Singapore's 10 best places to work: Glassdoor ratings

Tech companies - Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft - dominate the top 10 employers in Glassdoor's annual Employees’ Choice Awards, while Shell is the only energy company to make it to the top 10.

The ratings, previously published for companies in the US, Canada, and more, saw Singapore's employers being rated by employees for the first time this year in the backdrop of an annual ranking.

The ranking is based on on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback, by completing a company review about their job, work environment and employer over the past year. It is open to employers with 1,000 or more employees.

According to Glassdoor, the top 10 best places to work in Singapore for 2020 (along with a snippet of the employee feedback provided) are:

2. FacebookCompany Rating: 4.4“Facebook takes care of the employees. Lots of room to grow.” - Facebook Software Engineering Manager (Singapore)

3. ShellCompany Rating: 4.3“Employee oriented company with highest values set in work respect.” - Former Shell Component Landscape Manager (Singapore)

4. AmazonCompany Rating: 4.3“No politics. Lots of career opportunities globally. Great people, high calibre overall. Lots of freedom to define your role.” - Amazon Business Development Employee (Singapore)

5. MicrosoftCompany Rating: 4.3“If you love working in teams in a highly dynamic environment with fast evolving technology, this is an amazing place! It also brings many career opportunities with colleagues from all over the world.” - Microsoft Solution Sales Specialist (Singapore)

6. Visa Inc.Company Rating: 4.2“Lots of exposure to different facets of payment. Variety of projects to work for. Good salary, employee friendly.” - Visa Inc. Staff Engineer (Singapore)

7. AIACompany Rating: 4.2“Flexible working hours, positive working culture, friendly and helpful management.” - AIA Financial Advisor (Singapore)

8. HubSpotCompany Rating: 4.2“HubSpot is definitely one of the best companies I have worked at. The culture is amazing and the employees are even better. The salary and benefits are above market standards.” HubSpot Marketing Manager (Singapore)

9. J.P. MorganCompany Rating: 4.2“The bank offers a lot of opportunities for employees of all levels to progress or to learn new skills and products.” - J.P. Morgan Vice President (Singapore)

10. HP Inc.Company Rating: 4.2“Strong HP Way people-oriented culture. Trust and respect in place. Good training and lots of career advancement opportunities.” - HP Inc. Engineer (Singapore)

Drilling down into the top 10, technology sector employers dominate, but oil & gas, insurance and finance also appear on the list. Google, which has claimed the top spot for Singapore, also topped the list in the UK with the same rating (4.5).

Eight out of the 10 companies featured are headquartered in the US, while Shell is headquartered in the Netherlands and AIA is a Hong Kong-based pan-Asian company.

Eight out of the 10 Singapore winners are also winners in multiple countries, with AIA and Visa Inc. being the only two winners which don’t appear on other international lists. Microsoft appears on seven lists (US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Brazil and Singapore).

During the year-long eligibility period, employers must have received at least 20 ratings for each of the eight workplace attributes (overall company rating, career opportunities, compensation and benefits, culture and values, senior management, work-life balance, recommend to a friend and six-month business outlook) taken into account as part of the awards algorithm.

Glassdoor President and Chief Operating Officer Christian Sutherland-Wong, commented: "Gone are the days when company culture could be considered a fluffy or non-essential business metric.

"In today’s age of workplace transparency, the mission, culture and values of a company are crucial when it comes to employers’ ability to recruit and retain top talent."

Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor Chief Economist, added: “Workers are increasingly prioritising culture over cash and research consistently shows that culture is the leading driver of long-term employee satisfaction.

"However, being a culture-first organisation isn’t about expensive perks, but about articulating a clearly-stated mission that resonates with employees’ own aspirations and fuels their best performance."