Malaysia has emerged second in terms of salary increase and related benefits, a survey on salary prospects revealed today, adding that steady hiring demand will continue across most sectors due to positive salary increase expectations among employers.
The 2015 Hays Salary Guide showed 43% of employees in Malaysia can expect a salary increase of 6% or more in their next review.
Hays managing director in Asia, Christine Wright (pic, right), said salary increases in Malaysia were the second most generous of the countries surveyed, coming just after China.
She said employers also offer extra benefits to help secure their preferred candidate.
"Performance-related bonuses are also used to reward top performers.
"For candidates, there are great opportunities presented by the current market.
"Savvy job seekers are taking advantage of Asia’s tight talent market to secure roles offering career progression, which in the long term will ultimately lead to a higher salary,” she said in a statement.
According to the guide, a high percentage (33%) of Malaysian employers will increase salaries by 6% to 10% in the year ahead.
It forecasts that 10% will increase salaries above that level while 47% will increase between 3% and 6%.
It expects that only 9% of employers will offer increases under 3%, and just 1% of employers will give no increases at all.
According to the survey, the figures this year are slightly better than last year’s, which saw 31% of employers increasing salaries in their last review by 6% to 10%.
A further 9% gave pay increases above 10% while 48% increased salaries by 3% to 6%.
Only 9% of employers gave increases of less than 3%, and 3% of employers gave no salary increases at all last year.
The guide for this year shows that China remains the standout for salary increases, as it was last year.
Half of Chinese employers increased salaries in their last review by between 6% to 10%, and a further 16% increased above that level.
Looking ahead this year, 50% of employers intend to increase salaries by 6% to 10% again, while a significant 20% will increase by over 10%.
Salary increases in Hong Kong and Singapore are and will remain more subdued.
The majority of employers in Hong Kong (64%) increased salaries between 3% and 6% in their last review, with 63% expecting to increase at the same level in their next review.
In Singapore, 59% of employers increased salaries in their last review by 3% to 6%, and 54% are expected to do so again in their next review.
In Japan, 56% of employers gave increases of less than 3%, while a further 15% gave no increase at all in their last review. The situation will be similar this year.
In terms of employment benefits, 83% of employers continue to give their staff benefits. Popular benefits in Malaysia are health (64%), car or car allowance (58%) and life assurance (47%).
The guide also reported that bonuses remain a favoured method of rewarding staff, with 51% of employers across Asia saying they will reward half their staff this year. In the majority of cases, these bonuses are related to employee performance (80%) and employer performance (73%).
This shows that rather than giving across-the-board salary increases, employers are using bonuses based on performance to reward their top talent. Just 11% of employers said bonuses are guaranteed.
In terms of the value of these bonuses, 44% of employers will award between 11% and 50% of staff salary as a bonus, while 34% said the bonuses will equate to less than 10% of staff salary.
In other key findings, the Hays Asia Salary Guide showed that 72% of employers expect their levels of business activity to increase in the year ahead.
The guide also found 48% of employers expecting permanent headcount to rise, while almost 45% said the skills shortage had the potential to hamper the effective operation of their business or department.
“Our guide shows that hiring expectations remain steady across Asia, despite the talent shortage.
“Employers in all five of our surveyed countries are seeing a gap – some more significant than others – between the skills that they are looking for and the skills available in the local labour market," Wright said.
The Hays Asia Salary Guide includes salary and recruiting trends for over 1,200 roles in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Japan.
The guide is based on a survey of 2,361 employers, representing 4,017,026 employees. – January 20, 2015.
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