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78% of Malaysian employees feel that ‘job-for-life’ has become extinct

Randstad’s latest Workmonitor Research for Q2 2017 has revealed that 73% of employees globally felt that ‘job-for-life’ was close to extinct. In fact, this sentiment was much higher across APAC with over 8 in 10 employees in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia agreeing that life-long jobs no longer existed.

Breaking that down, 78% of Malaysian employees feel that ‘job-for-life’ is non-existent, with employees in Singapore and Hong Kong citing a higher sentiment (83%).

Surprisingly, the more senior employees in Singapore and Hong Kong were more pessimistic about job-for-life than their younger counterparts, going against popular thinking that Millennials are the job-hopping generation.

Randstad

Michael Smith, managing director for Randstad Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, noted: “The Workmonitor findings should worry organisations who do not take great care of their employer brands. Our Employer Brand Research showed that over a third of all employees are looking to leave their jobs in the next six months, making it even more important for organisations to do their very best at ensuring they are catering to their very best talent.”

According to the release, Smith attributed the demise of lifelong careers to the growing willingness of employees to move organisations and specialisations to define their own career paths based on their own requirements.

With organisations having understood that the traditional career ladder has evolved into a career web, employees are often provided the opportunity to move laterally within their current companies with strong retraining programmes to boost retention of their best talent.

Smith commented: “Despite the less-than-encouraging findings from this latest Workmonitor research, many organizations are starting to take appropriate steps in ensuring that their employees are being provided opportunities for retraining and lateral movement.”

“My discussions with senior leaders across industries say they find these lateral movements highly beneficial for both the organization and the employee, as it allows for fresh innovative perspectives, faster on-boarding and stronger retention rates,” he added.

Lead Photo / 123RF

Table / Randstad

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