Singaporean bosses disappoint staff

Singapore – Less than half of Singaporean employees feel their bosses recognise their efforts, the lowest figures recorded in Asia Pacific (APAC).

The latest Kelly Global workforce Index found only 46% of 900 Singaporean employees believe their bosses reward or acknowledge the work. This is far behind neighbouring countries such as India (64%), Thailand (61%), Indonesia (59%) and Hong Kong (50%). China and Malaysia both scored 48%.

Local bosses also only received just a passing grade from their staff in terms of preparing them for future success, with a score of 6.5 out of 10, ahead of China (6.4) and Hong Kong (5.8). However, Singapore still lagged behind India (7), Thailand (6.9), Indonesia (6.8), and Malaysia (6.7).

“Employees’ views of an organisation carry a lot of credibility and send a clear  signal about how people are managed and the best places to work,”  Melissa Norman, managing director for Kelly Services Singapore and
Malaysia, said. “They have a significant impact on the ability of a business to attract and retain talent.”

Additionally, 48% of respondents describe their organisation’s leadership culture as either “empowering” or “inclusive”, while another 30% described it as “authoritative” or “oppressive”.

Nearly a third of respondents also identified leadership style as the most important quality in a leader, followed by vision and clear direction (23%), and communication style (18%).

The report also found both Gen Y and Gen X agree the latter group made the best leaders, but baby boomers strongly believe it is their generation that is the superior business managers.