Study reveals how Singapore workers stand out in global organizations

Key strengths include reliability and teamwork.

Singaporeans have been identified as achievement driven and goal focused, reliable in executing projects, having strong collaborative teamwork, being culturally diverse and effectively bilingual.

Also, compared to employees from China, Hong Kong, UK and the US in terms of work culture, Singaporeans are often an effective ‘bridge’ between Western and Asian styles of working, according to a new study titled “Adopting an Asian Lens to Talent Development – Singapore Study” by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP), non-profit Community Business, and consultancy Aperian Global.

The study sought to deepen understanding on the unique attributes of local talent, and explore how companies can better understand, appreciate and leverage on their Singaporean talent both in the region and globally.

The study provides detailed case studies of some of the strategies employed by leading firms in Singapore. The study also highlighted several characteristics of Singaporean talent which differentiated them from their Western counterparts, such as having a preference for structure, a respect for hierarchy, being consensus driven, risk averse and having less direct communication styles.

Such differences sometimes created misperceptions, affecting the review and assessment of such talent. Given these differences, the study provided recommendations on how companies could ensure they are not overlooking Singaporean talent such as ensuring global competencies were not Western-centric, and building diverse assessment panels or using multiple assessment tools in reviewing talent.

The key is to increase awareness of potential biases, and to practice fair and inclusive employment practices. Besides changing mindsets and employment practices, it is also important to invest in the development of local talent.

The study gave recommendations on how to do so, including creating global opportunities locally, purposefully sending our high potentials on international assignments early in their careers, as well as offering cross-cultural coaching and mentoring opportunities.

“As more global organisations understand the significance of Asia to their market strategies, they are recognising the urgency of attracting and retaining top talent and building a strong pipeline of future Asian leaders.” said Kate Vernon, Director, Strategy & Communications of Community Business and co-author of the report.

“Our research shows that Singaporean talent brings unique strengths to leadership and organisational success, yet we observe that local employees often do not rise up through organisations to secure leadership positions. There is a concern that approaches towards talent development may not be truly inclusive and that companies are potentially overlooking key local talent in the pipeline. Leading companies are beginning to examine their approach to talent development - taking steps to better understand their local workforces and scrutinising their talent assessment processes to ensure they are appropriate to the local context."