Singapore companies scrambling to keep prized employees

Employers are using bonus schemes, stock options or education benefits to lure back an increasing number of skilled Singaporeans heading for Australia and other foreign shores for more attractive job opportunities.

In a statement, Hays, a global recruitment company, said talented members of the workforce are going overseas for work following improvements in certain international markets. It named Australia as a viable option for Singapore employees and said other countries are increasingly becoming attractive as well.

“Although London and the Eurozone are yet to regain their popularity, there is no doubt that, once their economy strengthens, they will again become prime destinations for the overseas working experience,” said Chris Mead, General Manager of Hays in Singapore.

Mead added that employers need to think of fresh ways to stem the brain drain apart from offering the usual incentives such as health and life insurance, gym memberships and stock options.

“[Employers have to look] at more than just salary and benefits [and] towards the implementation of solid career development plans,” he said.

Aside from the worsening brain drain, employers would also have to deal with skills shortages, candidate mobility and the growing influence of social media this year.

Skills shortages still a threat

Mead said a shallow pool of talent in many specialist areas is the biggest threat to the healthy levels of movement Singapore’s job market is experiencing.

“The ability to overcome skills shortages, particularly in the banking and finance, IT and oil and gas industries, will become the defining characteristic of the employment market in 2011,” he said, adding, “it is also the catalyst for many of the other issues we expect to dominate in 2011, like salary pressure, the growth of counter offers and recruiting from overseas.”

With Singapore fast becoming a financial hub, qualified banking professionals will be highly sought after in 2011, Mead said.

“Neighbouring Asian markets are also competing for talent in this sector so employers will therefore need to assess what they can offer in order to attract and retain staff.”

Although Hays foresees a boom in the oil and gas industry in the next 12 to 18 months as shipyards become busy with renewed orders, it said that subsea controls and pipeline engineering personnel will be very difficult to find due to the increasing demand for professionals manning subsea and deepwater operations worldwide.

A distant memory

With the GFC-induced salary slowdown now a distant memory, salary expectations of employees are rising on the back of our strong economy and job numbers.
Employers, meanwhile, are responding to the emerging shortage of skills with a greater willingness to review salaries, according to Mead.

“There is no doubt that professionals with skills in demand will expect a healthy salary increase in 2011. Otherwise, they will enter the jobs market,” he said.

Overseas recruitment

Despite widespread agreement that employers will need to recruit migrants to head off the growing list of skills in demand, there remains a lot of reluctance about this particular strategy for helping to overcome skills shortages.

“Certainly, employers will talk about recruiting from overseas, but there are not many that actually do it, or that do it well,” Mead said.

“The irony is that recruiting from overseas can be an uncomplicated process, and it is one that, properly done, yields good results.”

Social media’s influence grows

For 2011, Hays expects the lines between social and business sites to blur as companies utilize social media to check on employees.

Mead said that as the use of social media checks become more rampant this year, social media profiles will be viewed just as often as an employer searches a candidate’s name via Google.

“We expect publicly-available information to be used not just when recruiting, but when employers consider promotions and succession planning. So in 2011 it will be not just job seekers that need to ensure their online profile remains professional, but all employees,” he said.