Ambition Singapore conducted a salary survey in December 2011 and received responses from over 700 individuals, drawn from their client and candidate databases.
Employers were spread across industry sectors and below is the breakdown:
Base Salaries in Singapore
In the employer survey the majority of respondents (51.6%) indicated base salary increases in 2011 of 3-5% in their business.
On the employee side the biggest increases of over 6% went to the senior member level (37.5%). While 41.5% received an increase of between 0-5%, 23.7% received no increase at all in 2011 suggesting that a significant number of companies froze base remuneration in 2011. The group most likely to see significant increases in base were senior managers with 37.5% getting over 6%.
For increases in 2012 expectations appear to be well matched with 50% of employers and 41.9% of employees expecting to be in the 3-5% range. Only 7.8% of employers expect to have no increase with 71.1% expecting to be in the 0-5% range.
On the employee side 9.6% are expecting nothing with 35.5% expecting over 6%. Managers have the highest expectation of a 2012 increase in excess of 6% with 41.6% expecting to be above this level.
It would appear that companies that have communicated early that increase will be modest have managed their employee expectations. Where there is an expectation of an increase candidates are unsurprisingly expecting a couple of percentage points more than employers are prepared to offer. It is worth noting that in years following more modest increases due to economic conditions employees will be looking to make up the shortfall from previous years.
Bonuses in Singapore in 2012
50.4% of employees expect to get a bonus of less than 10% while only 46% of employers expect to be paying at this level. Expectations at the 20%+ level are similar with 21.5% of employee and 24.6 % of employer respondent groups indicating this.
Market Rate Compensation in Singapore
Over 25% of employees do not know if their remuneration is in line with market rates. Of this group, team members and managers are least aware of what they should be getting.
Respondents that were aware of their value were split on whether their company was above or below the market. The majority of senior managers and above responded that their company is in line with competitors while managers and team members were more likely to feel underpaid.
Amit Puri - Managing Consultant, Sandbox Advisors