As we move into 2021, the one big question mark hanging over the heads of job seekers and employees is: “Will I see a pay raise this year?” The post-Covid salary trends in Singapore are unlike most years. With the unprecedented economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, salaries and remuneration package planning is not as straightforward as before.
In most organisations, salaries are determined by employee performance, business performance, availability of talent, the importance of the role, the organisation’s reputation, and the economy – to name a few. As observed last year, the Singapore economy plummeted due to the drastic effects of coronavirus pandemic. Some lost their jobs, others received pay cuts, and many did not get any bonus payments.
As our economy makes its slow recovery in 2021, many companies are also recovering. They now have a better idea of reinforcing their businesses’ vulnerabilities, mitigating risks and creating long-term strategies to manage and emerge stronger from any crisis.
While the coronavirus crisis had drastically reduced job opportunities and salaries in 2020 – especially in trade and tourism, it has also shone a spotlight on growing industries. These include cybersecurity, software engineering, financial services and healthcare.
Nilay Khandelwal, Managing Director of Michael Page Singapore, says, “Singapore’s economy has turned a corner and remains a stable, secure and trusted hub, with seamless connections. As the economy recovers, investment into the market will flourish, and that would drive the demand for talent amid the business recovery climate.”
Michael Page Singapore’s Talent Trends survey report has found that companies are still willing to offer competitive salary packages to the right candidates – with 40% of employers cited plans to increase headcount numbers this year.
Given the economic demands, the sectors earmarked for the highest hiring activity are technology, healthcare and life sciences, banking and financial services, industrial and manufacturing, and FMCG. Here’s what you can expect for salary trends this year:
Tech jobs
Average annual salary increase in 2021 – 3.5%
75% of companies looking to give out more than one month of bonus
Average salary offer for new hires – 15% to 20% more than current or last-drawn salary
Healthcare & Life sciences jobs
Average annual salary increase in 2021 – 2.8%
57% of companies looking to give out more than one month of bonus
Average salary offer for new tech hires – 10% more than current or last-drawn salary
Banking & Financial Services jobs
Average annual salary increase in 2021 – 2.2%
75% of companies look to give out more than one month of bonus
Average salary offer for new hires – 10% to 15% more than current or last-drawn salary
FMCG jobs
Average annual salary increase in 2021 – 2.9%
62% of companies look to give out more than one month of bonus
Average salary offer for new hires – 11% more than current or last-drawn salary
Industrial & Manufacturing jobs
Average annual salary increase in 2021 – 1.6%
25% of companies look to give out more than one month of bonus
Average salary offer for new hires – 10% to 15% more than current or last-drawn salary
The Michael Page Singapore Talent Trends 2021 Report features insights and market sentiment in the Asia-Pacific region on prominent recruitment and talent-related topics including digital readiness, organisational design, flexible work, leadership, performance management and diversity and inclusion. The report also covers salary trends and insights from industry insiders. The results draw from a survey of 12 Asia Pacific markets, with over 5,500 businesses and 21,000 employees, of which 3,500-plus are directors or CXOs.
If you’re involved in the business field, there’s a likelihood you’ve heard of SEO and SEM. These terminologies are commonly tossed around, but what do they mean exactly? Is there a difference between the two?
Although the distinction can be minimal, if you understand how to execute them effectively and correctly, they can lead the organisation to extremely high traffic and growth.
Let’s look at the difference between SEO and SEM and how they can be game-changers for your company. Ready for results? Let’s plunge into this integral part of marketing for your business.
An overview before we begin
Image Credits: Inc. Magazine
The average person will most definitely click on the top few links in a typical search on Google, right?
That’s why the first page on Google search is where you want your website to appear. These days, human attention is short, and it’s essential to be the first few to grab your target customers’ attention before your rivals do. Here’s where SEO and SEM come to play.
They’re ways to promote the company so that your potential customers can access them on search engines, such as Google or Bing. If your company has a website rival, SEO and SEM are essential for more traffic to be guided to your domain.
Let’s explore their primary purposes to grasp these promotional tools better.
