Employers urged to 'review and adjust their internal salary and bonus structures'
Organisations across Malaysia are being warned that they risk losing talent after a new report found that salary remains a strong motivator behind employees' career decisions.
Findings from Randstad's 2023 Salary and Bonus Expectations revealed that 91% of employees said a higher salary motivates them to switch employers this year.
For the remaining nine per cent of the respondents, they cited the following reasons:
- Bad workplace culture (50%)
- Poor work-life balance (27%)
- Overwhelming workload (12%)
- Career change (11%)
These findings came as the report pointed out that employees are now expecting higher salaries and fair bonuses because of inflation and higher cost of living. For 54% of the respondents, they don't think they're being paid enough for their contributions, skills, and experience.
Despite their expectations, however, only 49% of the respondents said they received only up to five per cent of salary increase.
Another 39% said they have been told that their salaries will not be adjusted this year, while 31% said they will not be receiving any annual bonus for their contributions the previous year.
Switching jobs lead to higher pay
Their case wildly differs the situation for 30% of respondents who switched employers in the last 12 months, who said they received higher pay.
Nearly half of them (49%) said they received over 20% salary increase after switching jobs. For others, they received:
- 16% to 20% increase (12%)
- 11% to 15% increase (12%)
- 6% to 10% increase (11%)
- Less than five per cent (16%)
It is therefore "crucial" for employers to recognise the importance of salary in motivating and retaining people, according to Randstad.
"To attract top talent and meet new expectations, companies must make a conscientious effort to review and adjust their internal salary and bonus structures to reflect new skill demands, meet talent expectations and remain competitive in the market," Randstad said on its website.
