Importance of Retaining Employees in Singapore
It seems that an increase in employee turnover rate might be in store for corporations in Singapore. Over 50% of professionals in Singapore are confident they will be able to find a new job within 3 months, and 46% of them are planning to change jobs within the next 6 months. These statistics are a call for concern for companies in Singapore since retaining employees comes with several financial and non-financial advantages, such as:
1) Saving Recruitment, Training and Induction Costs and Time
The Society of Human Resources revealed the cost of replacing an employee can be up to 60% of an employee’s annual salary. This statistic is expected as both the tangible and intangible costs of replacing an employee – posting job ads, screening through dozens of CVs, planning and conducting interviews,training new employees, allowing new employees to get accustomed to the company culture and vice versa, etc, – are expensive. This gets worse if the departing employee takes away with him or her years of legacy knowledge, expertise and in-depth understanding of the company culture.
2) Preventing Expertise from Leaking to Competitors
Since 23% of professionals listed an increase in salary as their main benefit when switching jobs, it stands to reason that financial rewards are one of the main reasons why skilled employees are planning to leave their current companies. Operating in the same industry, your competitors will see the true value of your employee’s skills, and will be willing to spend more to hire them. As such, when a skilled employee leaves your company for your competitor, your competitor will stand to gain.
3) Reinforcing Company Culture and Increasing Employees’ Morale
Employees who have worked with the same company for several years will be accustomed to the way the company works – from planning to execution. This corporate know-how is passed on to new employees during induction which reinforces the company culture. Moreover, when an experienced employee is celebrated and recognized for the number of years he has worked for the company, other employees’ morale will be boosted as such celebration suggests that the company values its employees.
Providing a reassuring working environment for the employee to have some peace of mind while he/she is working may cause an employee to subconsciously re-consider leaving his/her current job. The peace of mind could arise from the management’s attention to workplace safety and ergonomics, mental health and physical health. While paid insurance coverage is clearly not the only factor to consider in retaining employees, it is nevertheless an important HR benefit. Other things being equal, employers who provide paid insurance coverage to employees stand a better chance of retaining them than employers who don’t.
Group life insurance and group medical insurance are both incentives that can go a long way in encouraging employees to stay within a company. How should you fit group insurance into your employee retention strategy? What range of coverage should you provide? What are the best value group insurance packages out there? Are you able to customize coverage to your business’ needs? Get in touch with your independent financial consultant today to find out more!