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Employers in Singapore are adjusting compensation packages in a hot labour market where employees could expect to get a larger increment this year.

For instance, Southeast Asia’s largest lender DBS increased salaries across the bank in mid-2021 while accounting firm KPMG announced in May that the firm will spend S$25 million on salary increments.

SPH Media Trust, a news and media publisher, also said it recently conducted a salary review to bring remuneration in line with market levels.

On the global front, tech giants Microsoft and Amazon have said they will increase their employees’ salaries.

Average increments have been significantly higher this year, and companies are paying a premium to attract and retain workers especially if talent is scarce in industry, said Cynthia Ang, an executive director at recruitment firm Kerry Consulting.

Companies in Singapore are also making other adjustments to employee benefits in the form of mental health support, bonuses, flexible working policies, and others.

“The Singapore labour market is definitely moving towards or has been looking at tangible aspects of the deal — pay and benefits — as a major competitive battleground,” said Lewis Garrad, Mercer’s Singapore career business leader.

Around 60% of 270 companies surveyed by Mercer reviewed their benefits in 2021, up from between 10% and 15% in earlier years. That’s at least in part because of the tight job market, Garrad said.

Prudential Singapore gave each of its employees US$1,000 worth of shares in October 2021, said Neetha Nair, who heads a team that prepares the workforce for the future.

The company also gave some workers credits to use for booking co-working spaces as part of a hybrid work initiative, she said.

In February, Randstad Singapore began allowing employees to work remotely from anywhere in the world for up to four weeks per year, Daljit Sall, general manager of technology at the recruitment company, told CNBC.

Competing for talents

Some companies said the improved benefits are part of broad talent retention efforts to deal with the Great Resignation, a global trend.

A senior staffer at DBS, who requested anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the bank adjusted salaries to keep morale up and “so that we don’t lose out in the current talent war that you see in Singapore.”

An SPH Media Trust spokesperson similarly said it raised salaries “to remain competitive in recruiting and retaining talent.”

But not all companies explained the rationale for the changes. The legal professional who received a 40% increment told CNBC that the law firm simply said it was conducting a pay review.

“The sense is that they may be trying to offer more attractive salaries to keep up with what in-house roles are offering, maybe bridge the gap with what the international firms are paying,” he said.

The legal industry saw a record 538 lawyers leave the profession in 2021 — a 30% increase from the previous year, Singapore’s Law Society President Adrian Tan said in January.

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