Singapore — Many Western media outlets have dubbed 2021 as the “Great Resignation” year, with employees leaving their jobs in higher numbers than ever.
“Reports of high resignation rates across the United States and Europe have led to speculation that Singapore could see a similar ‘Great Resignation’ wave. However, our statistics show otherwise,” MOM wrote in a Jan 31 Facebook post.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics said that in September last year, there was an all-time-high resignation rate of 3 per cent, which may not sound like much but is equivalent to 4.4 million people leaving their jobs, the highest rate in the two decades since data was first published.
This has led to speculation about whether Singapore will follow suit.
However, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) recently said that resignation rates in Singapore have “remained consistently low throughout the pandemic.”
MOM wrote that for the third quarter of 2021, the resignation rate was at 1.6 per cent.
“This figure is also below pre-COVID levels (the quarterly average in 2018 – 2019 was 1.8%). This shows that the pandemic has not led to a significant increase in resignations.”
The ministry warned, however, that “as the economy recovers, some increase in labour turnover is expected,” explaining further that for low-wage sectors, workers could exchange their jobs for better opportunities, and that for growth sectors with a strong labour demand, higher rates for recruitment and resignation are to be expected.
“COVID-19 has transformed workplace practices and revealed more about what may influence an employee’s decision to leave, such as demand for workplace flexibility, the blurring of work-life boundaries, risk of burnout and work disengagement,” MOM added.
It also noted that “businesses in Singapore have generally adapted well” to the new developments in workplace situations due to the pandemic, evidenced by “the more widespread adoption of flexible work arrangements (FWA) such as staggered hours and work-from-home to more effectively support and retain their staff.”
MOM also noted that as far back as 2020, nearly eighty per cent of employers already had “at least one formal FWA in place on a sustained basis,” while in 2018, this rate had only been at over fifty per cent.
“The Government will continue to work with Tripartite Partners to create more inclusive and harmonious workplaces,” the ministry added.
But is a “Great Resignation” still to come in Singapore?
This may depend on whom you ask.
An article in the Singapore Business Review from mid-January seems to consider the phenomenon to be inevitable.
“The great resignation phenomenon is coming to hit the Singaporean job market in 2022 as 58 per cent of workers are planning to shift careers in 2022, a Qualtrics report found,” the article reads.
In December, Vulcan Post quoted a study from US-based job’s portal Indeed, writing that “One out of four Singapore workers are planning to leave their current employer in the first half of 2022.”
Last Sunday, an article in The Straits Times pointed out that the average monthly resignation rate for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) had gone up 1.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2021, the highest it had been in seven years.
“It was 1.3 per cent in the third quarters of 2018 and 2019,” ST added.
Meanwhile, another survey from asset management company Mercer, showed that while there was a significant increase in employee turnover in the first half of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, there was also “a resurgence in hiring for Singapore companies due to a rise in replacement hiring (51%), business expansion (30%) and the opening of roles which were previously on hiring freeze (15%).” /TISG
Read also: Study: Singapore workers want to work less, have more family and personal time