What does the hiring landscape in Malaysia and Singapore look like at the moment?

In Malaysia, the recruitment market remains challenging. Despite an overall rise in hiring activity, employers are grappling with skills mismatch, Gen Zs entering the workforce with set expectations, changes in employer-employee dynamics and the strong Singapore dollar attracting talent across the border.

On the other hand, Singapore’s total employment rate has been growing for the 6th consecutive quarter, and despite the challenging business environment as anticipated, employers in Singapore continue to report optimistic hiring plans as they seek talent to fill niche or backlog positions.

But whilst we see positive hiring growth in both countries, what we really want to know is — have hiring costs increased in tandem with the higher cost of living? Are companies struggling to hire the right talent? And can SMEs hold their ground amidst stiff competition from bigger MNCs?

Find out more in our report — download it now. 

What can hiring leaders and employers do to cut hiring costs but still get the talent they need?

We understand that the data from our report can be a lot to digest. Here are a few action points to help.

Invest in an applicant tracking system (ATS)

We can’t stress this enough — having an applicant tracking system is an absolute game changer for your business. If there’s anything we’ve gained from the pandemic, it’s that leveraging technology to improve business processes has never been so important.

An integrated ATS enables you to advertise, hire and onboard staff seamlessly, all from one place. You can post job ads to multiple job sites with a single submission, integrate with popular job boards, track candidates through the pipeline, build a shortlist, and so on. The benefits are out there for you to enjoy — you simply need to take the first step.

Improve your onboarding process to reduce new hire turnover

They are all interconnected — a bad onboarding experience contributes to higher new hire turnover rates, which in turn raises hiring costs because you have to restart the hiring process from scratch again. Nip the problem in the bud so it doesn’t come back to haunt you!

In a competitive market, you need to snap talent up fast, and do it efficiently. Onboard them digitally — send them contracts, assign company policies, and get them set up and feeling confident before day one. It doesn’t just stop there — once they’ve started, make sure you’ve got a well-structured induction program that helps them ease into their role.

Focus on employee retention

If your employees don’t quit, there wouldn’t be a need to hire — unless you’re expanding business operations of course. Ask for feedback regularly, listen to what your employees want, and create a company culture that brings out the best in your employees.

Our Talent Insights Report for Singapore and Malaysia previously revealed that apart from a salary increase, employees are looking for a better reward and recognition programme, flexible working options, better learning opportunities, strong career development pathways, and extra leave days that could be used for birthday celebrations, mental health needs, or volunteering.

Hire globally if you can’t hire locally

If hiring locally ever gets too overwhelming for your business and you just can’t seem to find the talent you need, why not expand your horizons? In today’s flexible working world, the recruitment opportunities are borderless.

Employment Hero’s Global Team’s service can help you employ the best talent for your team, based anywhere in the world. Get employment contracts created in compliance with local employment laws, without the need for any recruiters, overseas entities, or compliance risks.

“Reducing new hire turnover starts from the interviewing process itself. Nothing beats a clearly defined job description that matches with what the candidates are seeking for. The relationship and cultural touch points with the hiring manager also sets the foundation of a healthy work relationship, which translates to a better onboarding and training experience.”

Yuan Rui (Ray), Talent Acquisition Specialist (SEA)

Rapid recruitment. Swift onboarding. Only with Swag.

Hiring managers managed to reduce their time to hire by

in Q2 2023, using the Swag jobs board.

This means that they were able to onboard new starters

than candidates sourced from other job boards.

Methodology and sample profile

We carried out quantitative research with 515 business leaders in Singapore and Malaysia. The length of the survey was 3 minutes on average. Respondents were from different organisation sizes and industries. The survey was conducted with the Glow survey platform, using the Dynata B2B panel from 9th to 12th June 2023.