HR Asia Announces Singapore’s Best Companies to Work for in Asia

SINGAPORE, Nov. 27, 2018 — Twenty-eight Singapore companies have been named the Best Companies to Work for in Asia by human-resource publication, HR Asia.

This year, 7,160 employees from a total of 193 companies across Singapore responded to the HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia Survey. The survey also covers seven other markets across Asia, including mainland China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam and Thailand.

Award winners included Avnet Asia Pte Ltd, Borouge Pte Ltd, Centurion Corporation Limited, Mundipharma Singapore Holdings Pte Ltd, Oracle Corporate Singapore Pte Ltd, SAS Institute Pte Ltd and TWG Tea Company Pte Ltd.

“The HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia is the only programme in the market that relies 100% on the input of employees across three key factors: emotional engagement (heart), intention and motivation (mind) and behaviour and advocacy (soul),” says Dato’ William Ng, Group Publisher / Editor-in-Chief of Business Media International, the publishers of HR Asia.

GOOD EMPLOYERS SCORE HIGHER

Survey participants were asked affirmative statements about their employers, and either agree or disagree with each of the statements. Based on these answers across the survey, the top 3 areas that employees in Singapore agree about their jobs are:

1. Meeting or exceeding customer expectation (Average score of 4.44/5)
2. Employees always seeking a better way to improve their efficiency at work (Average score of 4.31/5)
3. Employees willing to go for the extra mile if I can contribute to the success of the organisation (Average score of 4.30/5)

On the other hand, the 3 areas that score the lowest in the survey (i.e. the ones which the employees feel their companies can improve on) are:

1. Employees feel that they do not really know what is going on in the organisation (3.55/5)
2. Employees feel that they do not get supported by the companies in pursuing their own professional development (Average score of 3.68/5)
3. Employees feel that they are not involved in the decision-making process (Average score of 3.70/5)

With few exceptions, all the winning companies scored significantly higher in these areas compared to other participants. This indicates that employers that are more transparent, supportive of employees’ growth and lead by example, are more likely to be rated as a good workplace by their own employees.

WHAT EMPLOYERS THINK

The survey also obtained employers’ input on their employees.

94% of the companies surveyed felt that they conducted regular performance appraisals. Appraisals bring employers and employees together to discuss and identify work responsibilities while correcting weaknesses and recognising good performance.

93.8% of the participating companies felt that safety was top priority in their respective companies. It is essential for employees to have a safe environment in which they will be comfortable to work in and for employers to provide this necessary safety with regards to operation, procedures and policies. A safe workplace is conducive in creating positive productivity where employees not only perform better but also feel they matter to their organisation.

“HR Asia is Asia’s largest circulating publication for HR professionals. We take our role as a catalyst of the industry very seriously. To be the best in not easy, but how do we remain as the best? As we compete regionally for talents, it is crucial that we maintain industry and market leading workplace practices and employee engagement initiatives,” Dato’ William Ngshared.

WORDS OF WISDOM

Echoing words of the triumphant winners of the HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia Awards 2018, we cite few of the more inspiring pieces:

“Avnet Asia’s journey is one of continuous improvement and we strive for higher goals with each milestone that we achieved. In the distribution industry, Avnet Singapore is much talked about as a people centric organization where employees can ‘Learn and Grow‘! The goal based on our organization and people strategy is to maximize individual development, releasing every employees’ potential to deliver superior and sustained performance,” says Frederick Fu, President, Avnet Asia & Japan.

“We believe in creating a great place for great people to do great work. This award reaffirms us that making the wellbeing of our people the key pillar of our business decisions is the right direction, and we will continue to explore even more innovative ways to make Borouge a great place to work for. I believe this award will greatly help us in attracting potential talents to join our Company,” says Wim Roels, Chief Executive Director of Borouge Pte Ltd.

“We believe our most important assets are our people, so we constantly review and enhance our HR technology, processes and practices, in order to attract, nurture and retain our talent. Because we believe, that the best foundation for growing our business is to first grow our people,” says Janice Lee, Group HR & Admin Manager, Centurion Corporation Limited.

“Mundipharma is honoured to be recognized by our employees, for the second year in a row, as one of Singapore’s Best Companies to Work For,” says Linda Downs, Chief Human Resources Officer of Mundipharma Singapore Holding Pte Ltd.

“We often hear that businesses can’t thrive without delivering the right customer experience. The same can be said about the right employee experience — at Oracle, we strive to provide our employees the best possible experience at work for them to succeed and grow, this is imperative to our success as an organization,” says Rachna Sampayo, Senior Director, Human Resources Asia Pacific at Oracle.

“Our assets are our employees!  They have best demonstrated our core values of Curious, Passionate, Authentic and Accountable.  Together we have created the environment to be the Best Companies to Work for in Singapore!  Thankful for this achievement and we shall move forward to many good years ahead,” says Randy Goh, Managing Director of SAS Institute Pte Ltd.

“As TWG Tea celebrates its 10th anniversary, we believe that our team are our first and best brand ambassadors and winning the HR Asia Award for the 3rd consecutive year is proof that our employees love the company and their jobs and can develop their careers while upholding the TWG Tea values of thoughtfulness, willingness and grace. We are nothing without our team!” says Rith Aum-Stievenard, Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder of TWG Tea.

About HR Asia

HR Asia is Asia’s largest circulating publication for senior HR professionals. With over 50,000 copies distributed every issue, and an online and offline audience exceeding 200,000. HR Asia is the go-to brand for HR professionals seeking quality business intelligence and industry updates. HR Asia is published by Business Media International, a regional leader in B2B intelligence.

List of Winners of HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2018 (Singapore Edition)

SOURCE Business Media International