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19 statistics HR leaders need to know before 2019

With the New Year looming, we're sure you and your teams are busy planning HR strategies to keep the innovation and progress going in 2019.

So to aid your processes, we've compiled some of the most interesting data and figures from this year, along with a link to the full report on each.

1. The mean gross monthly salary of  NTU graduates in full-time permanent employment is S$3,487.

With a median gross monthly salary of S$5,000, those graduating with a degree in business and computer science continued to earn the most in 2017, followed by computer science graduates with S$3,850, and science (education) graduates with S$3,701.

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2. Candidates with high potential or niche skills can expect increments* of between 25-30% when they move jobs in Malaysia.

HR professionals can expect up to 20% salary increases. Accounting and finance professionals can expect up to 20% salary increments. Salary increment for sales and marketing roles in FMCG and the industrial sector remained at between 15-20%.

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3. Regional HR directors in Singapore with more than 10 years of experience can expect a monthly salary of S$10,000 to $18,000. 

Meanwhile, HR business partners can look forward to a monthly salary of S$7,000 to S$12,000 if they hold a degree with three to six years of experience.

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4. Singapore’s Employment (Amendment) Bill 2018 has been passed in Parliament, and changes will take effect from 1 April 2019.

Core provisions under the Act will now extend to PMETs. These include the minimum days of annual leave, paid public holiday and sick leave entitlements, as well as other protections such as timely payment of salary and protection against wrongful dismissal.

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5. Finding it hard to fill roles? You’re not alone. 56% of employers in Singapore reported difficulty filling jobs – highest since 2008.

Surveying 360 Singapore employers, by company size, medium sized companies (50-249 employees) have the most difficulty filling roles, followed by large companies (250 or more employees), and small companies (10-49 employees).

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6. Employees in Hong Kong expect salary increases of 4% for the third consecutive year in 2018, among the lowest in Asia.

With inflation predicted for the territory at 2.2% next year, that translates to a mere 1.8% real salary increase down from 2% in 2017. According to the survey covering 20 countries in the region, Hong Kong ranked 16th, and Singapore 9th with a real salary increase of 2.7%.

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7. The top focus areas for intelligent automation efforts are talent management (61%), and talent acquisition or onboarding (57%).

The top expected benefits from intelligent automation investments were found to be improved performance (56%), and freeing resources or staff to perform more strategic work (54%). On the other hand, key challenges to intelligent automation were costs and funding (47%).

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8. Among a total of 15,100 establishments employing 2,031,200 employees in Singapore, PMET positions make up about half of their vacancies.

A majority of the PMET vacancies continued to come from the PMET-dominated sectors such as community, social and personal services, financial and insurance services, professional services, and information and communications.

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9. The 5 most attractive employers in Malaysia are PETRONAS, Shell Malaysia, Nestlé (Malaysia), AirAsia, and IBM.

Flexible working arrangements, newly designed workplace, unpaid study leave, extended maternity leave, returnee programmes (upon resignation) and improved medical benefits are some of the changes that PETRONAS has recently implemented.

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10. More than one-third (36%) of employers in Singapore cite a 3-6% salary increase.

On the other hand, 32% of them cite a 0-3% salary increase, followed by 19% citing a 6-10% of salary increase, with 9% saying 0% increase and 4% agreeing to a salary increase of more than 10%.

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11. Soft skills such as effective communication, and being both a team player and independent have topped the list of requirements across sectors.

Skills clusters that will help jobseekers build a competitive edge include technical troubleshooting; software engineering; quality auditing; data analysis; and hardware configuration.

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12. The Singapore government has no immediate plans to make a compassionate leave provision mandatory for all firms.

Former Minister for Manpower, Lim Swee Say, was asked this question in Parliament. However, he recognised that employees need support during the time of bereavement, citing results of a 2016 survey which found “more than 9 in 10 companies (92%) provide compassionate leave.”

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13. Graduates across the five polytechnics in Singapore in full-time roles earned an overall median gross monthly salary of S$2,235 in 2017.

With a median gross monthly salary of S$2,500, graduates who were in the health sciences courses were found to earn the most in 2017.

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14. Johnson & Johnson's new APAC HQ brings together 1,000 employees from its pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and consumer businesses.

Singapore has also been selected as the location for Johnson & Johnson’s first global development centre known as the Leadership Lab, which aims to conduct over 200 leadership development classes and train 4,000 Asian leaders annually.

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15. Changi Airport Group, Singapore Airlines, and Procter & Gamble, have been crowned the top three employers for Singaporean job seekers.

The research also revealed the companies with the highest attractiveness scores within three industries – engineering, construction, oil and gas; life sciences; and banking and financial services. These were Shell, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and DBS Bank respectively.

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16. "Tell me about a time when you didn’t follow policy or had to deviate from policy," was among the top questions asked to candidates for HR roles.

The other ones on the list were - what is your management style; as a HR manager, how will you drive results; what do you like least about the world of human resources; describe an ideal workplace for you; and as a HR person, what is your view on job eliminations.

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17. Malaysia’s workers can expect the minimum monthly wage to be set at RM1,500.

Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran said: "The increase of minimum wage to RM1,500 will be done gradually, not in an instant."

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18. DBS Bank, American Express International, Baxter Healthcare, and McDonald’s have been named among the best employers in Singapore.

In an uncertain business environment where 87% of Singapore organisations are undergoing digital transformation, 83% of employees in these organisations agreed their senior leadership provide them a clear direction for the future (22 points higher than the market average).

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19. Wage Credit Scheme in Singapore has been extended, to fund 20% of wage increases in 2018, 15% in 2019, and 10% in 2020.

Further, to train Singaporeans in digital skills, the government is looking at expanding Tech Skills Accelerator (TeSA) into additional sectors like manufacturing and professional services.

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We hope the data points prove useful in your strategy building, and check out our other sections for details on Recruitment, Leadership, Learning & Development, and more. All the best!

 

Follow us on Telegram and on Instagram @humanresourcesonline for all the latest HR and manpower news from around the region!

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