Concerns of Singapore managers: a broad-based survey of Singapore managers reveals that most view good health and work-life balance as more important than career advancement and higher salary despite current economic pressures. This article looks at some of the other interesting findings from the SIM Management Monitor.

A RECENT survey by the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) has found that most Singaporean managers are a pragmatic lot. An overwhelming 80 per cent of them view good health, work-life balance, and passion for work as more important than career advancement and higher salary.

Comparatively, only 61 per cent of respondents selected career advancement and high salary as more important despite the financial pressures of the economic downturn.

Managers also placed a higher importance on maximising staff performance (83 per cent) and demonstrating strong leadership on their part (76 per cent) than personal career advancement and higher salaries.

The SIM Management Monitor is a newly mooted annual survey and is one of Singapore's first and most comprehensive management studies that aims to put a finger on the pulse of managers. The aim is to identify key trends in management and to better understand the issues, concerns, and challenges that Singapore managers uniquely face.

The survey conducted by Blackbox Research between April and May 2009, received 750 survey respondents from all levels of management from C-suite (corporate suite) executives to middle managers from private and public sectors and across SMEs (small and medium enterprises), MNCs (multinational corporations) and large Singapore corporations.

It revealed that most managers were generally satisfied in their jobs (69 per cent). Satisfaction levels, however, were highest among C-suite executives (93 per cent) while one in four middle managers (26 per cent) expressed dissatisfaction in their jobs.

The majority of managers, some 86 per cent indicated that they intend to continue working beyond the retirement age of 62 years, although more than half would prefer to work on a part-time basis and doing freelance or consulting work. This is good news for a nation that is facing a shortage of talent and is encouraging its senior work force to stay on their jobs longer.

Commenting on these findings, Ronald Tan, executive director of SIM, says: "Singapore managers are very resilient and understand that the key to sustaining a career is staying healthy, enjoying what you do, and yet having enough time for family and friends. This is especially important when work stresses are rising because of the economic climate."

On why middle-level managers may feel less job satisfaction than CEOs and managing directors, he feels that this could be due to several reasons, but he identifies the key difference.

"This could be because while middle managers are the change implementers, they may not be privy to all the information and have less control and hence feel less empowered as compared to upper management. Communication between top and middle levels of management is therefore vital," explains Tan.

Training Attitudes

Seven out of 10 managers view upgrading skills and knowledge as important although the majority preferred on-the-job training through learning of best practices (72 per cent) and short-term external courses (69 per cent), over longer-term qualification programmes (55 per cent) and job rotations within their organisations (49 per cent).

On the preference for on-the-job training, Tan says: "Attitudes towards training have changed because the business environment is ever changing and at an increasing pace. Employees are expected to respond quickly and perform optimally, thus training has to be hands-on and has immediate application back on the job."

He adds that learning through best practices and on the job also allows for trial and error. However, it is important to know that best practices used as points of reference may not always work and different organisations will have different tolerance levels for trials and errors.

Acquiring broad experiences does not seem to be a priority, with relatively low ratings on the importance of gaining experience in different countries (38 per cent), different companies (34 per cent), and different industries (32 per cent). This may not augur well for an economy like Singapore which is playing on the open field of the global economy and requires managers with broad experiences.

Sentiments on Economy

The survey also revealed that Singapore managers tend to be more pessimistic about the global economy (77 per cent) than the Singapore economy (61 per cent). Slightly more than half (56 per cent) were confident of keeping their jobs although only 26 per cent were positive about receiving a pay rise in the next 12 months.

Blackbox Research's principal, David Black, says this is probably a reflection of the confidence levels that Singapore managers have regarding the various Government, industry, and company initiatives that have been announced to mitigate the effects of the current slow down.

"While the picture may not exactly be rosy, it is definitely not as bleak as it appears in other developed nations where higher unemployment figures and economic contraction appear symptomatic of a much more long term affair," says Black.

The majority of managers perceived their organisations to be both sound and respectable in business ethics (66 per cent), while only about half saw their organisations as having good employee benefits (53 per cent) and are well positioned for the future (50 per cent).

"In the midst of a global recession, leaders and managers of organisations have to re-align their priorities, devoting tight resources including time to what's most critical to ride out the storm. This pragmatic and realistic response is borne out by the results of this survey," adds Tan.

Beyond the overall common reaction guided by prudence, the survey shows that in terms of specific concerns and priorities, these vary across types and size of organisations as well as across different levels of management.

Interestingly, the top issue for managers differs greatly by organisation type. Not surprisingly, given the tough times and the need for prudent use of resources, managers working in MNCs identify cost reduction as their top issue.

In contrast, SME managers are single minded in their focus on business growth along with generating new business. On the other hand, public sector managers have identified their top issue as dealing with change, which is perhaps a reflection of the changing emphasis in government as service deliverers.

The different levels of managers also articulate and identify varying concerns and priorities, in a way that is reflective of their specific roles and responsibilities.

Moving forward, organisations should take a closer look at what has often been termed as non-tangibles like work-life balance initiatives.

These give employees greater flexibility in how they work and offer organisations the competitive business edge in attracting, training, and retaining employees because these vital talents are the key to the innovation and ideas that organisations need in order to succeed when the economy improves.

"In a downturn, when everyone's facing similar challenges, this is an opportunity for organisations to re-evaluate and invest in initiatives on how to come back even stronger with a competitive edge. By taking a leadership position in offering employees structured work-life balance initiatives, organisations have the opportunity to set the ground rules as well as to position their company as an innovator in this area," says Black.

If organisations want to cash in on the next wave of prosperity, now is the time to prepare. They must adapt by looking at their industry.

Tan says: "There is ample opportunity for industrious managers to help shape the business and employment landscape. There will always be resistance to change, especially by those who stand to lose the most by the decline of the status quo. If managers position themselves to be the agent in the change process, whether by training in new technology or by starting new enterprises to take advantage of the change, the chances of future success are substantially improved."

Table 1: Key Indicators of Economic Sentiment of Singapore Managers

Key Indicators

            Global Economy       Singapore Economy

Economy      6%    -77%            12%     -61%    Highly negative
                                                   sentiment but
                                                   global concerns
                                                   still outweigh
                                                   local worries.

         Job Satis-    Career      Local Job       Job satisfaction
          faction     Prospects  Opportunities     holding up but
                                                   many careers on
Current  79%  -21%    41%  -19%   30% -32%         hold in current
                     40% on the   38% on the       climate.
                       fence        fence

Future   Job Secu-   Salary Rise
           rity

        57%  -12%     27% -47%     17%  -42%       Most are confident
                                                   of avoiding
                                                   retrenchment but
                                                   limited
                                                   pay/promotion
                                                   prospects
                                                   envisaged in the
                                                   next 12 months.