SEO otherwise referred to as search engine optimisation, is a concept that lets you organically appear in search results. While SEM, known as search engine marketing, depends on paid strategies to get you ranked on search engines.
Here’s a more insightful look into both approaches.
The four parts of SEO
Technical SEO – This focuses on improving your website’s technical aspects and constructing it to provide a fantastic user experience. It’s also part of on-page SEO.
On-page SEO – Involves tweaking the web pages themselves so that search engines can understand your title tags, content, internal links, and URLs.
Content SEO – Your content needs to match what the searcher intends to find. This is one of Google’s most important factors for its rankings. Consider these: keyword strategy, site structure, and copywriting.
Off-page SEO – Connect your website to other trustworthy and high-authority webpages through hyperlinks, PR, or different strategies, and the search engines will push you up the ranks over time.
Now, moving on to SEM.
SEM and PPC
SEM includes PPC ads instead of organic growth. PPC is also better known as pay-per-click. In the form of embedded advertisements, Google or other search engines can showcase your website and display them to your prospective customers.
Not all campaigns, however, are expected to yield results. To make your advertising stand out so that you get the best bang for your buck, you will have to see what your rivals are doing and choose your keywords wisely.
SEO vs SEM
Image Credits: Matchcraft
With every click your SEM ad gets, you have to pay.
In the form of clicks, SEM usually has immediate effects, while SEO takes much longer.
SEM advertisements give you more control over how they appear. This doesn’t apply much for SEO.
SEM provides you with data specifics so that you can quickly tweak your advertising for instant results. When it comes to SEO, that’s a bit more challenging.
Over time, SEO visibility expands, so the impact snowballs as you progress. With SEM, exposure comes to a halt as soon as you disable your advertisements.
Is one better than the other?
There is no straightforward answer as it falls on how your organisation is structured and what priorities you have at hand. But here are a few pointers to note:
What is your objective? You want to go for SEM if it’s a short-term one.
How is your current SEO health? SEM can be a great backer if it is already substantial.
Go with SEM if you expect that your company would have a higher consumer lifetime value. SEO could be ideal if it’s the opposite.
Did you have your sales and profits assessed? See if making a profit from SEM is practical for you. Go with SEO if it’s not urgent.
When it comes to driving traffic, either SEO or SEM is useful for your company. But why not use both? Most of the time, having the financial capacity to combine them will allow you to reap the benefits of both.
Here are some of the benefits of implementing both strategies:
Through incorporating remarketing strategies within your SEM plan, you will make your SEO efforts go the distance to convert those who didn’t buy before into paying customers in the future.
Final thoughts
Now that you know what SEO and SEM are all about, you can use your new-found insights to refine your competition strategy and make the best of both worlds to conquer the organic and paid regions. All the best in ranking your company site at the top of search engines!
Creating customer avatars for your business should be part of your marketing plan. Remember that you want to nudge a lead or customer to the next level by smartly employing digital marketing.
Many start-ups deal with cold prospects in the beginning. To convert these cold prospects to fans and beyond, identifying your ideal customers’ profile is necessary.
This is where a customer avatar comes in handy. A customer avatar can also be referred to as a target audience for the laymen. We will use it interchangeably in this article.
Give life to your avatars with these components
To help you better understand your target audience, you want to give life to your avatars.
Tackling these components are useful – know their goals and values, the platforms they source for information, and their demographics. It’s also wise to think through the potential reasons why your avatars would reject your product or service.
There are many ways to gain the abovementioned information. You can conduct a study, schedule surveys, or have conversations with members of the public. But lest you think it’s do or die, that’s not true.
Go ahead and make the first cut while trusting your assumptions about your target audience. Once you have done enough research and gathered results, fine-tuning is all it takes to move forward.
Find your niche with the “but no one else would” trick
Let’s zoom in on the finer details with the “but no one else would” trick. This trick will allow you to choose the right tools, platforms, and influencers to engage.
Take a look at these sentences:
My target audience would read [name of a book], but no one else would.
They would subscribe to [name of a magazine], but no one else would.
The company’s ideal customers would attend [name of a conference], but no one else would.
By answering the above, you will filter and narrow down on some hows and wheres of marketing. The main idea here is finding your niche, so it’s extremely targeted. You won’t want to be wasting any of your marketing dollars, right?
