Increasing rates in staff turnover drive privately held businesses in Singapore to take a different approach to staff retention
Increasing rates in staff turnover drive privately held businesses in Singapore to take a different approach to staff retention
Singapore, 2 April 2008 - According to the latest Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR), a balance of 78% of privately held businesses (PHBs) in Singapore reported increased staff costs, with China leading the list at 91%, compared to a global average of 63%. Businesses in Singapore have attributed the increase in staff cost to high attrition rate caused by job hopping and poaching, thus the focus on retaining internal talent.
Coupled with a scarcity of outstanding leadership talent, job hopping and poaching has become a major issue for employers in Singapore. Employees, in particular the younger ones, resign due to the lack of personal development and career growth within the company.
Wong Kian Kok, staff partner with Foo Kon Tan Grant Thornton, the Singapore member firm of Grant Thornton International, said: “With a tight market for talent, companies are developing a full portfolio of interventions to attract and retain staff. While organisations have to offer competitive packages, people rarely exit a company solely because of pay. Often it’s because they lose the connection with the work they are doing and/or the people for whom they are working”.
The IBR survey found that globally, 59% of PHBs are more focused on finding and retaining employees than they were a year ago. Emerging economies top the table, with Vietnam leading at 84%, followed closely by mainland China (81%) and Botswana, India and Mexico.
Kian Kok continues, “Unlike emerging economies like Vietnam and China, Singapore has already been making progress in attracting and retaining key staff prior to the 2008 IBR survey. This can be seen by the fact that 66% of businesses in Singapore reported being as focused in attraction and retention as the previous year”.
The IBR survey showed that 74% of businesses in Singapore are working to improve retention by ensuring that all employees understand the company’s core values, as compared to the global average of 64%, making this the most common means of engendering employee loyalty.
The IBR survey showed that 74% of businesses in Singapore are working to improve retention by ensuring that all employees understand the company’s core values, as compared to the global average of 64%, making this the most common means of engendering employee loyalty.
Privately held businesses are more likely to feel the consequences of staff attrition than larger multinational organisations. Reliance on staff is high for privately held businesses, and as such, they need to have solid retention strategies in place. Increased workload for remaining staff is identified as the biggest consequences of staff attrition, identified by 41% of businesses globally. Other consequences identified included increased operating costs, loss of business and a drop in customer service standards.
For an employee, working for a PHB is potentially attractive. Employees like the opportunity to be involved in building and creating an entity where they can make and see the difference. They like to have their views valued. PHBs can often provide a close direct connection between employee and the ownership or management which is important. Unlike multinationals, where there is a large group of stakeholders to appease, PHBs can focus their employer brand on their current and prospective employees. The challenge for PHBs is how to make their employer brand visible.
