Best Companies to Work For: Survey Reveals Top Employers in Singapore

Do you love your job, or feel a sense of belonging towards your company?

One of the factors that determine our job satisfaction would probably be how much we love our employers.

The Straits Times and global research company Statista recently released their findings on the top employers in Singapore, where companies are ranked according to scores derived from their survey results.

A total of 9,000 responses were collected from August to September last year, from 1,700 eligible companies across 26 industry sectors.

Companies that are employing at least 200 people were considered for this ranking.

Stuck in a career rut? You’re not alone! 

How Are Companies Being Graded?

Companies were scored by how much an employee is willing to recommend their company to a friend or family member.

Seeing how willing an employee would recommend his/her company is a good indicator of an employee’s sentiment towards a company, as it goes beyond the employee’s willingness to stay in the company.

For this question, employees could pick a score from 0 to 10, with 10 being ‘definitely recommending my employer’.

The scores were tabulated and companies were then ranked accordingly.

Here are the companies that made it to the top 20 spots in 2021.

Best Companies to Work for in Singapore 2021

Google topped the list with a score of 8.62, scoring an A1 (if you’re familiar with the secondary school grading system).

Apple and Adidas Singapore took the second and third place, scoring 8.60 and 8.52 respectively.

Popular companies such as Facebook (No. 25) and Coca-Cola Singapore (No. 35) made it to the list as well, and government agencies such as Ministry of Manpower (No. 36) and National Healthcare Group (No. 43) were also one of the top few companies as well.

How Are the Companies Evaluated?

Employees were asked also asked to evaluate their employers on a range of topics, including:

• Salary
• Work-life balance
• Potential for development
• Work environment
• Reputation of their employer

In addition, employees are also able to give an indirect evaluation on other employers, including companies that are in their respective industries or their former employers.

There were a total of 200,000 evaluations collected in total.

Interesting Findings from the Survey

The survey also yielded some interesting results.

About 70% of employers that were on last year’s list of ‘150 Best Employers’ also made it to this year’s list.

This means that these companies were able to weather through the COVID-19 storm, providing employees with confidence even during difficult times.

It also showed the importance of a company’s behaviour towards its employees during downturns like this, and how it impacts an employee’s confidence.

The company’s reaction towards COVID-19 is also reflected in an employee’s satisfaction.

Some findings include:

• 61% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that cohesion among colleagues was strong in times of crisis
• 57% responded that personal problems were considered during this trying period
• 62% felt that technical equipment and support for mobile working was good

In addition, the results showed that lower-level employees were generally less satisfied as compared to higher-level employees.

Also, women generally had slightly lower levels of satisfaction than men at workplaces.

What Are Some Things These Companies Are Doing Differently?

According to the survey, here are some things that the top companies are doing to make their employees feel valued.

Amazon

• Conducts daily poll to gauge employee sentiments
• Investing about S$5.4 billion in COVID-19 related initiatives globally, such as getting products and services to customers while keeping employees safe

Reckitt (Formally Known As Mead Johnson Nutrition)

• Focuses on addressing employees’ needs and not just productivity, including sense of belonging to company and emotional well-being
• Increase in internal communication, such as information sharing about the company and updated knowledge of COVID-19 crisis

Siemens

• Employees are recognised through a mobile-enabled app where points and e-cards can be given, and exchanged for gifts and vouchers

Motorola Solutions Singapore

• Using online learning platforms to access leadership development, technical and soft skills programmes

Working For a Good Company: Things To Look Out for

It seems like attractive employers have various methods to keep their employees engaged.

For instance, they tend to emphasise on providing proactive support to their employees, which includes focusing on areas such as employees’ mental wellbeing or allowing them to voice their opinions and feel heard.

Also, this survey shows that the focus on developing and nurturing staff is also something that employees look out for in companies.

Conclusion

In today’s day and age, employees are no longer solely looking at salaries.

Employees also value company culture, learning opportunities and purpose in the work that they do.

And when companies provide a collaborative environment, employees are able to feel valued, which boosts the company’s morale and provides a win-win solution for both parties.

Are you enjoying work at your current workplace?

Or are you feeling stuck in a career rut?

You’re not alone! 

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