In Malaysia, Hays reports that the past year has seen persistent growth in the country’s economy, and predictions are that this will continue in The latest Randstad Workmonitor study has found 73 per cent of employees and job seekers consider it important to contribute to the society by doing unpaid voluntary work, but only 31 per cent actively commit to volunteering activities outside of their working hours. However, 77 per cent of the respondents would be keen to volunteer if they were given paid time off by their employers.
The company note that employees in Singapore do not have much choice about which charitable organisation they can volunteer at, with only 19 per cent of the respondents saying that they were given paid time off to volunteer for a cause or charitable organisation of their own choice. Close to three-quarters of employees and job seekers in Singapore (73 per cent) surveyed said that they will only want to work for a company that has a strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme. However, expectations on the companies having a strong CSR programme are lower during the job search process. When looking for a job, only 57 per cent of the respondents said that it is important that the company they are applying to participates in a philanthropic initiative.
Employees and job seekers based in Singapore are firm believers of diversity at the workplace, with 93 per cent saying that it is very important that all opportunities should be presented based on the individual’s ability to perform the role. This same group of respondents also agreed that job opportunities should be made attainable to the labour market regardless of the individual’s physical ability, age, gender, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation and religion. Hence, it was a surprise that less than half of the respondents (44 per cent) said that their current employers have a diversity and inclusion policy.
Overall, the Mobility Index is moderate in Singapore in quarter three 2018. The Mobility Index tracks the employee confidence and captures the likelihood of an employee changing jobs within the next six months as well as provides a comprehensive understanding of sentiments and trends in the labour market.
Compared to the previous quarter, job satisfaction had increased one point to 58 per cent in quarter three this year. The percentage of respondents who are actively looking for a job had increased from 8.4 per cent to 9.4 per cent in quarter three.
Employees also felt that it is highly likely that they will lose their current job in the next six months, as the percentage jumped from 4.9 per cent to 8.9 per cent this quarter. This could be due to the impact of bold transformation projects undertaken by companies this year as functions are either automated or shifted to low-cost countries as a cost management measure.
Approximately 28 per cent of the respondents said that they had changed job in the past six months and the top three most cited reasons are:
- switch for better employment conditions (38 per cent);
- want to attain personal ambition in management field (23 per cent) and;
- dissatisfied with their previous employer (19 per cent).
