Employers and employees across Singapore were found to be cautiously optimistic about the outlook for their sector over the next 6 to 12 months, according to the RGF Talent in Asia report.

The report showed that 54% of employers and employees expressed optimism while over a third (38%) remained neutral. Their level of optimism exceeded that of last year's (47%), while those with a pessimistic outlook fell by 27%. Positive sentiments could largely be attributed to an industry's ability to overcome the Covid-19 challenges (75%), while neutral sentiments might be due to uncertainty over the impact of the pandemic (48%).

The number of jobseekers is also on the rise. The top two motivating factors for those seeking a new job, career progression opportunities and salary benefits package, remain largely the same. However, management style and company culture (42%) have become more significant, replacing work-life balance (as compared to 2020) in the third spot on their list of priorities.

The top motivating factors for those intending to stay with their current employers are work-life balance (50%) and salary or benefit package (46%). However, retention priorities differ slightly between male and female respondents, with the former valuing work-life balance (45%) and salary or benefit package (42%) the most, while the latter valuing work-life balance and flexible working options equally (71%).

In terms of compensation, 50% of respondents in Singapore are satisfied with their compensation, which is a marked improvement over last year (34%).

The report also indicated mismatches between the salary increment expectations of employers and employees: 49% of talent did not receive an annual salary increment in the past year, which likely accounted for the 29% of respondents who were found to be dissatisfied. Nearly half, or 47%, of respondents received increments averaging 9%. Those who were satisfied received at average increase of 14%.

Talent in Professional Services received the highest increments (17%) while those in Industrial received the least (3%). Most employers expect to provide an average increment of 5% in the next 6 to 12 months. And while most employees expect a salary increment of 21% when switching to a new job, employers believe an average increment of 13% is attractive enough to new talent.

Meanwhile, 45% of respondents are actively looking for a new job while another 40% are open to new opportunities.

According to the report, most respondents in Singapore consider their work-life balance to be good or very good (45%).

Despite the changes in working models last year, 38% of employers did not see any changes to employee productivity, and 30% believed their employees maintained 75 to 99% of their productivity. A majority of them believed that this working model would remain the norm in the near future.

Approximately 50% of respondents are offered hybrid work-from-home (WFH) and office arrangements, 30% have the option to WFH completely, and 27% have flexible working hours.