Companies in Singapore are decreasing recruitment budget while enhancing training and development initiatives to cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on business, said Mercer recently.
This is according to Mercer’s new Pay & Bonus Pulse Survey, which provides an overview on how COVID-19 has impacted human resources budget allocation as well as salary and bonus implementation among companies in Singapore.
A total of 232 companies in Singapore across 12 industries took part in the survey, conducted between 9 to 15 March 2020, Mercer said.
According to Mercer’s new Pay & Bonus Pulse Survey, 47% of companies surveyed are likely to reduce spending on recruitment in 2020, compared to the budget allocated in 2019.
More than half (51%) said they will only hire for replacements this year, while another 22% are planning a hiring freeze and only 1% are considering retrenchment.
On the other hand, some companies are also taking this opportunity to invest in their people by introducing more training and development initiatives, said Mercer whose survey indicates that 12% of respondents are planning to increase their budget allocated in this area and 13% are enhancing work-life balance programs to enable more flexible and adaptive work arrangements.
Only 3% of firms have implemented salary cuts
The survey also looked at the impact of the health crisis on salary increment and found that only 3% of companies in Singapore have implemented a salary cut while 5% are considering the option.Â
However, 22% of companies are considering a reduction of increment and 11% have already done so, Mercer pointed out
