something companies look forward to — outstanding service that fosters trust, loyalty, and partnerships that last.

The business case for employee experience

It’s tempting to think of EX as an internal affair, a box that HR checks to keep the workforce happy. For businesses reliant on delivering consistent results to clients, this “metric” is anything but optional. 

One metric that comes to mind is turnover. Industry studies show that effective onboarding doesn’t just ease new hires into the fold. It can improve retention rates by 52% and boost productivity by 60%. High attrition and turnover, however, is like running uphill. The constant cycle of onboarding and training drains time and resources, stalling momentum. It can cost up to 200% of the employee’s salary and can be an expensive addition to the company’s bottom line. 

TDCX’s employee-centric culture, which emphasizes continuous learning and open communication, fosters engagement that minimizes this churn. For businesses, this means continuity with seasoned professionals who understand the nuances of client operations rather than a constant turnover of new faces. 

Then there’s engagement. When employees feel connected to their work, they don’t just clock in and out. They take ownership, solve problems with purpose, and handle interactions with care. While these might seem intangible, they translate into measurable business value. Research showed that engaged teams improved customer ratings by 10%, increased sales by 18%, and boosted profitability by 23%.

TDCX’s FastTrack, our AI-enabled productivity platform, enables us to adopt a data-driven approach to enhancing employee engagement. By equipping our teams with personalized training, targeted upskilling programs, and modern tools, they can address customer needs with confidence while fostering greater job satisfaction. In fact, our CX agents improved their customer satisfaction (CSAT) score by 16% in just three months of FastTrack’s implementation.

Lastly, let’s not overlook innovation. When employees feel valued, they don’t just show up, they step up. An MIT research showed that companies with a strong EX generate twice the revenue from their innovations compared with their competitors. At TDCX, our focus on professional growth and open communication equips our teams to think beyond the script, delivering creative, tailored solutions that meet the unique needs of our clients and their customers.

Tapping into a thriving workforce as diverse as the Asia-Pacific region

Asia Pacific is a mosaic of cultures, languages, and business landscapes. For companies and enterprises operating and aiming to scale within the region, the challenges are as vast as the opportunities. 

Take cultural and linguistic diversity. From Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur to Hyderabad, the sheer range of languages, traditions, and customer expectations can feel like navigating a labyrinth. TDCX’s approach is simple yet effective: Invest in local talent, foster inclusivity, and create an environment where teams can seamlessly collaborate across borders. This creates a workforce that embodies Asia Pacific’s diversity and capitalizes on it to deliver localized, authentic support for global brands. This is the strategy of how we helped a multinational food and beverage enterprise scale its native customer support to six markets and empowered a US-based video game company to expand across Asia and Europe.

There’s also the challenge of evolving expectations for employee well-being. In a global workplace survey of nearly 130,000 employees, only 23% felt engaged, 58% “struggled” with their well-being, and 41% experienced stress every day. These numbers reveal a troubling pattern. Workplaces that fail to address well-being risk breeding disengagement and burnout, which lead to reduced productivity, higher turnover, and a decline in morale. These create a ripple effect that disrupts team efficiency, increases costs, and erodes the organizational culture. 

TDCX recognizes this reality and takes a proactive approach to address it. Our well-being programs go beyond surface-level perks, addressing physical, mental, and emotional health with initiatives like counseling, mentoring, flexible work arrangements, and wellness programs tailored to diverse needs.

With FLASH, our AI-powered human capital and experience management suite, we even go a step further. We turn employee sentiments into actionable insights, enabling timely interventions such as providing mental health support, launching upskilling initiatives to address gaps in skills, offering tailored incentives to boost morale, or rebalancing workloads to prevent burnout. By addressing challenges before they escalate, we ensure our teams remain engaged.

Talent scarcity remains a critical challenge, too. For example, at least 60% of organizations in APAC struggle to fill roles in areas like data and analytics. With nearly three decades of experience in talent management, we’ve honed our expertise to attract and retain top-tier professionals, even in competitive and dynamic markets.

Reshaping CX and outsourcing from transactional to transformational

In an industry traditionally driven by cost and efficiency, TDCX’s recognition as a top employer demonstrates the value of investing in people. This commitment fosters workforce stability. In turn, clients benefit from seasoned professionals who deeply understand their brand. Continuous learning and modern technology further equip our teams to handle complex, evolving customer needs. This helps reduce operational risks and turns outsourcing into a true strategic asset. By combining innovation with a human-first problem-solving mindset, we help our clients move CX from a back-office function to a competitive differentiator that drives loyalty and growth.

I am incredibly proud of the recognition we’ve received for putting our people first. What even means more to me, though, is knowing that we've built a culture that truly cares for our employees — supporting not just their livelihoods but also their health and wellness. This ensures they can thrive both at work and in their personal lives, bringing that success and well-being back to our clients and more importantly, their families and loved ones.