Professionals in Malaysia have expressed more openness to new opportunities than their counterparts across Asia in the coming year. This is one of the key findings in the Hays Asia Salary Guide 2019, a report that highlights salary and recruiting trends based on responses from Hays Asia operating markets Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore.

The survey reveals that of the Malaysia-based employees who took part in the research, close to four in ten professionals (37 per cent) are actively seeking a new position, which is six per cent higher than the Asia-wide average but a nine per cent decrease from the country’s results in 2018.

Skills confidence levels

The report shows that there has been a huge upswing in confidence over current skills levels, with 72 per cent of employees believing that their skillsets will continue to be in demand by employers five years from now, slightly up from the 67 per cent with the same sentiments in the previous year.

“While we are happy to see such conviction from employees in their existing expertise, there is concern as to how grounded this positivity is. With such an impressive rise in confidence one would expect it to be borne of an increase in professional development,” notes Tom Osborne, Managing Director of Hays Malaysia.

“But our research shows that skills enhancement in Malaysia is on a downward trend, with employees spending less and less time out of working hours on upskilling. This is a worrying reality, particularly when you consider how quickly new technologies are changing the face of a broad spectrum of industries.”

“To ensure that employees can be truly confident of their lasting significance they should be looking into ways of developing their professional skills that can safeguard their future in the years to come.”

Motivations of jobseekers

Hays asked respondents who were keen on switching jobs about their reasons for leaving their current employer. Majority of respondents (68 per cent) voted salary or benefit package as the main factor for their search of a new employer, followed by seeking new challenges (voted by 51 per cent) and the management style and company culture (voted by 49 per cent).

Furthermore, those who were intending on staying had cited salary or benefit package (41 per cent), work-life balance (39 per cent) and work location (35 per cent) as main motivators.

Compensation contentment

Three in five (59 per cent) employees claim to be either ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their current compensation package, an improvement from the 38 per cent who felt the same way in 2018. As a result, a majority (58 per cent) of employees did not request for a pay raise.

“While compensation contentment is high, we recommend that employers who want to retain their top talents should work on placing a greater focus on their employees’ career paths, while employees should take a more proactive stance when entering into dialogue with current or prospective employers to ensure that both parties are clear on what future steps can be taken for candidates to meet their goals,” says Tom.

Compared with Asia

The 2019 Hays Asia Salary Guide shows that Malaysians are the most likely to be seeking a new role, with close to two in five (37 per cent) candidates actively looking for a new job. Japanese employees are the happiest in their positions with one in three (32 per cent) neither looking for a new role, nor open to new opportunities.

Throughout Asia, employees cite work-life balance as their primary reason for staying with their employer, with only Malaysia considering salary and compensation as their main reason. When it comes to rating work-life balance, slightly more than half (53 per cent) of employees in both Japan and Mainland China rate their balance as ‘good’ or ‘very good’, followed by Singapore (51 per cent), Hong Kong (49 per cent) and Malaysia (46 per cent).

There is a consensus over flexible options utilised to improve this balance, with 34 per cent of employees in Singapore and Mainland China, 31 per cent in Hong Kong and 23 per cent in Malaysia taking advantage of home or mobile working options.

Bucking the trend is Japan, where two in five (40 per cent) of employees favoured ‘flexitime with scope to change work hours outside of business hours’. However, 45 per cent of respondents throughout Asia claim to use no flexible options, with Malaysia the highest at 54 per cent.

Employees in all regions cited ‘salary or benefit package’ as their topmost motivation for seeking new employment, with Malaysia (68 per cent) and Hong Kong (66 per cent) most likely to have remuneration increases on their mind. When it comes to other reasons, 55 per cent of employees in Singapore and Japan are seeking new challenges, and 53 per cent of those in Mainland China are looking for better career progression.

Most candidates polled feel that their current skills will be in demand by employers five years from now, with an overall 67 per cent feeling that this will be the case. This confidence is most keenly felt in Malaysia and Hong Kong, where 72 per cent responded affirmatively, while 69 per cent and 70 per cent of Singaporeans and Japanese felt likewise respectively. Mainland China expresses the most pessimism, as 12 per cent expect their skills to become redundant, with a further 36 per cent ‘unsure’.

Overall, there are more respondents doing some form of upskilling outside of working hours. Although Singapore has the highest percentage of individuals doing no personal development (29 per cent) it is a marked improvement compared to 2018 (at 35 per cent). Employees in Mainland China spend the most time improving their skills, with the highest proportion of employees revealing they spend six to ten hours a week on enhancing their professional skills.

Get your copy of the 2019 Hays Asia Salary Guide by visiting hays.com.my or by contacting your local Hays office.

Last updated on April 3rd, 2019