2 in 5 workers will leave their companies in 2018

Besides salary issues, more workers are seeking new career challenges.

About 40% of Singapore workers are already hunting for a new job and are ready to leave their company, whilst 31% plan to change employers within six months, recruitment firm Hays revealed in a survey.

According to its 2018 Hays Asia Salary Guide, nearly half of all candidates surveyed in Singapore plan to change employers within the year and 43% are currently open to an offer.

Lynne Roeder, managing director of Hays in Singapore said, “A total of 59% of candidates told us that ‘salary and benefits’ was the top reason for accepting a new role, but this is a drop on our previous survey when 71% of respondents cited this reason. A ‘desire to seek new challenges’ was the second most common reason (48%) followed by ‘career progression’ (46 %).”

Roeder noted that career development remains important to candidates, but 24% say there is no scope for career progression with their current employer and 34% are unsure about what’s available. “This makes the case for employers to communicate career pathway options more clearly as well as what responsibilities lie with employees themselves,” she added.

The study also found that of the candidates surveyed, 54% are unhappy with their compensation & benefits package whilst 46% are happy. Despite this, a massive 64% did not ask for a pay rise in the last year. A further 17% asked but were not successful, whilst 19% asked and received a pay bump.

In 2018, the largest proportion of respondents (36%) expects a pay rise of more than 6%. Another 30% expect an increase from between 3-6%, 23% expect an increase of up to 3% and 11% expect no salary increase over the coming year.

This year in Singapore, nearly half of employers (49%) plan to award increases of between 3-6% whilst another 32% expect to increase salaries by up to 3% only. About 14% plan to award salary increases of more than 6% while 5% will offer no salary increase.