Apparently, according to the newest survey conducted by Hays Asia, it has shown that Malaysia is the unhappiest country in Asia when it comes to salaries. Are you unhappy with your current salary? Well, you aren’t alone.
A 2020 survey showed 46% of M’sians were dissatisfied with their salaries
A survey by recruitment firm Hays Asia revealed their findings that out of several countries in Asia, Malaysian employees are the unhappiest with their current salaries. The surveys were conducted in several parts of Asia – China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia with around 6,000 working professionals respondents.
Most employees in M’sia asked for a pay raise but did not receive one
According to the survey, it is also found that Malaysia reported the highest number of employees in Asia who asked for a pay raise but did not receive one in 2019. The percentage shown is 24%. Most of the M’sian employees (39%) were expecting increases of between 3-6% and the rest were expecting increases of more than 10%.
However, 20% of M’sian employers said that they did not expect employees’ salaries to change at all. Malaysia recorded the highest percentage in Asia to say so.
M’sians were also the highest percentage to actively seek new roles (52%)
Malaysia also recorded the highest number of respondents in Asia who are actively seeking a new job mainly because of their salaries with the percentage of 67%.
Some of the reasons why employees are actively seeking a new job:
– Salary or benefit packages (62%)
– Seeking new challenges (48%)
– Lack of career progression (45%)
The study also revealed that salaries are not the biggest factor why employees remain with a company
– Work-life balance (41%)
– Work location (37%)
– Management style and company culture (36%)
– Salary or benefit package (38%)
The survey shown that it’s vital for organisation to offer more incentives to attract and retain the best talent
Malaysian employees agree that training and development opportunities as more important compared to all other Asian markets (26%).
“This shows that while Malaysian professionals may be attracted by higher pay, benefits that ease work-life balance and difficulties like travel to work or aid in upskilling would be key in retaining them over pay.”
Tom Osborne, Hays Malaysia managing director shared that it was crucial for organisations to offer more incentives for the employees. These can be either monetary or non-monetary. Organisations could turn the focus on more holistic benefit packages that can plug the gap by easing other areas of concern for employees.
