DBS, Woh Hup named Kincentric Best Employers in Singapore for 2021

SINGAPORE, 09 December 2021 – DBS and Woh Hup (Private) Limited have emerged as Singapore’s Best Employers in 2021, according to Kincentric’s premium assessment that identifies organisations who demonstrate outstanding people practices and workplace excellence.

While DBS has been named Kincentric Best Employer for the sixth time in Singapore and across Asia Pacific, home-grown construction firm, Woh Hup (Private) Limited has been recognised for the first time. These two companies are particularly leading the way by creating engaging environments fostering organisational agility and building engaging leaders.

Companies were evaluated against four research-based elements that are key to accelerating success: Employee Engagement, Organisational Agility, Talent Focus and Engaging Leadership. Kincentric identifies Best Employers that are in the Top Quartile and research shows that excelling across these four areas leads to better business results. Across each of the four parameters, the difference between the Top Quartile and their peers was at least 10 percentage points or more.

Engaging Leadership, Agility & Talent Focus Trump

Engaging Leadership, Organisational Agility and Talent Focus feature as the key factors that have enabled Singapore’s Best Employers to do exceptionally well. According to Kincentric’s insights, these Top Quartile companies are 10%* stronger on Engaging Leadership scores, 12%* better on Organisational Agility and 11%* committed on Talent Focus. This clearly demonstrates decisive and agile people centric business decisions that organisations have had to take through the pandemic.

Andrew How, Market Leader, Kincentric Singapore, said “The last two years have been like no other and this pandemic has significantly changed the nature of work. Kincentric Best Employers distinguish themselves based on how well they rise to these challenges and provide a first-class employee experience to their people along the way. The strength of their people practices is what positions Kincentric Best Employers to be able to meet the ever-changing nature of work and evolving employees’ aspirations.”

Special Recognition for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I)

For the first time, Kincentric introduced a Special Recognition Award for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion best practices. DBS, Atkins Design Engineering Consultants Pte Ltd (a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group) and MSD International GmbH (Singapore Branch) have been recognised in this category for their development of diverse, equitable and inclusive work cultures, and have created a safe and inclusive space for their employees.

When evaluated, these organisations were found to have exemplified a robust and formal organisational approach towards DE&I, and were able to build an alignment between Employees, Managers and Leaders.

Special Recognition for Social Service Sector

To highlight the best people centric organisations in this sector, the Kincentric Best Employers 2021 assessment has provided a Special Recognition to:

AMP Singapore, Halogen Foundation (Singapore), Lutheran Community Care Services Ltd and TOUCH Community Services Ltd, for their contributions to the Social Service Sector this year. The assessment was based on a methodology to understand how well these firms engaged with their employees and demonstrated Best Employers’ attributes. To qualify, Employee Engagement scores had to be on par or higher than those belonging in the Top Quartile.

Trends from 2021 assessment

The current pandemic has accelerated the megatrends of digitalisation and fundamentally shifted how organisations work. The 2021 employee engagement data from Singapore validates that Top Quartile companies tend to fare better in Change Management (12%*) and their Senior Leadership have a much higher standing (17%*).

In addressing more complex business issues arising from greater levels of ambiguity and uncertainty, Top Quartile companies put in place interventions to establish a better brand in the community (14%*), practical learning programs (13%*), create psychological safety for their employees (13%*), provide better workplace flexibility (12%*) and managers are effective at developing a positive team atmosphere (11%*).

Kincentric has also found that Top Quartile companies do better in engaging the younger generations, notably the Geriatric Millennials (Age 35 to 44) (14%*) and Gen Z (12%*).

Kincentric’s global research has also shown that given the present challenges around talent retention, employees who do not see good career opportunities or agree with their organisation’s response to their well-being are four times more likely to leave.

Congratulating this year’s Kincentric Best Employers, Mr Andrew How said, “These are challenging times. Leading organisations have demonstrated agility to respond effectively to disruptions while being connected to the needs of their employees. Look around your organisation today and you’ll observe ways of working that are quite different to only a few years ago. This ability to stay agile to meet the demands of external customers and internal staff is a defining characteristic of Kincentric Best Employers.”