Technology companies across Southeast Asia are struggling to find and retain employees amid demands for better compensation and growth opportunities, according to a recent survey.
The survey found that nine out of 10 companies face difficulties hiring digital talents as earlier-stage startups often cannot compete with bigger and deeper-pocketed startups. There is also a limited supply of high-quality talent who can balance well between technical capabilities and an understanding of its application.
The survey is part of the “Growth & Scale Talent Playbook” launched by Alpha JWC Ventures, global management consulting firm Kearney, and recruitment platform GRIT on Friday. The playbook seeks to guide startups to attract, manage, and retain their talents.
Conducted between August and September 2022, the survey involved more than 600 employees in 34 companies across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
Lemonilo, an Indonesian startup that sells healthy consumer goods, was among those early-stage companies that struggled to get high-quality talents and had to recruit friends to work for the company in its early days.
The company, however, decided to keep its number small till several funding rounds later. Lemonilo, a Series C company with more than $70 million in funding, currently employs 250 employees. This strategy turned out to be beneficial for both the company and the employees as well.
“We are small but we’re mighty. We want to keep our number small so we know for sure whatever the company made, its profits or anything, it all comes back to a small number of people and we can give [the employee] better,” Shinta Nurfauzia, co-founder and co-CEO of Lemonilo, said in a panel discussion following the report launch.
On the flip side, the report also found 91% of employees were open to leaving their companies for better compensation. They also tend to leave their current employers due to misalignment with the company’s vision and culture, as well as a lack of growth opportunities.
The report comes at the height of job cuts untaken by tech companies across the region where at least 10,000 employees were let go this year as part of the efforts to reduce costs amid uncertain macroeconomic conditions significantly.While the playbook shows possible ways to retain high-performing employees—with details on types of benefits to offer and ways to communicate clearly, among others—it also noted that talent retrenchment needs to be handled properly to maintain the company’s reputation.