Apple tops ranking of S’pore’s best employers

Survey finds dissatisfaction with work-life balance a main reason why staff leave firms

- Rosalind Ang

Dissatisfaction with work-life balance is a main reason why employees leave an employer, while salary has become a more important factor for employees, according to the results of a survey published on April 30.

Technology giant Apple came in first on a list of the top 250 Singapore's Best Employers among companies and institutions with at least 200 employees here, the survey released by The Straits Times and global research company Statista found.

Google, another tech giant, came in second, followed by Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore (Heineken Asia Pacific), German multinational enterprise Siemens and Motorola Solutions Singapore.

More than 14,000 employees from over 2,000 employers in 27 industry sectors responded to the online survey conducted in September and October 2023.

The survey scored employers based on two elements - each employee's willingness to recommend one's own employer, and their willingness to recommend other employers in their industries.

The highest overall scores were reached by employers from the clothing, biotechnology and food industries.

An improvement, especially in aspects such as work atmosphere and development potential, is noticeable in fast-moving consumer goods companies and the travel and service sector.

This might be linked to the general recovery of those sectors: The travel economy is rising back to its pre-pandemic levels, and demand for and supply of goods are rebounding, said Ms Jana Meusel, team lead for employer analysis at Statista R.

The survey found that the more satisfied employees were with their work-life balance, the more willing they were to recommend their employers to others.

The greater emphasis on worklife balance is partly due to the growth of digital connectedness, which has made it simpler today to intrude into personal time, said Dr David Leong, managing director of human resources advisory firm People Worldwide Consulting.