Singapore – While 49% of Singaporeans are bracing for an impending recession, it's business as usual in the hiring department for most organisations, a report by Achieve Group Companies reveals.
In spite of the current economic downturn and speculation of a coming recession, survey shows that most employers are willing to continue hiring staff to meet their needs for the second half of 2008, with staff cuts or freezes on hiring remaining insignificant.
Undertaken by Achieve Group Companies, the Hiring Trends for 2H 2008 Report surveyed over 800 companies and found 76% of respondents say they will go ahead with hiring plans for 2H 2008 compared to the 24% who conceded that future hiring will be affected. Of these, 11% will slow down hiring, 10% will hold plans for recruitment while only 3% said they will cut staff strength.
According to Joshua Yim, founder and CEO of Achieve Group of Companies, even in light of a recession, HR needs still prevail. Yim adds that business operations are still running and companies still require people in various divisions such as sales and marketing.
"We are also seeing more offers than there are candidates available and we easily have candidates having more than one offer. This tells us that the demand for people is still quite buoyant and if employers are going after the same pool of people, these people are aware that the demand is there and that is probably why they are confident that demand will not decrease," he adds.
Out of the various sectors, 30% in manufacturing say their hiring plans will be affected - the highest among all industries. Of the 30%, almost 50% say they would freeze hiring and 37% would continue to hire but at a slower rate while the remaining 16% said they would be cutting back on headcount.
Other industries proved to be more optimistic. In retail, 79% have no intention of altering hiring plans in the second half, with 51% of those who do plan to hire in the next half of the year saying they would continue to hire but at a slower pace.
Reporting that staff turnover within the service and hospitality sector was moderate, 81% of the sector’s respondents are sticking to their original recruitment plans. For those scaling down on hiring, 67% will continue to hire, albeit more cautiously.
This story first ran in August 2008.
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