'This just reflects the global business trend of needing to be flexible in human capital management,' said Roger Olofsson, associate director at Robert Walters. While the trend is largely driven from businesses, it is also being driven by candidates who want flexibility, he said.
Today's Asian job seekers have more leverage because the current growth economies in Southeast Asia have made this region a job-seeker friendly one. TNS' Yap noted that tight labor markets, rising salaries and bigger bonuses are now a common trait across a wide variety of industries, especially in banking, advertising and marketing, where skilled professionals can command many opportunities.
'The survey clearly showed that IT professionals are aware of the strong market demand for their skills, which is reflected in the strongly upward compensation trends and the large proportion of employees who are, if not actively, then at least passively keeping an eye open for new opportunities,' he said.
So if employers in Asia want to retain highly skilled staff, he said, they should focus on offering existing staff a desirable working environment and opportunities for progression. But with demands for IT skills rising in Asia, even those job sweeteners may not be enough to prevent staff from seeking greener pastures.
UTStarcom's retention challenge
Many telecom companies in Asia face challenges retaining skilled workers, but global service provider UTStarcom's experiences underscore the trend.
'Retention is the big issue,' explains Manish Matta, director of international marketing. 'The economies are booming.' As a result, he notes that wages across the region are on the rise as national economies strengthen, even in developing countries.
For companies like UTStarcom that have operations that span the world, employee retention has become a crucial issue. Matta notes that it's not unusual for skilled, experienced telecom workers in countries like India to receive an employment offer letter from a particular company, take it next door to a competitor, and receive an immediate 50% salary boost from the competitor.
UTStarcom has responded to the challenge by becoming more employee-oriented, Matta notes. 'To help retain people in India, we have a lot of community events,' he says. 'We try to build a better environment.' One example: The free use of a fully staffed company cottage for quick family getaways.
Matta says UTStarcom also emphasizes keeping its workforce fully informed about ongoing company activities. 'It's important that they feel they are well-informed and that they know what is going on,' he explains. 'We make sure the information flow between the company and workers is not up-and-down but back-and-forth.'
- Al Senia