Kelvin Khoo Online

DHR is an executive search provider with 46 offices worldwide, including a small set-up in Singapore.

Ms Greybe told BT: ‘I would say that 90 per cent of our clients contact us not because they need to back-fill a position, but because there’s a vacancy. And we’re talking about director, vice-president and chairman levels. They haven’t put any plans in place around succession.’

While companies may argue that they do not expect top staff to just pack up and go, the ‘reality’ is that CEOs are human and can resign whenever they want, she said.

A recent survey of almost 5,000 senior executives by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) revealed that while managing talent was rated a top priority, just 40 per cent of respondents said that they were actively addressing the challenge

The reason boils down to problems such as a lack of resources in funding or manpower that companies devote to HR.

Ms Greybe said: ‘There is very high demand in the market right now. This is a candidate-type market. Top talent will be attracted to other employers, and vice-versa.’

Bringing in the best foreign talent to work in Singapore is no longer as easy as before, she said. Many companies here face an uphill battle when it comes to helping expatriates meet their children’s education needs.

‘It’s very difficult to get a place in an international school due to the lack of places, and that’s one of the biggest limiting factors for our clients,’ Ms Greybe said. ‘It’s not that the candidate is unwilling to move to another country, or that companies are unwilling to relocate people or pay the money to bring them over, it’s the fact that it’s difficult to even make it happen in the first place.’

In the short-term, she suggested that the government take a more pro-active approach to ensuring that there are enough school places for children of expatriates. This could be done by setting up a state-funded school for foreign students, or making it easier for them to go to existing local schools.

In April, the American Chamber of Commerce said that it would set up a committee to study school admission for its members’ children, after many said that they were unable to move key employees to Singapore because their children could not be guaranteed a place in an international school.

Last November, United World College of South-east Asia said that it would build a new campus at Tampines by 2010.

Meanwhile, on concerns among locals that foreigners are eating into their opportunities in the job market, Ms Greybe chose to see things from a different perspective.

‘Singapore has been able to sell itself as a family-friendly destination with a good environment and lifestyle,’ she said. ‘So what is happening is that more regional headquarters are now being based in Singapore.’

What this means is that companies are ‘forced’ to send people here because major firms around the world are heading to Singapore.

‘Sometimes, it’s not just about job creation,’ said Ms Greybe. ‘Rather it’s because of job relocation.’

The debate on these questions has grown hotter as the global battle for talent intensifies. And it continued yesterday, with two studies offering seemingly opposite conclusions.

A study by human resources firm Hewitt Associates shows the top reason employees in Asia quit is ‘external inequity in pay’. And 70 per cent of the ‘best employers’ - more than for any other factor - see a big link between improved performance and higher pay.

But according to another study by Robert Walters, 38 per cent of employees the recruitment consultancy polled in Singapore said they would feel compelled to walk out the door if they faced limited career prospects. One in four said they were likely to leave if they did not feel appreciated by their boss.

When it comes to pay and perks, just one in five of the employees would throw in the towel, according to the Robert Walters survey, which covered 6,300 workers globally, including 1,415 Singaporeans.

Indeed, Singaporeans would seem happier with their pay than workers elsewhere. The Hewitt study shows 42 per cent of employees here are dissatisfied with their compensation, against 54 per cent for Asia as a whole.

More employees are unhappy with their pay in Australia (52 per cent), China (71), Hong Kong (51), India (44) and Japan (73).

Still, money figures strongly in the minds of Singaporean workers - perhaps more than many others in the region.

Robert Walters’ survey shows Singapore workers to be the most bonus-driven in Asia - 3 per cent of them would resign if they were disappointed with their bonus, compared with less than one per cent of Australians and New Zealanders, just over one per cent of Malaysians and 2.5 per cent of Hong Kongers.

Hewitt principal Nishchae Suri said that to keep employees happy and make them stay, pay must not only be fair but must be seen to be fair in terms of the job and compared to the pay of other employees. Employers in Asia are generally doing a bad job at this, according to him.

While Asian employers have ‘increased investment’ in compensation, they are ‘not yet’ getting the ’strategic and financial results’, he said.

Poor communications on the part of employers is the chief culprit, especially with the new breed of talent that seeks to switch jobs every other year wants complete transparency, is increasingly competitive and eager for fast promotion.

Still, the debate is far from settled. Robert Walters reckons employers should put their money into career progression.

‘Investing in career progression is one of the most important things that any employer can do to retain staff,’ said Mark Ellwood, managing director of Robert Walters Singapore. ‘While pay is important, far more vital to staff is knowing how their job will develop. Paying out the biggest bonuses and highest salary won’t guarantee that staff will stay put.’

Starr is AIG’s largest shareholder. AIG claims the defendants put themselves on Starr’s board and converted the stock into a private investment vehicle for their benefit.

‘Greenberg engineered a coup d’etat to usurp full control of SICO’s board of directors,’ AIG said in a complaint filed on Wednesday in New York state court in Manhattan.

AIG’s filing escalates the legal conflict between Mr Greenberg and the company he led for 38 years.

Mr Greenberg was forced to retire from AIG in March 2005, two months before then-New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued and Mr Greenberg, accusing him of ordering improper transactions to hide losses and inflate reserves.

Mr Spitzer dropped portions of the lawsuit that included four allegations tied to the investigation in 2006. Mr Greenberg denies any wrongdoing in that case, which is still pending.

AIG claims Mr Greenberg and the other defendants breached their duty to AIG, and said Mr Greenberg plans to sell or encumber the stock and use it ‘to start a venture capital and private equity firm to make investments in Eastern Europe, the Far East and the Middle East’.

The complaint seeks to prevent Mr Greenberg and other defendants from selling the stock.

The Starr shares had been used as special compensation for select employees of AIG, the insurer said in the complaint.

AIG filed a related suit against Starr International in federal court in Manhattan which is pending.

‘We were forced to file the claims now prior to the three-year anniversary of the commencement of the conduct giving rise to the AIG claims for breach of fiduciary duty,’ said Chris Winans, an AIG spokesman.

‘This is a protective action to preserve our claims against these individuals personally,’ Mr Winans said.

Mr Winans said Mr Greenberg and the other defendants had refused to extend the three-year legal deadline for filing such a lawsuit based on alleged conduct in 2005, forcing AIG to sue now.

Glen Rochkind, a spokesman for Starr International, said: ‘We expect to be successful in dismissing this additional merit-less lawsuit by AIG involving Starr International. This is little more than forum-shopping, since AIG’s earlier lawsuit against Starr International has not been successful in federal court.’ AIG’s federal suit seeks to wrest control of 290 million company shares from Starr International.

Mr Greenberg has sold shares through Starr valued at more than US$3 billion last year as the firm invested in ventures including Chinese private equity and Russian real estate\. \– Bloomberg