Use different customer avatars for various campaigns
Throughout the lifetime of your business, you will be running several marketing campaigns in a year. No one campaign should be precisely the same as the other.
If you’re simply using the same profile for each of your campaigns, you will quickly realise that it doesn’t work. To craft personalised content and offers, you need to establish who you’re marketing to.
Knowing your target audience will help you deal with the rest of your marketing components, including the type of content to produce, the social media sites to use, and what kind of advertisements you should buy.
Taking a little break in between your festive shopping? Rest your legs and tuck into these mains below $10 in shopping malls! Be it your neighbourhood malls or those in town, North or West, with 5 different cuisines to choose from – Thai-Indo, Japanese, Chinese, Local and Vietnamese – be spoilt for choice. Only one red note is needed to fuel up your tummy, don’t say bojio with this list of good value eats in the comfort of a mall!
1. Bali Thai
A perfect fusion of Thai and Indonesian cuisines, Bali Thai definitely does not disappoint. Slurp on the spicy Tom Yum Soup ($7.50), or chow down the XO Fried Rice ($9.80) or Nasi Goreng Buah Keluak ($9.80)!
Locations: Causeway Point (#05-05), IMM Building (#01-21), NEX (#02-13), Suntec City (#B1-121A/121B), Waterway Point (#B1-13), Ngee Ann City (#05-29)
2. White Restaurant
Tuck into The Original White Beehoon (S: $7, M: $12)! Originally prepared as a homely dish by founder Mr Tay King Huak for his family, the dish today has developed into a well-loved dish by all. White Restaurant’s inimitable homemade broth is simmered for more than 8 hours with a combination of chicken feet and bones to extract the sweetness and nutrients. To achieve the fragrance of ‘wok hei’ that all Singaporeans love, this tasty broth is then used to stir-fry the beehoon plate by plate under careful controlled temperature, timing and the right amount of broth.
Locations: Causeway Point (#05-05), IMM Building (#01-21), NEX (#02-13), Suntec City (#B1-121A/121B), Waterway Point (#B1-13), Ngee Ann City (#05-29)
3. Wee Nam Kee Chicken Rice
Each plate of Wee Nam Kee’s Chicken Rice ($5.20) comes with tender, lean chicken, fluffy rice and a fragrant bowl of soup! Choose between the Steamed / Roasted Chicken / Roasted Pork / BBQ Pork in the Vegetable Set ($7.50) and the Dumpling Set ($8.30).
Locations: SingPost (#B1-125), Changi City Point (#B1-35), Jurong Point (#B1-60/61), Northpoint City (#B1-52)
4. Ah Chiang’s Traditional Porridge
Tuck into the well-loved favourites such as the Mixed Pork Porridge, Pork Ball Porridge and Sliced Meat Porridge! To ensure the best quality, all ingredients used are fresh and not frozen. The Mixed Pork Porridge boasts fresh pig liver, pig intestines and pork slices that are cooked to perfection; The Pork Ball Porridge is made with freshly hand-kneaded pork balls for a smooth and springy texture. The sets with 2 sides and you tiao retail from $8.50 – $9.50.
Location: Hillion Mall (#01-15/16)
5. Newspaper Curry Rice
You won’t find any shortcuts or instant curry powder here: all of Newspaper Curry Rice’s sauces and recipes are made from scratch, including the homemade sambal, and of course, their signature curry, which contains blue ginger, chili, curry leaves and freshly-ground pepper. Indulge in the Mama Wee’s Hainanese Curry Chicken Drumstick Set ($7.80) or the Mama Wee’s Hainanese ‘Kou Rou’ Set ($8.80)!
Location: Hillion Mall (#01-15/16)
6. The Hainan Story
Looking for some Hainanese Delicacies? Look no further! The Hainan Story has the following up for grabs: Hainanese Claypot Chicken ‘Char Siew’ Rice consisting of Chicken ‘ char siew’, chinese sausage, mushroom, scallion ($8.50), the Chinese Claypot Ee-fu Noodle Soup with Minced pork, sliced pork, mushroom, prawn, lala clam, vegetable, egg ($8.50) and the Laksa with Hainanese Steamed Chicken ($8.50).
