1 in 3 bosses demoted an employee

Failure in a new role accounts for 46% of demotions.

One in three, or almost 30%, of Singapore’s bosses have demoted an employee at their company, recruiter specialist Robert Half reveals in his survey.

Almost half, or 46%, have demoted an employee who was not succeeding after being promoted to a new role.

Also read: Why do Singapore firms still struggle to retain talent?

Poor performance follows as the second reason at 37%, and for less than 15%, or one in five of bosses, organisational restructuring or the position having been eliminated. Only 2% say the demotion was voluntary on behalf of the employee.

Meanwhile, more than half, or 54%, of managers say the employee handled the news as gracefully as possible, followed by 21% who lost interest in their work.

A strong reaction to the demotion prompted 18% of employees to quit in response. Only 7% took a proactive approach and focused on excelling in their new position.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia