NEWS
Money and lifestyle issues driving wave of career change for Malaysian workers
Findings from the Kelly Global Workforce Index
18 August 2011

Kuala Lumpur | The main cause, cited by 35 percent, is the need for improved work-life balance, followed by the need for higher income (33 percent), and changing personal interests (17 percent). The findings about career choice and career progression are part of the Kelly Global Workforce Index, which obtained the views of approximately 97,000 people in 30 countries, including in Malaysia.

“We are seeing a surprisingly large number of people who are actively considering the critical issue of whether they should change their careers and make a fresh start,” said Melissa Norman, Kelly Services Managing Director Singapore and Malaysia.“For an earlier generation, a change of career would have been something of a crisis, however today, it is seen as a reflection of shifts in demand for different skills and occupations, as well as changing personal interests on the part of employees.”

One sign of the shifting attitude to career interruption is that approximately three-quarters (74 percent) of those surveyed believe they could resume their career at the same level after taking a break for such things as maternity or paternity leave, illness or an extended holiday.

Gen X (aged 30-47) are the most confident of resuming their career following a break, with 80 percent confident they could do so, compared with 77 percent of baby boomers (aged 48-65), and 71 percent of Gen Y (aged 18-29).

Results of the survey in Malaysia show:

“As individuals take greater control of their careers, there is a likelihood of employees moving in and out of the workforce for both professional and lifestyle reasons. Employers and employees will both need to adapt to this new workplace reality, where the smooth career pathway will be the exception rather than the rule. With talent mobility on the rise, the clearly emergent trend is that employees can now work anywhere, anytime—and many of them already do. The workplace of the future must now evolve to be just as virtual as its employees have become. To accomplish this, management must develop a higher level of comfort in workforce virtualization,” Ms Norman adds.

“With 72% of respondents confirming that the best indicator of a person’s talent is their work experience followed by their performance, the results match the expectations of the employment market where employers are willing to pay premium for talent who can hit the ground running and contribute to an organizations’ growth. In the Kelly Employment Outlook and Salary Guide 2011/12 released in June this year, it was noted that talent with more than 8 years experience and a performance track record saw an increase of 15 per cent – 20 per cent in salary increment in comparison to last year’s salary indicators. These were predominantly from the Banking and Finance, IT, Engineering industries as well as talent managing Sales and Marketing and Human Resources functions.”

“More organizations are providing up-skilling, training and development programs as part of their talent attraction and retention initiatives for a continuous talent pipeline as well as to ensure that they have a leadership bench strength to meet the organizations’ growth. Continuous lifelong learning is truly an aspect that is embraced by many organizations today with talent scarcity and talent mobility on the rise,” Ms Norman concludes.

The Kelly Global Workforce Index is an annual survey revealing opinions about work and the workplace from a generational viewpoint. Approximately 97,000 people from the Americas, APAC and EMEA responded to the 2011 survey with results published on a quarterly basis. Kelly Services was the recipient of a MarCom Platinum Award in 2010 and a Gold Award in 2009 for the Kelly Global Workforce Index in the Research/Study category.

Source : Kelly Services