What are the skills Malaysian companies are seeking in 2023?

Management skills are the most sought after by companies in Malaysia. In the time of economic uncertainty, leadership and management has emerged to be necessary to lead teams as well as keep them motivated and engaged.  Communication and sales follow closely in the list of top in-demand skills. Marketing also makes it to the top 10 list. 

To combat macroeconomic volatility, LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning 2023 report states that Malaysian companies are increasingly leveraging skills to stay nimble to ensure that the country’s workforce does not fall short. Here are the top 10 most in demand skills:

1. Management
2. Communication
3. Sales
4. Speaking fluent English
5. Leadership
6. Project Management
7. Analytical Skills
8. Customer Service
9. Marketing 
10. Engineering

More companies are recognising that skill-building has a positive impact on employee retention. An overwhelming majority (94%) of organisations in SEA are concerned about employee retention, and six in 10 are providing learning opportunities to improve retention rates. The report also states that eight in 10 companies rather reskill a current employee as opposed to hire a new one as saves in cost.

Additionally, the role of learning and development (L&D) departments is evolving to be more critical and multi-faceted as well. LinkedIn’s new report says that this is true for companies across Southeast Asia. Nine in 10 L&D professionals in Southeast Asia agree that proactively building employee skills for today and tomorrow will help navigate the evolving future of work.

More L&D leaders are being tapped on by company executives to boost growth by building people-centric cultures and deploying skilling programs. The report states that this enhanced learning culture may be the solution to bridge the long-standing skills mismatch issue in Malaysia.

According to the report, the 2023 forecast for L&D leaders across Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines is a positive one as one in two (53%) leaders are expected to have more spending power this year. These leaders are reportedly prioritising large-scale upskilling, employee well-being and digital fluency in 2023, with an almost 13% rise in initiatives to upskill.

Moreover, due to constant changes brought about by tech disruption and a volatile job market, opportunities to enhance skills have become a minimum requirement to stay afloat.

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