Singapore's 2020 salary outlook for HR, accounting & finance, and more

Kelly Services' 2020 Singapore Salary Guide, developed in collaboration with SkillsFuture Singapore and launched in August 2020, outlines what professionals across functions - including chief financial officers, regional HR managers, and more - can expect to take home this year. These are detailed below.

Note: All salary ranges reflected are on base salaries per month.

Human resources

This year, the HR function has taken on a far more visible role in helping businesses cope with rapidly evolving organisational demands, such as overseeing remote working arrangements, managing layoffs, and developing return-to-work plans.

Most in-demand skills 

• Talent acquisition
• Stakeholder management
• Onboarding
• Employer branding
• Internal mobility
• Organisational culture development
• Organisational strategy development
• Skills framework adoption

Salary outlook for 2020

HR directors with more than 10 years of experience can look to bring home S$8,000-15,000 per month.

The HR function, including C&B, training, and recruitment, is expected to earn between S$2,300 to S$15,000 per month, depending on the seniority of the role and years of experience. Zooming in on the hottest HR jobs - an HR business partner with three to seven years of experience can expect to earn between S$4,300 and S$11,500 a month, while an HR generalist/specialist with two to five years' experience could earn between S$2,700 to S$5,00 a month.

At the same time, a regional HR manager with five to 10 years of experience may take home a monthly pay of S$6,500 to S$10,000.

Overall, the following table details the salary ranges in this field:

Accounting and finance

With firms expected to adopt technologies at a faster pace, accounting and finance professionals must adapt and upskill to stay ahead of the curve. Critical skillsets that professionals should sharpen include data mining, extraction and faster interpretation of big data. They can also consider picking up programming languages for statistical analysis or big data analytics to gain an edge.

Beyond these hard skills, professionals in this field could also place greater focus on staying relevant in the face of new technologies, for instance through more strategic thinking in helping businesses innovate.

Most in-demand skills 

• Accounting
• Budgeting
• SAP
• Financial reporting
• Finance
• Business innovation
• Data analytics
• Disruption management
• Technology adoption and innovation

Salary outlook for 2020

CFOs with more than 15 years of experience can look to bring home S$20,000-26,000 per month.

Professionals in accounting and finance are expected to earn a monthly range of S$2,100 to S$26,000. In terms of the hot jobs in the field, accountants/assistant accountants with one to three years' experience could earn between S$2,600 to S$4,300 per month, while an accounts assistant could earn between S$2,100 to S4,000.

Additionally, Financial analysts/senior financial analysts with between three to seven years of experience can expect to take home a base pay of between S$4,500 and S$7,000 each month.

Overall, the following table details the salary ranges in this field:

Sales and marketing

Even though e-commerce has seen a rise in popularity in the recent months, brick-and-mortar stores are still far from gone. In fact, customer interactions today take place both offline and online, converting offline customers into online shoppers and vice versa. Thus, it has become all the more important for brands to embrace omnichannel marketing and ensure a more integrated customer experience across multiple channels.

As a result, marketing professionals will be increasingly expected to hone specialised competencies to thrive in digital and integrated environments. More importantly, with the marketing landscape in a constant flux of change, professionals must take a pro-active approach to consistently refresh their digital knowledge and sharpen their competencies.

Most in-demand skills 

• Sales
• Digital marketing
• Marketing
• Account management
• Customer service
• Data analytics
• Data management
• Delivery optimisation
• E-commerce campaign management
• Social media management

Salary outlook for 2020

Regional marketing directors with more than 10 years of experience can look to bring home S$13,000-18,000 per month.

In 2020, a campaign manager with four to six years' experience is expected to earn between S$3,800 and S$6,200, while a digital marketing specialist with three to five years of experience could take home between S$4,500 and S$6,000.

At the same time, an account manager who brings with them three to five years of experience could earn somewhere between S$3,600 and S$6,800 a month.

Overall, the following table details the salary ranges in this field:

Procurement, supply chain and logistics

Professionals that possess emerging technology skill sets, such as autonomous logistics design and application, technology application, as well as technology infrastructure management and integration will be in high demand in the coming years. The future of logistics lies with successful digitalisation and manpower development.

Ultimately, it will take a major push for productivity, and the upskilling and retraining of workers, to ensure growth in a manpower-lean industry.

Most in-demand skills 

• Logistics
• Forklift operation
• SAP
• Supply chain knowledge
• Administrative support
• Autonomous logistics design and application
• Technology application
• Technology infrastructure management and integration

Salary outlook for 2020

A director or assistant director of logistics with 10-16 years of experience can look to bring home S$11,000-18,000 per month.

A professional in this field can expect to earn between S$1,000 to S$18,000, with these base salaries once again commensurate with years of experience as well as functions.

Among the hotter roles, logistics assistants/coordinators holding one to three years of experience could earn between S$1,400 and S$3,000 a month, while a documentation coordinator with two to five years' experience could earn S$2,200 to S$3,800.

Overall, the following table details the salary ranges in this field:

Office support

Office support professionals are often the unsung heroes of companies across all industries. While sometimes overlooked, office support staff form the backbone of any company’s operations; they are indispensable in keeping the office running efficiently and smoothly, and support a variety of business functions.

Given the broad variety of tasks that these professionals are expected to deliver on, those that can contribute to process improvement and optimisation, as well as productivity improvement, will be highly valued assets to any organisation. Furthermore, their support in implementing business continuity plans will be invaluable to ensure that operations continue to run smoothly during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Most in-demand skills 

• Secretarial skills
• Administrative support
• Travel arrangements
• Appointment setting
• Scheduling
• Data mining and modelling
• Research data analysis
• Technology adoption and innovation
• Technology integration

Salary outlook for 2020

Office managers with 3-8 years of experience can look to bring home S$4,000-8,800 per month.

On a whole, office support professionals possessing between one to seven years of experience in the field may be able to take home between S$1,400 and S$8,800 each month.

In particular, one of the hotter roles of the lot an executive secretary/PA, holding between three to seven years of experience, can expect to take home between S$1,900 and S$6,300 per month.

Overall, the following table details the salary ranges in this field:

Customer service

According to the report, customer service excellence is rising across eight service sectors in Singapore, increasing significantly for the third consecutive year in 2019. In particular, the food and beverage, tourism, and air transport sectors have made the most gains.

Although these findings indicate that industry efforts to elevate service levels have been effective, companies cannot rest on their laurels; standards continue to evolve in today’s increasingly competitive and fast-changing business environment.

With the onslaught of disruptive technologies, customer service professionals will gain an edge by honing skill sets such as change management, customer experience management, data analytics and Internet of Things management.

Most in-demand skills 

• Customer service
• Customer contact
• Administrative support
• Data entry
• Administrative functions
• Change management
• Customer experience management
• Data analytics
• Internet of Things management
• Service innovation

Salary outlook for 2020

Head of contact centre with more than 5 years of experience can look to bring home S$5,500-6,800 per month.

Roles in customer service could possibly take home between S$1,800 and S$6,800 a month in 2020. Zooming in on the more popular roles - customer care consultants holding one to five years of experience can expect to earn between S$2,200 and S$3,600 each month; while the customer service assistant/office with one to three years' experience could take home a base pay of S$1,800 to S$3,000 per month.

Overall, the following table details the salary ranges in this field:

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