Entrepreneurship is on the minds of employees in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia: Randstad Workmonitor

ST Bureau

Singapore

Entrepreneurship
conjures up images of success and hardship in extremes, a true high risk, high
reward scenario. When looking at stereotypes, although it seems that employees
in Western countries may be more likely to take the leap into the world of entrepreneurship,
recruitment firm Randstad’s latest Workmonitor research reveals otherwise. 37%
of employees in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia are considering leaving their
current job to start their own business, compared to a lower global average of
28%.

Malaysia was found to
have the highest percentage of employees (49%) who were looking at possibly
leaving their job for a shot at entrepreneurship, while Singapore employees
were the least motivated (32%) with regards to starting their own business.

Millennials were,
globally and regionally, the largest group of employees who were considering
leaving their job to start their own venture. Despite this sentiment, the
Workmonitor research also revealed that the Millennial group has the highest
preference for working in a large multinational organization. While these
findings may seem to contradict, it shows that although Millennials may aspire
to start their own businesses, they are also acutely aware of the benefits work
experience at an MNC can bring.

I am considering leaving
my current job to start my own business

	Global	Singapore	Hong Kong	Malaysia
All	28%	32%	33%	49%
Male	32%	38%	35%	51%
Female	23%	27%	31%	46%
18 – 34	37%	40%	39%	54%
35 – 54	25%	29%	31%	43%

While employees in
Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia may consider leaving their jobs to start
their own business more than their global counterparts, the fear of failure
seems to be holding them back from making this career switch. Seven in 10
employees across all three countries felt that the risk of failure being an
entrepreneur is too big.

I would love to be an
entrepreneur, but to me the risk of failure is too big

	Global	Singapore	Hong Kong	Malaysia
All	58%	71%	70%	71%
Male	60%	73%	73%	71%
Female	55%	70%	67%	70%
18 – 34	62%	72%	70%	74%
35 – 54	57%	70%	72%	68%

More than half of
employees (51%) in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia would however consider
taking the route to entrepreneurship if they lost their jobs. Among the three
countries, Malaysians were most likely (61%) to do so, compared to Singaporeans
(42%).

If I lost my current
job, I would like to start my own company

	Global	Singapore	Hong Kong	Malaysia
All	46%	42%	51%	61%
Male	52%	46%	54%	66%
Female	42%	38%	49%	54%
18 – 34	53%	43%	55%	61%
35 – 54	46%	41%	49%	60%

Managing Director for
Randstad Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, Michael Smith noted, “Our
Workmonitor research recently revealed that employees in Singapore, Hong Kong
and Malaysia had some of the highest global preference for working at large
multinational organizations. It’s particularly interesting that this same
research has shown that many of these employees are also considering leaving
their jobs to start their own business, but are at the same time held back by
the fear of failure. The governments in all three countries have recently been
ramping up efforts to create a startup friendly environment to allow new
businesses to thrive. As these new business communities grow and thrive, it
will be interesting to monitor how the attitude towards entrepreneurship
changes.”