Location: Hillion Mall (#01-15/16)
7. Monga Fried Chicken
Calling all fried chicken lovers! Pair your favourites with rice in the Monga Crispy Chicken Rice Box consisting of fragrant chicken rice, 2pcs crispy fried chicken and achar ($6.90). Prefer nuggets instead? Opt for the Monga Nuggets Chicken Rice Box with fragrant chicken rice, 6pcs monga nuggets and achar. Don’t miss out on the 2pcs Combo too, which comes with Sweet Potato Fries, and a Soda ($8.90)!
8. Tim Ho Wan
Supplement your dim sum meal with Noodles and Congee at Tim Ho Wan! Opt for the Pork Congee with Century and Salted Eggs ($6.00), Hong Kong Style Wanton Noodle (Soup/Dry) ($7.80), or the Hong Kong Braised Beef Noodle (Soup/Dry) ($9.80).
Locations: Aperia Mall (#0101/02/03), Citylink Mall (#B1-63/63A), Great World City (#01-139), Jewel Changi Airport (#02-223), Marina Bay Sands (#B2-02/03/04), Plaza Singapura (#01-29A/52), Suntec City (#02-389/390), Waterway Point (#01-62), Westgate (#01-13/14), 18 Tai Seng (#01-36)
9. LeNu
Affordable yet remarkable, LeNu is a casual Chinese noodle bar that strives to achieve perfection in every bowl to delight all diners at an affordable price. Opt for their selection of dry noodles: Pork Wanton in Chili Vinaigrette Dry Noodle ($9.80), Dried Shrimp and Scallion Dry Noodle ($6.50) or the Braised Pork Rib with Scallion Dry Noodle ($9.90)!
Locations: Bedok Mall #B2-10 Bugis Junction #B1-22Compass One #03-05, Funan #B1-22, Jurong East Mall (JEM) #B1-11, Jewel Changi Airport #04-244, Northpoint City South Wing #B1-101, Resorts World Sentosa #B1-201, VivoCity #02-91
10. Ya Lor
Have you tried Ya Lor’s Signature Braised Duck Rice ($7.10)? Featuring the Original Sean Kee boneless braised duck rice with succulent duck meat, bean sprouts, braised peanuts, braised egg(half) and beancurd! Also try Ya Lor’s Braised Duck with Noodle or kway teow ($6.10), we’re sure you won’t regret this. For the health conscious, the Braised Duck Porridge ($6.10) is a healthy meal choice of porridge topped with braised duck meat and peanuts. Opt to top up $2.50 for drinks with every main ordered!
11. Streats
Serving up popular Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesian and asian street food, give Streats’ HK Shrimp & Chicken Dumpling Noodle (Dry/Soup, $9.80), Bak Mee Ayam Pangsit ($8.80) and Spicy Dry Nissin Korean Noodle with Fried Chicken ($8.80) a try!
Locations: Bukit Panjang Plaza (#02-17), City Square Mall (#01-01), IMM Building (#02-17/17A), Resorts World (Asian Café) (#01-205), West Mall (#01-28/29/30), Tampines 1 (#B1-05)
12. Hongguo
The Star of Hongguo, the Xiu Cai Mi Xian ($9.20) is double boiled for hours with selected duck, chicken, pork parts, making it extremely flavourful and tasty. Served with vegetables, egg, meat and vermicelli, this is an excellent choice for anyone looking for comfort food. Also try the Pork Ribs Yunnan Noodle Soup ($9.50) and Black Pepper Beef Fried Rice ($9.80)!
Locations: Bugis Junction #B1-06, NEX #B1-75
13. Penang Culture
Get transported to Penang immediately with the Penang Sambal Fried Rice ($9.90)! A well-known Penang dish not to be missed, the Penang Assam Laksa ($7.90) broth consists of sardine, ginger flower, laksa leaves, assam (tamarind), fermented shrimp paste, garlic, galangal, turmeric and lemongrass – all boiled together to form the tasty gravy. The secret of the robustness of the Fried Hokkien Mee ($8.90) lies in the home-brewed flavourful prawn stock used during frying – add a good dose of wok-hei and there you have shiok Fried Hokkien Mee!
