What Gen Y professionals in the ASEAN financial services sector want

Gen Y financial services industry (FSI) professionals across Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand rank career advancement and challenging work as their top workplace priorities.

Having polled 1,900 professionals aged between 20 to 34 years and managers from financial institutions, the results were part of a survey released by the Asian Institute of Finance (AIF), called Gen Y in the Workplace: an ASEAN Perspective.

Overall, the study found a high level of engagement and loyalty among Gen Y employees across the FSI, as well as satisfaction with their managers and realistic understanding of job mobility. Career advancement is also seen as their most important driver as opposed to salary.

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Nora Manaf, Maybank's group chief human capital officer, commented on the findings: "At Maybank, empowering and developing future generations is one of our greatest pursuits. Building, empowering and growing talent means that we bring value to the individual professionally and also personally, as well as to the shareholders."

She continued: "It's important that we continuously provide opportunities for Gen Ys to unleash and nurture their creativity, allowing their voices to be heard as well as transforming their efforts into reality in the current digitalised environment. This is our mandate as a responsible organisation -- to provide them with the right tools to collaborate, brainstorm and find impactful solutions."

Dr Raymond Madden, CEO of the Asian Institute of Finance, added his wish that the survey results help ASEAN-based businesses develop more effective talent management practices.

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