7 in 10 Singaporeans want work that involves travel abroad

Photo by Anete Lusina
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More than seven in 10 (72%) of employees in Singapore want to work in a role that allows them to travel internationally, according to Randstad Workmonitor’s 2019 Q3 report.

Results of the survey, which was conducted from July 18 to August 5 this year, shows that close to eight in 10 respondents (78%) aged between 18 and 34 are even willing to relocate to pursue a meaningful career.

“Many multinationals and large local firms are establishing or expanding their regional teams to drive global innovation and increase their global market share from Singapore,” said Jaya Dass, managing director of Randstad Singapore and Malaysia.

“As a result, we have observed an increasing number of global and regional-level roles based in Singapore, particularly in the areas of business development, sales and marketing, accounting and finance, and even software development,” said Dass.

She said that employees in regional roles tend to get more opportunities to travel to other markets to spearhead pilots or facilitate operations and campaigns.

“These jobs are also particularly attractive to the local talent as they get to manage a larger team, connect with and learn from their global counterparts as well as gain new exposure and experiences,” she said.

Also, 79% of respondents are open to the idea of relocating if they can have both a meaningful career and good work-life balance. Close to three in four (74%) would move for a substantially higher salary and 66% will do so if it means that they can keep their jobs with their current employers.

The top three choices for locally-based respondents to relocate to are Australia, Japan and the US, respectively.  The opportunity to be a part of a larger team and have more access to resources are considered appealing to the local workforce.

Even then, close to three in five respondents (58%) would rather switch career than move to another country.


Further, 22% of respondents in Singapore had changed employers in the past six months and 40% have showed interest in looking for a job. Two in five (40%) said that while they are not actively looking for a job, they will be interested if an opportunity comes by.