Locations: NEX Shopping Mall (#B1-76), Compass One (#03-13), White Sands Shopping Mall (#03-21), JEM (#04-27), Vivocity (#B2-23E)
14. Sushi Tei
Illustrating the emerging influence Asia has on modern Japanese cuisine, Sushi Tei’s menu features a fusion of traditional Japanese dishes with modern innovative trends. Opt for the Oyako Don ($9.80), Tonkotsu Udon/Soba/Ramen ($8.80) or the Yakitori Don ($9.80)!
Locations:China Square (#01-28/30), Sushi Tei (#03-04), JEM (#03-18), NEX (#03-15/16), Northpoint (#02-15), Paragon (#05-04/05), Raffles City (#03-13/14), Serangoon Gardens, Tampines 1 (#04-13), Thomson Plaza (#03-46), Tiong Bahru Plaza (#03-110), Vivocity (#02-152), West Coast Plaza (#01-87), Jewel Changi Airport (#03-209)
15. Ichiban Bento
Hearty meals for everyday! Pick your favourite from the Black Pepper Yakiniku Bento ($9.80), the Double Katsu Bento consisting of Chicken cutlet with spicy cod roe mayo and miso sauce ($8.80), or the Chicken Nanban Don, a Chicken cutlet with sweet & sour nanban sauce and tartar sauce rice bowl ($8.80).
16. Idaten Udon
At Idaten Udon, you can be your own head chef! Match your favourite tempuras with the Niku Udon, a Sliced beef with udon and soup ($8.90), or the Beef Sukiyaki Don ($9.00) and Niku Curry Don, a sliced beef curry rice ($9.00).
Locations: Nex (B1-02), Tampines 1 (B1-07), Changi City Point (B1-12), IMM (02-52), Causeway Point (B1-17)
17. Crave
Enjoy some award-winning Adam Road Nasi Lemak by Selera Rasa, topped off with crunchy flavourful ikan bilis, nuts and the tantalising iconic sambal! Choose your favourite Nasi Lemak: woud it be the Nasi Lemak Royale ($8.70) with fragrant Basmati Rice, Crispy Chicken Wing, Fish Fillet, Bergedil, Fried Egg, Ikan Bilis and Peanuts, Sambal Chili and Cucumber, the Nasi Lemak With Curry Chicken ($8.70) or the Nasi Lemak with Chicken Wing ($6.50)? Opt to top up $1.30 for drinks with every main ordered.
Locations: Ang Mo Kio Hub #B2-54, Asia Square #02-13, Bedok Mall #B2-22, Bugis Junction #B1-K05, Bukit Panjang Plaza #01-18, Causeway Point #B1-K12, Changi City Point #B1-06/07, City Square Mall #B2-K2/K3/K4 & K11, Clementi Mall #B1-K4/K5, Compass One #B1-02/03, E! Hub #01-K105, Fairprice Hub #02-24, Funan Mall #B2-K07, Grab Kitchen #06-00, Guoco Tower #B2-26/27, HarbourFront Centre #01-K8, Hong Leong #B1-12, Hougang Mall #B1-11, Jem #B1-K3, Junction 8 #B1-K8, Jurong Point #B1-03, Lot One #B1-K17, Marina Bay Link Mall #B2-63, North Point #B1-45, One Kent Ridge #01-09/19/20, Our Tampines Hub #01-106, Parkway Parade #01-K09, Paya Lebar Square #B1-45, Sun Plaza #01-26, Toa Payoh #01-524, The Commerze@Iring #01-30, The Star Vista #B1-42, Changi Airport T1A #02-K18, Changi Airport T3L #B2-34, Waterway Point #B1-K7
18. So Pho
Experience authentic and traditional Vietnamese food in Singapore with So Pho’s fresh, healthy and mouth watering Vietnamese dishes. Warm up with Pho Noodle Soup with sliced beef ($9.80), or opt for the Baguette with Beef/ Chicken ($7.50)!
