New Report Says There Is Still A Talent Crunch In Southeast Asia Amidst The Layoffs

One of Southeast Asia’s biggest job platforms, Glints, just put out a report that shows the situation may not be as severe as they seem.

Glints co-founder and CEO Oswald Yeo told TechCrunch that there has been a lot of funding injected into the IT business. This is a response to the two-to-three-year bull run, and as a result, several firms grew swiftly. 

Yeo said that Singaporean firms seemed to adapt fastest to macroeconomic changes and that this wasn’t a terrible thing because other firms wanted to move swiftly, too. 

Operations, finance, HR, and certain sales and marketing teams have been hit hard, while businesses turned to Vietnam and Indonesia, which have fewer layoffs, for top-tier technical personnel. Moreover, the pandemic has created a decentralized-minded workforce.

Yeo observed that the pandemic had made remote work more convenient, necessitating cost-cutting measures. Many firms turn to remote employment to optimize their human and financial capitals. 

They have seen that remote work prospects on Glints have expanded tenfold in a year. Some regional firms in Malaysia continue to hire foreigners, while others only hire Malaysians. According to Glints, mid-to senior-level employees’ compensation won’t diminish, but junior talent may.

One-year fixed-term contracts are another trend that helps firms predict their financial destiny, as employers are wary about signing long-term contracts. 

He believes that not everything was awful — the need for technological and product skills on Glints favored job seekers.

Layoffs help startups build core teams. Yeo said that because there is less rivalry for talent, it’s a fantastic moment for organizations in a strong position to hire top managerial talent.