Gen Y Financial Sector Employees In Singapore Aren't All Job-Hoppers - Study

Tom Burroughes

7 December 2017

The image of Generation Y adults (those born from the late 1980s to the early 2000s) as job-hoppers who aren’t loyal to firms has been dented by a survey in Singapore’s financial services sector, a finding that might comfort wealth managers seeking to build talent.

The study, launched yesterday by the , showed that nearly half of Gen Y professionals in the Singaporean financial services industry expect to remain with their current employer for at least three years or more.

The AIF study, entitled Gen Y in the Workplace: a Perspective from Singapore, aims to explore the workplace attitudes, expectations and aspirations of Gen Y finance professionals in the country. More than 200 professionals (aged between 20 to 34 years) and 70 managers from financial institutions in Singapore took part in the survey.

The evidence comes at a time when Asia’s wealth management sector, for example, is often the scene of a “revolving-door” culture, with managers jumping from job to job in pursuit of superior rewards, even if that might unsettle clients. The findings of the AIF might suggest, however, a slightly different picture.

As of 2016, Singapore had about 1.2 million individuals belonging to the Gen Y cohort, representing 22 per cent of the nation's resident population and constituting the largest generation within its workforce.
Almost half of the Gen Y professionals surveyed have been working with the same employer for more than three years, and 25 per cent for more than five years. It also found that they were as dedicated to their organisations as their managers from earlier generations.

"Clearly Gen Y professionals are more willing to ask `what the organisation can do for them’ than older generation professionals. But the values are often no different. Employers just need to know how to engage them better," John Lee, country chief executive and CEO for Maybank Singapore.

Asian Institute of Finance is a think tank established by Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commission Malaysia.