Media and Research

Marked by continuous digital transformation and automation, Singapore’s job market is geared for significant evolution in the coming year, says recruiting experts Hays, as part of the country’s top 10 talent trends for 2020.

The average working age is increasing across the globe and as a result, employers should embrace the benefits of a more mature workforce, says recruiting experts Hays.

CEO of recruiting experts Hays, Alistair Cox, says business leaders need to sometimes step off the “treadmill of busyness” and give themselves space to focus on areas and issues which add more value to their organisation.

The latest Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) report by leading recruitment experts Hays found that an overwhelming majority of working professionals across Asia considered a workplace culture that encouraged and rewarded diverse opinions as the most crucial element in retaining top talent.

Hays Singapore was ranked number one in the ‘small workplace’ category of the 5th annual Singapore Best Workplaces™ study, held by Great Place to Work®, a global authority on workplace culture.

Going green can benefit staff attraction and retention, but organisations must demonstrate real commitment. According to recruiting experts Hays, if genuine talent attraction and retention benefits are to be realised, employers need to ensure their sustainability efforts are authentic.

Organisations across Asia have been ramping up their efforts to mitigate bias in their recruitment selection process in the last year. However, the latest Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) report by leading recruitment experts Hays revealed that most employees across Asia still believe business leaders carry a bias towards hiring people who look, think or act like them.

The majority of employers across Asia capture the workforce diversity data of those they select and hire, and the majority of employees across Asia believe that the usage of workforce feedback for understanding demographic engagement is a positive thing.

While working professionals in Asia are gaining more knowledge on the positive impact of Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) in the workplace, the slow implementation of D&I practices has resulted in only marginal progression in the region, reveals the latest Diversity & Inclusion report by leading recruitment experts Hays.

With vulnerable trade sectors hit by the ongoing US-China Trade War, Singapore is seeing an economic slowdown that has brought cost cutting to the forefront of its supply chain industry.

Employers play an important role in helping their employees cultivate and practice a growth mindset, ultimately creating more motivated employees and a growth-oriented business, according to the CEO of recruiting experts, Hays.

Recent years have seen a widespread drop in global unemployment rates but what continues to puzzle economists has been the subsequent failure of wage inflation to follow suit.

Organisations are under pressure to digitalise their customer journey, but there are many considerations business leaders must take into account before they begin, says recruiting experts, Hays.

Middle managers often find the value they bring to an organisation being scrutinised, but recruiting expert Hays says they can be an organisation’s biggest asset – provided they have open and honest career development conversations, are given opportunities to develop their skills and are empowered by senior managers to make change happen.

Singapore’s repatriated talent who have worked or studied abroad have returned to be closer to their families. However, satisfaction levels in their current roles leave much to be desired, according to recruitment experts Hays.

A clear majority of employers in Singapore are eager to employ an overseas returnee in the coming year, and they cite ‘cross-cultural awareness’ to be the top benefit that returnee talent can bring to the table.

As the education sector undergoes rapid digital transformation, sales personnel in the education industry will have to adapt and shift from traditional sales to a more digital-centric landscape which encompasses software and online sales, according to recruitment experts Hays.

Despite the willingness of overseas returnees to earn a salary equivalent to what they were earning abroad or even take a pay cut, employers in Singapore say that their biggest hurdle in securing this group of talent is a mismatch in salary expectations.

Employers must help their workforce in achieving a more positive, balanced and healthy relationship with their work, as workaholic employees risk burnout, according to the CEO of recruiting experts, Hays.

Skills shortages could be holding back business growth as there aren’t enough available professionals with the right skills to fill vacant roles, says recruiting experts Hays.

As Singapore’s organisations adopt flatter organisational structures and embrace collaborative working, the office support function grows in importance to support larger teams and their coordination needs. This is resulting in a heightened demand for executive assistants (EAs), team assistants, and, increasingly more common, a combination of both, according to recruitment experts Hays.