In Malaysia, money matters. That is the result of a survey of 100 executive job candidates who listed salaries and benefits as their primary consideration for considering new job opportunities.
The survey, which forms the basis of Recruitment Market Report, Malaysia 2015, was undertaken by executive recruitment specialists Monroe Consulting Group Malaysia, which specialises in recruitment in the banking and finance, health, industrial, consumer goods and information technology sectors in Malaysia.
Monroe Malaysia Managing Director Monica Viladot said mid- to senior-level employees were positive about the availability of jobs, with 44 percent of respondents rating the current job market as strong or very strong and 37 percent rating the market as moderate.
“The survey found that the jobs market in Malaysia remains positive for executive job seekers, with 40 percent of those polled having changed jobs within the past year,” Monica said.
She said there was a talent shortage in many areas, leading to increased salary and benefit expectations for many job candidates and an increase in the number of “job hoppers,” or people who changed employers often.
The survey showed that money and benefits was the primary reason for this phenomenon, she said.
“The scarcity of talent, particularly in the services and manufacturing sectors, has given rise to increased competition among leading companies for professionals, resulting in increased expectations for higher salaries and benefits packages, and a higher turnover of employees as executives seek to cash in on the demand,” Monica said. “Combined with low job satisfaction and increasing living costs, this has resulted in an increase in the prevalence of job hoppers.”
Monica said that in addition, the survey found that employees who did not change employers were less likely to receive pay increases. “Seventy percent of respondents who remained with their current employers did not get a pay increase, and of the 30 percent that did, the majority only received increases of less than 10 percent,” she said. “Of the executives that were considering moving, 75 percent believed they would receive increases of up to 40 percent.”
She said that companies looking to retain staff had reacted to this by offering a wide range of additional benefits. “Uniquely in Malaysia, 41 percent of respondents had access to flexible working hours and options to work from home, a higher figure than in comparable countries in the region,” she said. “On the negative side of the equation, companies were increasingly making use of extended resignation periods to dissuade job hoppers, and were making counteroffers of increased pay to retain executives.”
This was not without dangers for employers, she added. “Counteroffers often make little difference, as 23 of respondents resigned within 6 months anyway, increasing to 41 percent within a year and almost 60 percent within 18 months,” she said.
Another interesting result was that 70 percent of executive jobseekers were directly head-hunted for their new jobs, with the majority of 35 percent stating that they had secured their current jobs through a recruitment company.
The full report can be downloaded here