[SINGAPORE] Want a pay rise from your boss? Just quit.

Almost three in four - over 71 per cent - employers in Singapore will make a counter-offer to keep an employee who wants to leave, according to a recent poll by global recruitment firm Hudson.

Among Asian countries, the only place where the figure is higher is Hong Kong, the US-based firm says in its latest report on job and human resource trends for October-December.

In the hot banking and financial services sector, where the staff shortage is most acute, four out of five employers make counter-offers to retain departing employees. Some find that it's cheaper than hiring a replacement - who may ask for the moon.

The poll of 723 executives shows that while a counter-offer in the form of a pay increase is the most common, employers may also offer promotion, change of role and a fatter bonus as inducements for employees to stay.

Na Boon Chong, director of consultancy for Southeast Asia at Aon Consulting, an HR consulting firm, is not surprised by such 'reactive measures'. They reflect a tight labour market in a strong economy, he said. And employers must build a 'resilient workforce' in the long run to roll with the ups and downs of economic cycles.

Mark Ellwood, Singapore managing director of recruitment consultancy firm Robert Walters, says that a recent study by his firm shows that offering more money to discourage staff from jumping ship is ineffective in the long term.

"Once someone has made the decision to seriously look elsewhere for employment, it is likely the working relationship will dissolve within 12 months even if they do decide to accept an offer to stay," he said.

The trust between the employer and the employee would have been weakened, which could lower morale, according to him.

A spokeswoman for DBS Bank said a counter-offer is not automatic - and the bank may not match dollar-for-dollar an offer made by a rival bank. "It's case by case," she said. "We look at things in totality and pay is only one factor."

According to Hudson's poll, job hopping is a big headache for employers. Across all sectors, more than one in three employees do not stay more than two years.

In the consumer sector, more than a third of staff quit within two years. And in banking and services, the number is 47 per cent. "This is a clear reflection of the continuing war for talent in this sector," Hudson says in its report.

But making a counter-offer to keep an employee probably beats hiring a new one, it says. And it's not just because of the cost of recruiting and training a new person.

"Employers in Singapore are increasingly likely to find that (job) candidates are asking for higher salaries than they are willing to offer," the report says.

Almost three in five (58 per cent) of those polled indicated they 'often' or 'very often' get such demands - a higher proportion than in any Asian country, according to the report.

"The demand for much higher salaries is partly driven by the fact that many candidates, who are bilingual, also have the option of working in Hong Kong or China," it says.

Generally, job candidates ask for more than 10 per cent above the rate employers are willing to offer.

Despite demands for more money, employers are not likely to trim hiring plans.

"Employment expectations, which have long been at a high level, remain steady," says Mark Sparrow, Hudson's Singapore country manager.

More than half (54 per cent) of the employers polled intend to grow head count in the October-December quarter, which is within the 52-56 per cent range of the past six quarters.

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