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The modern workforce is changing—different generations of workers are joining the job market. While salary remains a key priority, it is no longer the only factor that attracts and retains talent. Today’s employees are driven beyond simply compensation. As such, employers are realising that traditional practices may no longer suffice and that there is a need to evolve with the times.
However, getting started is easier said than done.
At the Employers Connect session organised by Workforce Singapore on the topic of Navigating Evolving Workforce Expectations, over 500 attendees shared their challenges and questions on the issue during the panel discussion. The group of experts consisted of Nilay Khandelwal, managing director of Michael Page Singapore and Indonesia; Stephanie Chua, founder and principal consultant of Vault Personnel; and Kelvin Kong, group chief people officer of Lightstorm and executive director of Mentoring SG; and was moderated by educator and coach, Kate Tan, CPCC.
Here are some key takeaways from the discussion.
On recruiting and retaining talent
When it comes to salary and benefit strategies, especially with the limited pockets of SMEs, Stephanie shared her personal experience of building a positive culture in her organisation Vault Personnel. She talked about how she sets expectations with the team and has already been adjusting to flexible work. Kelvin added that the strategy of attraction and retention run on a similar vein, often asking himself: “Do we have the right people, and do we have the right fit”. What attracts people to the company also serves as the litmus test to what makes people stay, which, according to Kelvin, lies in more than just monetary benefits. When it comes to company culture, it is important that organisations have clarity on what the company stands for and what its game plan is.
One of the things to combat the challenges of hiring and retaining talent is continuous listening, said Nilay. “Listening, acting on it, and employees’ thinking being heard are going a long way in creating stickiness with your organisation,” he explained. “As long as they are heard, your retention will definitely be on the higher side.”
On managing salary expectations
“There has to be an entire strategy of compensation benchmarking,” said Kelvin. “That has to be translated into actionables.”
Stephanie agreed that there is a need for a strategy. She suggested one that employers can consider is to implement a probation period, where salary can be adjusted after confirmation and candidates can prove themselves based on their performance.
Kelvin also mentioned that good communication and managing of expectations are of key importance for companies. Employers need to consider the balance between wanting to “impress” candidates with salary, or to have a longer-term strategy that can attract and retain talents that won’t disrupt what you have.
Similarly, Nilay of Michael Page also emphasised the need for clear and transparent communication. “Communication and expectation management is key,” he said, adding that employers need to communicate to staff early about the current market and its impact on the organisation and its plans.
On improving communication
Undoubtedly, there is a fine line to thread for businesses to communicate standards and expectations to staff effectively, while ensuring employees do not feel overly controlled. There are many communication formats to adopt. One approach, shared Nilay, is a townhall, which is a larger scale forum that is important to get the connection going. It may then need to be further translated into the individual level.
“It’s about department heads or function heads breaking it down to what it means within the department for that individual within the role in the hierarchy that they’re in,” he elaborated. “It has to be personalised and if you get it right, then future conversations will be straightforward and easier.”
“Having very clear work processes and standard operating procedures can mitigate all this micromanagement, because whatever needs to be clearly communicated is already in the SOP,” Stephanie added. She went on to also mention that the frequency of dialogue is also important so that staff know the avenues they can go to for clarifications whenever necessary.
Kelvin agreed, saying that it is goes down to the importance of having a great performance management system. “Very often, when you look at the root cause of it, it starts off with the setting of expectations and goal setting,” he said. Furthermore, it also boils down to how effective and agile managers are at steering this and keeping them updated with market and industry changes. “How we set [these expectations] is very important and it takes a lot of intentional effort to have active communications,” Kelvin added. He also encouraged companies to tap on informal networks to actively communicate and listen to the authentic voices of what people want.
On employee benefits and compensation
As SMEs, Nilay stressed the importance of “selling yourself well”. He believes that the value proposition of SMEs is increasing and will give MNCs “a big run for their money” in the future, as brand proposition is diminishing while value proposition is increasing. “Selling yourself, knowing what your Employee Value Propositions (EVPs) are both in terms of compensation and more importantly, benefits, like career mobility, inter-department work, projects… it could be a variety of things,” he said.
Kelvin echoed Nilay’s point on knowing your EVPs, emphasising the need to communicate what you want to achieve as an organisation and why, which is what he does when he hires. Stephanie added that at the interview stage, she makes it clear to candidates that they may take on more tasks on an ad hoc basis and see if they’re open to it. “I’m a firm believer that if the employees don’t grow, the company cannot grow and I will share this at the interview stage,” she said.
On implementing flexible work arrangements
For SMEs who haven’t yet started implementing flexible work arrangement (FWA), one starting point that Stephanie suggested, based on her personal experience, is to look at the demographics of staff and understanding the responsibilities and needs of staff. This comes on the back of the launch of new tripartite guidelines on FWA from December 2024 onwards.
With knowledge of staff demographics, employers can then access what are the common flexible work requests to craft out the right FWA policies to suit staff and business needs. Kelvin added that companies must know their people to implement the right FWAs that their staff need. “Just by openly communicating, there is still a way to define a policy that is flexible enough,” he said.
For roles or industries that are harder to implement FWA, such as retail, hospitality or construction, Kelvin recommended that companies consider putting together a buddy system in place while looking at the needs of the company as well. He drew reference to how companies had to pivot during the pandemic. “We used the time to understand what the gaps were, what worked and what didn’t for us, to get some insights to how I design my policies today,” he shared. These insights can also be the key starting point for organisations to decide how HR policies on FWA can be designed, without simply jumping to popular FWA trends that may seem attractive. “If you make a policy that doesn’t work for the business, the same impact will come back: People will join you, but you can’t retain them,” he said.
Nilay agreed, saying the policies implemented must work for the business and the customer, as well as for the employees in relation to the output needed. “Otherwise, it’s asking to be a failure. You’ve got to make sure it’s business-friendly,” he warned.
Ultimately, businesses that thrive in the changing job market will be those that view changes not as challenges but opportunities to create a more inclusive, fulfilling and flexible workplace. Companies that are willing to listen and adapt will not only retain top talent but also build a resilient, future-ready organisation.
For more HR best practices and strategies, employers can find out more about our next Employers Connect session and sign up via our CareerGrit website.
