Amidst softer economic conditions and news of cost-cutting and restructuring exercises amongst companies in Singapore, employee confidence has taken a dip, according to the Randstad Q1 2016 Workmonitor Report.
2015 saw employees having a relatively high level of confidence in the job market, with 67% of respondents feeling they could secure a new job within six months. This confidence slipped to 62% since the start of the year which, whilst not a dramatic drop reflected a more cautious mindset in general.
The biggest drop in confidence was seen with Millennials aged between 18 and 24. In 2015, 76% felt they would be able to secure a new job within six months. This dropped to 66% in the first quarter of 2016. In contrast, the confidence levels of respondents in the other age groups remained fairly consistent quarter on quarter, with no significant differences in terms of job sentiment.
Employees in the 18 to 24 years age group were also more worried about job security. In Q1 of 2016, the number of respondents who felt they had a strong chance of losing their job nearly doubled, from 7% in 2015 to 13% in Q1 2016.
With the decrease in confidence of employees in this age group, the focus on career advancement through promotions has increased slightly to 57% in the first quarter of 2016, up from 54% in 2015.
Likely due to the growing cautious sentiment amongst Singapore’s employees, general satisfaction has also seen a slight increase, with 63% of employees stating that they were happy with their current roles, compared to 60% in 2015.
The Q1 2016 Workmonitor report showed that 7 in 10 Singapore employees were willing to move overseas for the right job. This was higher than the global average of 55% and could also be driven by the growing uncertainty around the Singapore job market.
Jaya Dass, Country Director, Randstad Singapore noted, “With the slew of guarded reports about Singapore’s economic standing and job market, it’s no surprise that employees are increasingly worried. Despite this, we have observed that some organisations in Singapore are still hiring, whilst others are adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach.”
“The Singapore market has also started to see a growing trend in contracting. There has been an increased demand for professional contract workers as organisations are starting to understand that their labour costs can be better managed by mirroring the peaks and troughs of the market and their own business performance.”
Contracting is often seen as an alternative and flexible workforce solution – minus the pressure on headcount budgets. The first quarter of 2016 has seen a steady flow of contract roles, particularly in the banking sector with a growing number of jobs in back-office operations space, particularly trade finance, loans operations, remittance and settlements functions. In addition to this, we’ve noticed that candidates are becoming increasingly open to the idea of contracting work within the banking, financial services and insurance industries,” noted Dass.
