SEEK unveils Southeast Asia's hiring & stress report 2024

SEEK, the operator of the online employment marketplaces Jobstreet and Jobsdb, has unveiled the key findings from its Southeast Asia's Hiring, Compensation, and Benefits Report 2024. The report provides insights into the rapidly evolving employment landscape across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

One of the primary findings relates to organisational stress levels and their impact on mental health. Companies in Singapore report the highest average stress levels overall. Across Southeast Asia, the principal causes of stress for employees are heavy workloads (37%), high pressure from management (27%), and a lack of ample career development opportunities (23%).

Despite the high stress levels, less than half (48%) of companies are currently offering sufficient support to help employees manage stress, indicating significant room for improvement. Notably, 71% of respondents described their workplace as moderately stressful. However, it is encouraging that 46% of Southeast Asia companies surveyed introduced new initiatives in 2023 to help employees cope with stress.

In the Philippines (30%) and Indonesia (15%), there is a stronger prioritisation towards mental health and wellness counselling, while Malaysia (17%) and Singapore (11%) are focusing more on employee organisation activities to boost engagement.

The report also highlights a waning job market confidence for the latter half of 2024. Job market confidence levels among Southeast Asian countries remain fairly balanced at 52% for the first half of the year. However, this is projected to decline to 37% in the second half. This dip is attributed to increased uncertainty around market expectations, influenced by factors such as economic conditions and global events. Indonesia (44%) and the Philippines (41%) show higher confidence levels than the regional average, while Singapore and Malaysia fall below the average at 32%.

In response to the challenges in the job market, companies are focusing more on enhancing compensation and benefits to keep talent engaged and happy. The report reveals that the average salary increment in 2023 was 7%, with the highest increments seen in the Philippines (10.2%) and Indonesia (7.6%). In contrast, Singapore's increment was below the regional average at 5.8%.

Additionally, 85% of Southeast Asia companies shared their profits by awarding salary increases to employees in 2023. The report shows that staff promotions were particularly high in the Philippines (70%) and Indonesia (67%), while Singapore reported a lower rate at 59%. Performance bonuses were also popular, with the total average bonus payout rising to 1.86 months of salary. Malaysia had the highest average payout at 2.4 times the monthly salary, followed by the Philippines at 2.3 times.

To remain competitive, Southeast Asia companies are implementing various measures to enhance compensation and benefits. Salary benchmarking was adopted by slightly more than half (52%) of the companies, with higher prevalence in Malaysia (59%) and the Philippines (58%).

Overall, the report aims to assist businesses and talent in navigating the evolving job market by providing a comprehensive examination of hiring practices, compensation, benefits, and working conditions across the region. The study engaged 3,750 hiring professionals across five countries during September 2023 and covered a diverse array of industries and company scales.