SINGAPORE (March 29): A higher proportion of employees across Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia (37%) are considering leaving their current job to start on their own business compared to the global average of 28%.
This is according to the latest research conducted by HR services firm Randstad Group based on data collected from the Workmonitor Mobility Index, which tracks employee confidence and captures expectations surrounding the likelihood of changing employers within a six-month time frame.
Malaysia was found to have the highest percentage of employees (49%) who were looking at possibly leaving their job for a shot at entrepreneurship, followed by 33% in Hong Kong.
Singapore’s employees were shown to be the least motivated, with only 32% being inclined to start their own business – although both Malaysia and Singapore were on par at 71% above Hong Kong’s 70% who felt that while entrepreneurship is idea, the risk of failure is too big.
More than half of employees surveyed in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia would however consider taking the route to entrepreneurship if they lost their jobs. Again, among the three countries, Malaysians were most likely (61%) to do so, compared to Hong Kongers (51%) and Singaporeans (42%).
Millennials were, both globally and regionally, the largest group of employees who were considering leaving their job to start their own venture. At the same time, this age group also indicated the highest preference for working in a large multinational organisation, says Randstad in a press release on Wednesday.
The firm believes this suggests that although millennials may aspire to start their own business, they are also “acutely aware of the benefits work experience at a multinational corporation (MNC) can bring”.
Says Michael Smith, managing director for Randstad Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia: “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 (Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore) 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,” notes Smith.
