Southeast Asia (ASEAN) has experienced rapid economic growth. With a projected GDP growth rate of six-ten per cent per year compared to the global average of three-four per cent over the next five years, the region is on track to become the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2030.
With a literate population of 600 million and an even larger young working population (40 per cent of whom are under the age of 30), the digital economic boom, which is being sustained by emerging digital businesses and the digitalisation of traditional industries, indicates a significant increase in demand for skilled and qualified digital talent.
Even with the challenges in the market, the predicted ICT market growth rate of 1.4x – 1.8x will increase the demand for digital talent that must be met in order for the region to thrive.
While this is a great opportunity, it can also be a challenge for many companies in the region. According to a survey of 600 startup employees and 40 startup leaders from six ASEAN countries, nine out of 10 startups face difficulties in recruiting tech talent, and 91 per cent of employees are open to leaving their current positions, making the challenge of developing a sustainable recruitment strategy and scaling their teams ever-present.
GRIT Search, a technology recruiting platform, created a playbook based on the survey in collaboration with Southeast Asian venture capital firm Alpha JWC Ventures and global consultancy firm Kearney to help companies compete for the best and brightest.
Employees need and want a strong company culture
Aside from monetary rewards (78 per cent) and employee benefits (68 per cent), employees rank the firm’s culture as the third most important aspect of their job (57 per cent). Getting the culture right also helps companies address the second driving factor for talent exits – misalignment with company vision and culture (25 per cent), which is also the most commonly chosen reason for talent leaving their companies in Singapore and Indonesia.
While culture is highly intangible, it has very tangible effects, such as improved financial performance and customer satisfaction due to increased productivity and firm margins, as well as higher dedication to customers due to more motivated and committed employees. As a result of the increased employee engagement, job satisfaction and turnover rates have decreased.
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Open communication, such as encouraging one-on-one conversations between employees and formal mentors/senior executives, leaders empowering their team members to offer their ideas and speak their minds, as well as having a company-wide discussion around big conversations, all contribute to creating a culture in which employees feel welcome, accepted, and respected.
Leadership, in particular, bears the primary responsibility of shaping a company’s culture and establishing a positive tone for the organisation. Middle management is critical to creating team cultures, executing firm values, and communicating employee feedback to upper management, who are then able to translate the collated feedback into actionable suggestions for improvement.
Having frequent open-feedback cycles with employees and within teams keeps everyone on the same page, working for the betterment of the company while also ensuring employees’ needs are met.
No surprise, employees want fair compensation
Unsurprisingly, 78 per cent of employees rank compensation as the most important aspect of their job, and it is the primary reason for 32 per cent of employees seeking new opportunities. Employers are expected to provide desirable and appealing benefits packages in order to attract and retain top talent.
Competitive, merit-based compensation principles that encourage long-term loyalty are ideal. Companies can leverage different compensation structures by having regular salary benchmarks and variable pay incentives as a reward for good performance, especially for early-stage startups that may not have the luxury of offering generous salaries to their talents, such as equity or employee benefits.
Employee benefits were ranked as the second most important aspect of a job by 68 per cent of those polled. These benefits range from HR-related benefits such as medical coverage, as well as personalised rewards for birthdays and work anniversaries that recognise each employee’s uniqueness, to employee development benefits such as consistent upskilling and development opportunities, mentoring, and career flexibility.
Furthermore, with a lack of growth opportunities being cited as the third primary driver of talent exit, it has become even more critical to provide ample opportunities for talent to grow and enhance their skills. Companies can maintain their competitiveness by providing an avenue for their talent to flourish and consistently develop their abilities, whether by investing in tailored learning and development programmes or simply allowing them time off to pursue such courses.
However, rather than simply providing such benefits, organisations must be able to communicate the details and value of their compensation packages, as many employees may be unaware of their worth.
From offer letters and long-term incentive plan documents to employee onboarding handbooks, effective communication of the rewards packages provides clearer visibility, understanding, and transparency of the package value while increasing employee motivation.
Your recruitment strategy should reflect the stage of your business
Employers will undoubtedly have to modify their hiring strategies depending on the company’s current stage. For example, during the early stages of product validation, the company’s hiring priorities would frequently be to build their product & technology, marketing, and business development teams in order to gain traction among their target audience.
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Once they have a dedicated user base and consistent revenue streams, the focus shifts to market-share dominance, diversifying their revenue and profitability, as a result, they would seek stronger C-level hires while expanding their data analytics teams to drive expanded business and market opportunities.
Furthermore, the key challenges for companies differ according to the stage, with early-stage firms facing a greater problem with compensation and later-stage firms and corporates facing a greater problem with perceived corporate branding.
Notably, when it comes to talent retention, the top reasons for employees to consider new opportunities are competitive rewards and compensation (32 per cent), misalignment with the company and vision (25 per cent), and a lack of growth opportunities (23 per cent), with companies in each country choosing a different reason.
Employees are more likely to leave early-stage organisations for new opportunities due to misalignment with the company and vision, whereas late-stage startups are more likely to lose their talent due to competitive rewards and compensation. As a result, the first step toward developing a successful recruitment strategy is to understand your current situation and tailor your strategies to your hiring requirements.
How to stay ahead of the competition
Finally, the art of developing one’s recruitment strategies can be perplexing and intimidating due to the numerous moving parts to keep track of. In order to succeed and effectively grow and scale teams in the new workforce era, companies must tailor their recruitment strategies to their employees.
Organisations are at a tipping point where they can still make effective changes to attract, retain, and engage tech talent, from compensation and employee benefits, to adapting their company culture to create cohesive employee branding.
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