Top 300 Singapore employers recognised for helping their staff in career growth

SINGAPORE - A new index has been published highlighting the top 300 companies in Singapore for providing their employees with ample opportunities for career growth.

The Singapore Opportunity Index (SOI)

empowers workers here to choose employers offering pathways aligned to their career aspirations.

At the same time, it enables employers to benchmark their practices against objective standards, said Manpower Minister Tan See Leng at the SOI launch and recognition event at Orchard Hotel on Jan 21.

About 550 employers, human resource leaders and tripartite partners were in attendance.

The inaugural SOI assessed about 1,500 companies with at least 100 Singapore citizens and permanent residents among their staff, and looked at the employers’ performance across factors like pay, progression, gender parity, retention and hiring metrics.

Employers covered by the SOI represent the top 20 per cent of the largest organisations in Singapore.

“For the first time, this is a measure, an index, that hopefully gives employers and workers a clear, data-driven yardstick to understand how opportunities are created across careers,” said Dr Tan.

The SOI was announced in October 2025. It was developed by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), in partnership with the Singapore University of Social Sciences and the Burning Glass Institute, to measure how career mobility is built in the workplace.

Data on employment outcomes was collected by the Government, accounting for nearly one million residents – or around 45 per cent of all Singaporeans and permanent residents in the workforce.

Dr Tan said he did not think it would be possible to preserve jobs the way they are, citing findings from the 2025 World Economic Forum Future of Jobs report – which revealed that workers can expect two-fifths of their existing skill sets to be transformed or become outdated over the next five years.

“What’s going to be more appropriate is for us to help workers build resilient and adaptable careers over time,” he said.

He added the SOI shows that employers shape daily career opportunities through “deliberate human capital choices”, including hiring practices, development pathways and job design. “These decisions have a cumulative effect over the course of an individual’s career, and they make an impactful, real difference to whether they progress, stagnate or thrive.”

Mr Benjamin Boh, co-chairman of the Tripartite Workgroup on Human Capital Capability Development and Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) council member, said about half of the top 300 employers in the SOI are SNEF members.

“This is a strong affirmation of our members’ commitment to responsible employment practices. Through SNEF’s resources and consultancy services, we hope to support more employers in driving workforce and workplace transformation,” he added.

The top 300 employers are categorised under three models based on the types of career opportunities offered.

These are the “career launchers”, who excel at bringing fresh talent into Singapore’s workforce; the “career builders”, who develop their people for growth and advancement within and beyond; and the “career anchors”, who create stability and environments where employees can thrive long-term.

Employers can be classified under one or more categories.

Murata Electronics Singapore, which was listed among the “career anchors” and “career launchers”, believes in building a culture of fairness and providing equal opportunities for its local employees and Japanese expatriates. About 70 per cent of its management team in Singapore are locals, demonstrating that advancement is based on merit, not nationality, said Mr Eko Ongsono, general manager of the company’s human resources division.

The company also offers overseas secondment opportunities for local employees who wish to broaden their experience beyond Singapore. “Our leadership training and secondment opportunities support the development of both locals and expatriates, allowing everyone to have the chance to take on bigger responsibilities,” Mr Ongsono said.

Social service agency Rainbow Centre is among the “career builders”. It offers employees of over five years learning grants and mini sabbaticals. These initiatives aim to foster a culture of appreciation, rejuvenation and growth.

Ms Tan Sze Wee, the centre’s executive director, said: “Our work with persons with disabilities is deeply meaningful, but we also recognise that it’s not easy. Especially for our client-facing staff, the work is demanding, emotionally and physically.”

Other organisations in the SOI are air cargo handler SATS, accounting firm PwC Singapore and OCBC Securities.

OCBC’s head of group human resources Lee Hwee Boon said: “The insights from the SOI will deepen our data-led approach to developing our workforce. By pairing these findings with our own OCBC data, we will continue to create meaningful mobility pathways.”

In his speech at the event, Dr Tan also urged employers to use the SOI data to strengthen partnerships between business leadership and human resource teams, and to make sharper decisions about hiring, career development and pathways.

“These examples remind us that when organisations choose to invest in their people’s growth, they do more than build careers; they strengthen their own foundations for long-term success,” he said.

At the event, Mr Matt Sigelman, president of the Burning Glass Institute, provided insights on how employers can turn their SOI scores into practical action.

He said firms can use the index to identify where they are leading and lagging behind vis-a-vis peer benchmarks, enabling them to design coherent strategies that create greater opportunities for workers.

“One of the things we found is that each individual factor has only a mild impact. Many firms think that if they pay well, employees will stay. But when we put pay together with other programmes, that coherence amplifies. The nature of this, as a result, is a set of measures that should be looked at, not just one by one.”

At a panel discussion during the event, vice-chairman of Singapore Business Federation Mark Lee said: “I see the SOI not so much as a beauty pageant but really as a mirror... (It’s for employers) to look at yourself and say, ‘What can I do better from a company’s perspective and start improving on it?’”

Correction note: In an earlier version of the story, we said that Rainbow Centre offered employees of over 10 years learning grants and mini sabbaticals. Rainbow Centre has since clarified that it’s for employees of over five years.