It appears that salary packages are no longer the top reason that Malaysian professionals cite when choosing to stay at their companies. According to the 2024 Hays Asia Salary Guide the desire to seek out new challenges had surpassed low salary packages as the main reason across Asia.
The salary guide surveyed around 2,014 skilled professionals and 832 employers from Malaysia and was conducted over the course of six weeks in late 2023. It mostly focused on employees looking for new opportunities within the next twelve months, asking them to list the top three reasons why they wanted to leave their current place of employment.
A similar survey conducted in 2022 revealed that the primary reason for employees to leave their current companies were inadequate salary packages.
Additionally, when it came to employees who stayed, flexible work options were unanimously selected as the most important contribution to that decision, rated even above salary considerations.
It was also found that committed employees tend to prefer good work-life balance and having good chemistry with managers and colleagues, with these factors being ranked second and third respectively.
“A healthy working environment, positive values and a sufficiently challenging role will go a long way towards winning the hearts of employees in Malaysia.” said Marc Burrage, managing director at Hays Asia. Leaders need to have these discussions with their workforce, and employees need to examine how they can enhance their value in this period of disruption. Collaboration is the key to survival, and both parties will need to face these challenges with open minds and a willingness to adapt,” said Marc Burrage, managing director at Hays Asia.
The Hays Asia Salary Guide compiles salary and sector overviews based on real data and a survey of skilled professionals across Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Thailand.
