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On the other hand, roles in HR, customer service, and management did not come up on the list of the hardest vacancies to fill.
With Singapore having made significant strides in both economic and social development over the last year, the global economic outlook does remain cautious, and this is influencing growth trajectories for businesses in the region.
Between September and October 2024, the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore (AmChamSG) surveyed 122 senior executives from its membership, which includes both MNCs and SMEs, with a majority from the services sector.
The results revealed 23 key findings, tackling five main topics:
- Inclusive workforce,
- Hybrid/flexible work arrangements,
- Workforce representation,
- Attracting talent, and
- Work pass application.
In this piece, we focus on the significant results emerging from the questions around attracting talent and work pass applications.
Attracting talent
Sales, marketing and tech/IT positions are the most difficult to recruit for locally
- Sales (23%%),
- Marketing (13%), and
- Tech/ IT (12%).
While the gap in technical skills for mid-to-senior Singaporean and PR hires has narrowed, adaptability, creativity, and critical thinking remain the primary recruitment challenges.
While the technical skills gap for mid-to-senior local hires has narrowed by 30% since 2022, it remains a top concern.
However, the rapid pace of change has highlighted a more pressing issue: a shortage of local talent with adaptability, creativity, critical thinking, and risk-taking abilities.
Local talent availability and regulatory issues are key factors that influence the choice of Singapore as a market for continued investment
The main factors which influence companies' decisions to operate in Singapore are:
- Sufficient pipeline of local skills workers (61%),
- Clear and business-friendly regulatory regime (61%), and
- Low corporate tax environment (43%).
In the medium term, companies in Singapore plan to maintain the status quo
In 2021, 55% of Singaporean companies planned to expand their workforce. However, by 2024, this figure had shifted, with 55% now aiming to maintain their current headcount.
Key hiring challenges include local talent acquisition, skills mismatches, and manpower costs
The top three challenges were:
- Ability to hire locals (44%)
- Mismatch in skills due to the changing business needs (33%), and
- Manpower and associated costs (e.g, housing, schooling) (30%).
While entry-level local hires are generally well-skilled, managing salary and promotion expectations remains a challenge
Over 30% of respondents believed that candidates came into interviews with unrealistic salary expectations, followed by unrealistic promotion and/or advancement expectations (37%).
Another challenge is that employers raised was the lack of supply of local candidates (30%).
Work pass application
- Companies have become increasingly familiar with the working of the COMPASS Framework and express confidence that they will be able to access required talent under the COMPASS Framework.
- Seven in 10 companies report feeling supported by the government programmes to meet their local manpower requirements.
- Companies are not feeling the impact of increases in Employment Pass (EP) and S Pass qualifying salaries on pass renewals as much as last year.
- Nine in 10 companies are aware of specialised work passes and eight in 10 companies view the Overseas Networks and Expertise (ONE) Pass as useful to attract global top talent.
- Work pass rejection rates have significantly reduced. Awareness of work pass application requirements and available resources remains consistent.
Other findings from the survey also include the following:
Inclusive workforce
- Flexible work arrangements are provided by most companies; over the last year there is a significant increase in support for parenting.
- Awareness of SG Enable increased marginally, and companies continue to report low utilization around government programmes to support inclusivity for persons with disabilities.
- Familiarity with the Fair Consideration Framework has stayed steady over the last five years.
Hybrid/flexible work arrangements
- There is a marked increase in the number of people back in the office with the Hybrid–Office First mode being the preferred mode of work.
- More organisations have moved to testing, piloting, embracing and adopting visions and policies on hybrid and/or flexible work arrangements.
- The existence of both mindset and skillsets to manage in hybrid and/or flexible work arrangements means that more colleagues and peers are seen as Hopefuls and Champions of the hybrid and flexible work.
Workforce representation
- There is an overall increase in the number of women in the Singapore-based workforce, despite the slight drop in the percentage of women in senior (director level or above) levels.
- Four in 10 companies have Singaporeans and PRs making up more than half of their senior level workforce.
- In hiring Singaporeans and PRs for senior roles, lack of exposure to regional and global leadership presents a major area of concern; lack of specialised skills and necessary work experience remain major challenges, although the gap has decreased compared to 2022.
- Over the last two years, the number of Singaporeans and PRs working in regional leadership roles has remained stable; more companies are staffing Southeast Asia offices with local country hires.
Lead image and infographics / AmCham 2024 Manpower Survey Results
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