Loyal employees a dying breed in the media

Singapore - Loyal employees seem to be a dying breed in the local marketing, media and communications industry, with many employees barely surpassing the two-year mark with their company.

According to The Aquent Orange Book 2008- 2009, the recruitment firm found that while more than 50% report an average employment length of two years or less, average staff turnover rates have stabilised and even improved across Asia. In Singapore, the permanent staff turnover rate was at 18%, tailing countries such as Hong Kong (23%) and Malaysia (21%).

The reason why employees stay for less than two years may not lie in the fault of companies and HR, says Steven Pang, Aquent's regional director of Asia. Instead, the reason could be more towards the fluid nature of the industry in general.

When it comes to retention strategies, some of the best-used strategies with companies with low turnover rates include discretionary bonuses (65%) and internal company training (58%) and career development programmes coming in third.

Pang says the use of discretionary bonuses is a good way for employees to "get their skin in the game" and also a way for companies to control their profit and loss as well. "In the good times, they can share in the profits. But in not so good times, like what we'll be facing soon, companies can be more prudent in giving out bonuses."

But with the lack of discretionary bonuses during tough times, would employees start looking for greener pastures? According to Pang, he says company loyalty is based on much more than just the next bonus. "People would stay based on how they are positioned in the company, whether the company is developing them from a career perspective and on a skills perspective. And remuneration is also an important factor."

When it comes to recruitment, the use of social networking tools is still lagging behind Europe and United States. While the most popular forms of talent resourcing used by hiring managers include referrals and word-of-mouths (67%) and recruitment agencies (64%), only 5% said they use social networking sites for hiring purposes. This is a far contrast to countries such as France and Poland where 13% to 18% of companies use it as a recruitment tool.

However the use of social networking sites will rise in the future, predicts Pang. "The name of the game is to get connected as much as you can. So joining in industry groups and chat groups, and getting to know and being part of the community. So sometimes we also put ads into the community as well, such as 'Oh, by the way we are looking for an interactive digital writer. So if you know anybody who is interested, let us know.' And that is one way we get the word  out there through our connections."