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Which brands are paying premium for tech talent in Singapore?

Which brands are paying premium for tech talent in Singapore?

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The tech talent war continues to intensify in Singapore, fueled by the wave of venture capital into tech startups in the region and global tech companies setting up in Singapore, layered on top of a limited tech talent supply.

In 2021, tech talent compensation in Singapore saw a 21% increase YoY, according to the Tech Talent Compensation report 2021/2022 report by NodeFlair and Quest Ventures. The report found that, throughout 2021, the salaries for Software Engineers increased the most (22%) amongst the different technical specialisations, with salaries for experienced roles such Lead Software Engineers increasing by as much as 32%. For instance, the median base salary compensation stands at SG$4,750 for a junior software engineer, SG$6,500 for mid-level, SG$7,500 for senior software engineers and SG$9,000 for lead levels. 

The demand for senior engineers is higher due to the bullish funding scene and competition from foreign tech firms. The report found that companies with deep pockets would “buy time with money” by prioritising senior hires, as they are more operationally ready and take less time to onboard and contribute. On the supply side, while the border is opening up from the pandemic and companies are adopting a more remote approach for their engineering team, this transition is expected to take some time.

Talents cited salary package (65%) as a top reason for seeking new opportunities. This outranks other reasons such as desire to work on new technologies, work-life balance and growth opportunities. Among the top 15 most searched companies, which includes homegrown tech firms such as Shopee and Grab, as well as foreign tech giants such as Bytedance, Amazon and Google, most of the companies pay at least 12% above the market median, with nine of them paying 25% above the market median, the report said. While companies can, and will, work on the non-compensation aspect to attract talents, the easier way out in the short term will be to increase their hiring budget, especially when they are on a hiring spree.

top tech salaries

The talent war for experienced talents will intensify even more. Singapore has been one of the top choices for some of the fastest-growing companies in US and China, such as Zoom, Twitter, Tencent, Alibaba and Bytedance. About 80% of the world’s top 100 technology firms have a sizable presence in Singapore, including the likes of Google, IBM and Microsoft. According to the report, companies should be prepared to face shorter average tenures and higher turnover rates amongst employees.

Companies can also expect a talent drain as newer and more attractive technologies and sectors such as blockchain and Web3 arise. In 2021, investors poured billions into blockchain and cryptocurrency due to the growth and demand for Web3, NFTs and other related areas, said the report. Due to the underwhelming supply of engineers specialised in blockchain development, companies were found to have adjusted their hiring strategy by targeting software engineers who are interested in picking up blockchain development instead. 

How can companies stay competitive in the tech market in 2022?

According to the report, many companies are spending a lot of manpower, time and money in recruiting talents, but few allocate sufficient resources to talent retention. Talent churn is much more expensive for engineering than a simple "one-off recruitment cost", and the time needed to replace members and onboard new ones is longer for engineering than other functions. Given that wanting to work with new technologies, better flexibility and work-life balance and growth and leadership positions were cited among the top reasons talents consider new opportunities, companies can consider attracting  talents with better non-compensation benefits, such as getting rid of rigid working hours and allowing for working from home even when not required by government regulation. 

Additionally, companies can be more flexible with the hiring requirements. Companies often have a long list of required skill sets that they look for in their ideal candidate, many of which are not crucial or can be picked up relatively easy as long as someone has experience in similar technology. Companies should instead have a clear list of the must-have and good-to-have and rank candidates based on how many "good-to-have checkboxes they ticked". 

Companies could also build up  their engineering presence through various channels. The report found that, at  any time, only 20% of the market are active job seekers, while 54% are passive and open to new opportunities. The top two methods talents are learning about companies are through their network and reading about news and articles of the company. Hence, companies should invest money and effort in meetups and sharing, engineering blogs and developer advocacy, so that their company attains a huge mindshare.

Photo courtesy: 123RF

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