Locations: Jem (#03-22), Tampines Mall (#04-30), Paragon (#B1-20), Novena Square (#02-43/45), VivoCity (#01-171), Causeway Point (#B1-16), Northpoint City (#B1-182/183), Marina One The Heart (#B2-50), The Star Vista (#B1-11), White Sands (#02-04), ION (#B3-19), Changi T3 (#03-30/31), IMM (#02-53), Jewel Changi Airport (#B1-248), Great World City (#B1-112), Suntec City (#B1-126)
The coronavirus pandemic has upended the lives of many families and caused a loss of jobs. To help retrenched workers and jobseekers, GovTech collaborated with Workforce Singapore (‘WSG’), e2i, TADM, TAFEP and SkillsFuture Singapore (‘SSG’) to develop new modules on the LifeSG App (rebranded from Moments of Life). These employment support modules take a user-centric approach to show relevant information in a bite-sized manner that is easy to understand for the everyday man on the street. It informs target audience on the assistance and job opportunities available to them. Simply look for these modules under “Discover your next career steps and find support” section under the home page of your LifeSG App.
Here’s a summary of each employment support module that you will find on LifeSG App and how they can be of help.
1. Know Your Retrenchment Benefits and Measures
Workers who have been retrenched or are at-risk of retrenchment may not be aware of the resources available to help them during this difficult period. They may also be unaware of the benefits due to them when faced with an impending retrenchment. Some of the benefits that retrenched workers may be eligible are the following:
a notice period,
retrenchment benefits,
alternatives to retrenchment, and
help in finding a new job
As employees, it is critical for us to understand our rights so that we know what precautions to take and what to do if there is a dispute.
2. Support for Your Job Search
The “Support for your job search” module helps retrenched individuals and job seekers to:
Find opportunities for new jobs via career fairs, access government support schemes and convert existing skills to make a mid-career switch. These enable the job search process to be more efficient, as well as increase the number of job opportunities that they can access.
Access customised advice and forge career plans from career coaches at WSG, e2i etc. These professionals will help you to understand your personality, area of interests as well as strengths and weaknesses. All these are useful to guide you to better understand your career objective in life
Explore courses to upskill/reskill to ensure that you are always ready for your next role in this fast-changing world. Armed with the relevant professional certifications, you will be one step closer to landing the job that helps you achieve your career goal.
Do not underestimate the toll that every unsuccessful job application takes on a job seeker’s morale. Therefore, having a well-thought-out strategy advised by the professionals and executing it is half the battle won in your job search.
3. Financial Support for Workers and the Self-Employed
Ever since COVID-19 struck, the Singapore government has been quick to dole out relief measures to provide financial support in an unprecedented manner to ensure that no one is left behind. This specific module is handy in allowing individuals across the different employment categories to browse the various listings of government agency schemes and COVID-19 relief measures:
Unemployed (including retrenched) individuals
Lower-income individuals
Individuals with reduced income
Self-employed persons
Here is a case study of how an unemployed individual can tap on the various government agency schemes and COVID-19 relief measures to tide him through this difficult period. Mr Tan is a 40-year-old Singaporean who works in the travel industry. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, he has been placed on involuntary No-Pay leave by his company. He can apply for the COVID-19 Support Grant and receive up to $800 per month for 3 months which would be credited directly into his bank account. In addition, he can receive Job and Training Support by Workforce Singapore (WSG) or The Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) to help him upskill and reskill. This allows him the option of convert existing skills to make a mid-career switch should he decide to. Understanding the various schemes and grants available to him, he can conveniently apply for them online via the mobile app.
With information organised in a succinct manner, it is easier for them to know what financial schemes they are eligible for, as well as information on the application process. This ensures that those who need financial aid gets them in the shortest possible time so that the disruption to their daily lives is mitigated.
Scan the QR code for more articles on the type of support available for Singaporeans affected by COVID-19.
Download the LifeSG App Today
Government has set aside plenty of help so that Singaporeans can tide through this pandemic and emerge stronger. Download the LifeSG App today to get a firm grasp of this helpful information. Also keep a look out for more features related to providing employment support that will be rolled out in subsequent phases.
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