How Singapore Can Reclaim Its Global Top 3 Talent Spot

📉Singapore Talent Crisis: IMD Ranking Slip Rings Alarm on Employee Retention

A warning bell is ringing for Singapore's workforce: the IMD World Talent Ranking 2025 reveals a noticeable slip, with the nation dropping five places to seventh in the 2024 global competitiveness list. This isn't just a number—it signals growing pain for employers struggling to attract, develop, and hold onto top talent.

🔎Analysis: Key Factors Behind Singapore's Talent Ranking Decline

Singapore's recent slide was driven by a weaker performance across all three IMD pillars: Investment and Development (nurturing talent), Appeal (attracting talent), and Readiness (workforce skills).

The decline was most significant in Investment and Development (falling from 22nd to 30th), underscoring the need for the global powerhouse to sharpen its strategy across all dimensions.

Strengths and Primary Constraint Despite the overall dip, Singapore remains highly competitive, especially in the Readiness factor (falling slightly from 1st to 2nd) and Appeal (9th).

Key Strengths include:

• Excellent health infrastructure (5th)
• High availability of foreign skilled personnel (3rd)
• Attractive remuneration for management (4th)
• Strong education outcomes, including high PISA scores (2nd) and executive satisfaction with education quality (3rd)

The greatest obstacle to retaining skilled professionals, however, is the cost-of-living, which ranks near the bottom globally at 65th.

As a leading global hub for technology and finance, mitigating this primary constraint is crucial for retaining the international talent vital to economic growth and innovation.

Adapting Employee Benefits for Singapore’s Multi-Generational Workforce

The Randstad Singapore Employer Brand Research Report 2025 highlights a common desire for work-life balance as the main motivator for employees across Singapore. Yet, this motivation is tested by key disengagement factors: a longing for better salary and benefits, and a lack of appreciation for their efforts. Generational priorities diverge here:

• Gen Z talent prioritise growth opportunities and team support
• Millennials are primarily motivated by work-life balance
• Gen X workers are most sensitive to a lack of recognition, with 46% feeling their hard work goes unappreciated.

To keep employees feeling engaged, HR leaders must offer benefits that are flexible, inclusive, and personalised—catering to the needs of every generation.

What Benefits Attract and Retain Employees in Singapore?

To understand what truly attracts and retains talent in Singapore, it’s insightful to examine the employee benefits provided by the top 5 winners of the 2025 Randstad Employer Brand Awards, voted by 2,522 Singapore-based respondents as the best places to work.

The Leading Companies and Their Perks:

1. Changi Airport Group (CAG)
2. Marina Bay Sands (MBS)
3. Procter & Gamble (P&G)
4. DBS Bank
5. Micron Semiconductor Asia

1. Changi Airport Group (CAG)
   • Financial Well-being: Competitive remuneration, annual wage supplement, long service award, and transportation allowance
   • Health & Insurance: Comprehensive insurance (hospitalisation, surgical, major medical, accident, dental), health screening
   • Wellness & Perks: 'Healthy Habits Happy Life’ (HHHL) programme (fitness app, sports accessories, vouchers)
   • Family Care & Leave: Childcare leave, compassionate leave, shared parental leave, marriage leave, and childcare subsidies
   • Career Development: Leadership, management, and technical training programmes
   • Work Flexibility: Hybrid work arrangement
2. Marina Bay Sands (MBS)
   • Financial Well-being: Competitive remuneration, sign-on bonus, overtime paid
   • Health & Insurance: Full reimbursement model (dental, specialist visit, hospitalisation, surgical needs)
   • Wellness & Perks: Free meals, staff discounts (dining, shopping, hotel stays), sports/recreation activities, night transport, laundry services
   • Family Care & Leave: Childcare, compassionate, and parental leave.
   • Career Development: Industry two-day learning leave, all-year on-the-job training
   • Culture: Inclusive environment
3. Procter & Gamble (P&G)
   • Financial Well-being: Employee share purchase plan, car and house loan subsidies
   • Health & Insurance: Comprehensive medical care for employees and families, accident insurance, life insurance, health check-ups/vaccinations
   • Wellness & Perks: On-site/off-site fitness facilities, healthy food options (canteen/vending)
   • Family Care & Leave: Parental leave
   • Career Development: Educational support for job-related courses
   • Work Flexibility: Flexible schedules and work-from-home options
4. DBS Bank
   • Financial Well-being: Employee share purchase plan, preferential banking perks (e.g. lower loan rates), quarterly bonuses
   • Health & Insurance: Medical insurance for employees and families, health screenings
   • Wellness & Perks: Flexible benefits stipend (iflex$) customised to lifestyle needs (gym, spa, equipment, enhanced medical coverage), wellness events
   • Family Care & Leave: Maternity, paternity, and family leave, annual family day & kids@work activities
   • Career Development: Dedicated career portal, internal mobility, scholarship programmes
   • Work Flexibility: flexi-work arrangements
5. Micron Semiconductor Asia
   • Financial Well-being: Competitive salary, cash incentives/bonuses, employee share purchase plan, childcare subsidies
   • Health & Insurance: Group insurance for employees and families (life, medical, dental, vision)
   • Wellness & Perks: On-site health center (24/7 access), employee assistance program (eap) for mental and emotional support
   • Family Care & Leave: Extended parental leave (often superior to statutory), childcare subsidies
   • Training & Development: Micron university (online access), management, professional, and technical skills training
   • Work Flexibility: Hybrid work arrangement

What employee benefits do these companies have in common?

Together, these benefits help foster happier, healthier, and more engaged teams, ultimately giving companies a competitive edge in recruitment and retention.

Conclusion: The Personalised Path to Talent Retention

The IMD World Talent Ranking signals a necessary shift: the battle for Singapore's top talent is now won on personalisation. Generic benefits no longer suffice. By prioritising employee well-being, flexibility, and meaningful recognition, companies can solidify their employee value proposition and secure the competitive advantage needed to thrive.

Actionable Benefits, Affordable Budgets

Impactful employee benefits are no longer exclusive to large enterprises. SMEs can effectively compete by utilising platforms like Mednefits, which offer cost-effective, automated plans and allow you to optimise around tax-exempted benefits. The key isn't the size of your budget; it's the precision of your personalisation.

Don't wait for the crisis to deepen. Start building a benefits plan that directly addresses your employees' unique needs, turning retention into a reliable return on investment.