Why Singapore firms need to make each employee special

Why is it that employees you think are so happy at work suddenly and unexpectedly resign?

You've treated them well – they have medical insurance, they got a 2% pay rise, and of course you pay into their CPF. You've invested in training and the annual company conference is always a big hit with no expense spared. Why were they so dissatisfied that they left such a good company?

Employees, particularly in Singapore, are enticed to move employers by salary increases. A recent article in Forbes points out that employees in the US who stay in the same company for over two years will earn 50% less over a 10-year career than those who move. It's a lot of money.

Basically if you stay in the same company you stay still from a salary point of view, but if you move you can move in salary terms big time.

Staff turnover in Singapore is reputed to be as high as 15% and it's an expensive exercise to recruit and replace existing staff. Costs of replacement vary depending on how senior the person is and how easy it is to replace their skill-set, but you can count on anywhere between 50% and 200% of salary in replacement costs.

What a waste of money when you could keep existing employees happy.

The 2014 Emerging Workforce Study suggests there is a growing trend towards company loyalty with employees in the US believing staying loyal to a company will reap dividends in the long term. Continuity of employment is increasingly becoming valued.

If this trend is mirrored in Singapore, then employee engagement will be a critical area for building workforce stability. Those not engaged are far more likely to be job hunting than those who are. So what tools do you have to increase employee engagement?

One way to keep employees happy is to make each employee special. You can tailor employee benefits to match the individual. It's not always one-size-fits all.

What might be special for a senior executive late in a career might not be special for a new recruit with a young family. You can make each employee feel special if you treat their benefits package as a way of looking after the individual.

Companies have a raft of employee benefits beyond the traditional that they could offer employees and one way to deliver this range of choice is a flexible benefits arrangement. The employer can offer the employee a wide range of both core and voluntary benefits through an online portal.

Choices can range from extra holidays and travel insurance to enhanced pension schemes, critical illness insurance, and wellness initiatives.

However, it requires effort on behalf of the company and not every company is willing to invest this level of effort in its employees. Those that do though reap the reward of happy, engaged, and productive employees.

It's worth a company expending some effort to structure a benefits programme to suit their employees. It involves time, the resources of your HR department, and often the services of an external provider to build a suite of benefits that will build employee loyalty.

It will involve asking employees what they want, costing the options so that it’s affordable, and marketing the advantages your benefits package delivers to your staff.

The marketing aspect is key as in Singapore there seems to be evidence to suggest that benefits are not being perceived as actual benefits, but more of a costly necessity. Very rarely do we come across companies offering the wide range of benefits through a flex platform and then communicating it through individual Total Reward Statements.

Nor do we see employers conducting in-house benefit fairs, where the insurer/lifestyle benefit providers attend and educate/remind staff of what's on offer.

The best companies around the world have teams specially employed to look after benefits programmes and to work on strategies to motivate and engage staff. As a result, these companies not only recruit the best but they retain the best as well.

Singapore's high employee turnover figures suggest workers are easily tempted to move companies – the money outweighs the traditional benefits. Companies with an innovative approach to benefits though have a competitive advantage over others when it comes to retaining talent.

A good benefits programme can make the difference, particularly one that focuses on the individual...because we all know that each employee really is special.