Struggling to hire tech talent? These 3 key takeaways from the top 5 work environments in Singapore can help to turn the table around.
Please note that this article doesn’t aim to get a business on the list of the top 5 but to provide small business owners, HR managers, and team leaders like you with actionable ways to surpass other employers in the tech talent war.
They embrace hybrid work
If anything, the COVID-19 crisis has proven that employees can still be productive when working remotely. As lockdown restrictions ease in Singapore, many companies have started to make their current fully remote or a hybrid work setup a permanent option for their workers.
Look at Unilever Singapore – the first-mentioned name on the list of top 5 Singapore employers in 2022. The company has transformed its workplace into a permanent hybrid working arrangement and redesigned its office space to meet the needs of its workforce and business.
Also on the list, DBS Bank implemented a permanent hybrid work model to give employees the option to work remotely up to 40% of the time. To add more, the company transformed its workspaces and launched a “Living Lab” that aims to blend the best of physical and virtual workspace configurations.
Being in the employees’ shoes, we can witness a similar preference here. Job seekers have never so favored the flexible working style. More than 82 percent of workers in Singapore want flexible remote work options to stay.
Some even value this more than salary. When asked to choose between remote working and a bigger bonus, 41 percent of Singapore-based professionals responded that they would rather go for the remote option.
Companies especially ones that are in the early stages, while keeping on the compensation race, in the long run, may be tough, providing candidates with an option for hybrid work could be a healthier and more sustainable solution.
Where their folks can enjoy ‘Me time’
People need to focus alone or in pairs to generate ideas or process information, followed by team gatherings to build on those ideas or develop a shared point of view. Then they break apart again to take next steps. The more demanding the collaboration task is, the more individuals need punctuating moments of private time to think or recharge.
In order to find the balance between “We” and “Me” for their employees in the workplace, Unilever Singapore redesigned their office into one where employees can expect quiet ‘focus zones’ with height-adjustable desks, open collaboration spaces, and ‘project squad rooms’ for igniting creative teamwork.
The are dozens of actions that can be taken to promote a healthy workplace, but the success of any of them depends on a supportive culture that gives employees control over where and how they work and how they manage their privacy, not the other way around.
And are encouraged to learn and grow
- Standard Chartered Singapore invested S$5 million in diSCover Lab, a global learning hub aiming to train and upskill 8,000 employees by 2022.
- To help upskill and reskill employees, Prudential Singapore partnered with Ngee Ann Polytechnic to develop “future skills”. Prudential employees are now able to learn in-demand digital skillsets such as “Machine Learning for Humans” and “AI in Finance” to adopt for the future of work.
- OCBC Bank Singapore has invested S$20 million in 1,900 sustainability training programs focusing on digitalization for its employees for around 30,000 of their employees. The bank is also accelerating employee upskilling with 7,200 employees undergoing training such as design thinking, data and analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and agile practices.
Companies that are offering stability in our ever-changing world of work – the ones that are not only attracting employees but retaining them – will catch the top talent’s eyes.
You don’t have to do all of these alone
Transforming the business from the traditional working style into remote one, building an open culture that respects individuals’ privacy, and enabling employees to learn, upskill and grow along with the business. None of them can be done in a day or two.
Inspius makes it fast and easy for company leaders in Singapore to employ remote tech talent from Vietnam. We take care of payroll, taxes, and admin for your hires so you can focus on growing your business. Get in touch now!
