Recruitment Trends at Startups in 2023

The pandemic has had a significant impact on the digital talent industry in Indonesia. With many companies facing economic challenges, not a few of them are forced to reduce their workforce on the pretext of efficiency, including on the digital talent side.

According to a report by the Indonesian E-commerce Association (iDEA), the digital trade industry has also experienced a significant increase in layoffs due to the pandemic.

In a report released by Glints and Monk's Hill Ventures entitled "Findings of a Shift in Recruitment Focus to a More Income Generating Role for Startups in Indonesia", it was revealed that the crisis of technology talent continues in Indonesia. The need for tech talent remains strong, with earnings on average 38% higher than other non-tech positions.

“Despite the recent tech layoffs, there are still opportunities for more traditional industry players as they thirst for talent. For startups, there may be some challenges, but now is the right time to start and grow a business with a focus on profitability," said Glints Indonesia Co-Founder and Country Manager Steve Sutanto.

This second iteration of the report provides in-depth analysis of hiring trends, salaries, and equity data for founders, C-suite executives, and startup talent from 10.000 data points and through 30 interviews with startup founders in Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Company policies and benefits

Regarding employee benefits, many startups appear to be reducing additional benefits and facilities beyond the basic salary (fringe benefits) to cut costs. However, 13th salaries, performance-based bonuses and flexible working systems (which are becoming increasingly common in various markets) are still considered mandatory.

In reality, if only mandatory benefits are provided, employees will actually understand and appreciate the benefits they receive better. This also reduces ambiguity and complexity.

The report also revealed that work system policies in 2023 that are options for employees include: working independently hybrid or combining employee presence in the office and at home. As many as 59% of respondents in Indonesia chose this option.

Meanwhile, only 33% of the rest are returning to work in the office, and the last is casual work remote as much as 8%. As many as 45% of startups offer work options hybrid and another 12% offer working remotely for employees in various markets.

Meanwhile related to equity compensation, more than 86% of startups in the Southeast Asia region have offered ESOPs, but it is still concentrated in one-third of the talent in related companies. Most new ESOPs are awarded to executives and senior talent.

"The startup environment requires people with a high sense of ownership. If we want our people to really feel like they own the company, we have to treat them as company owners. That's why we believe that everyone in the company should receive an ESOP, not just a group just people," said Glints Co-founder and CEO Oswald Yeo.

Strategic position in startup

To meet relevant employee needs, several companies are also continuing to carry out employee recruitment processes. As many as 86% of company founders interviewed will continue to recruit in 2023, although not on a large scale.

In the report it was revealed, engineering is still the function with the highest demand for talent in Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam. These three markets are generally considered to have functional talent engineering strong by the company's founders. Among all the roles in the technology function, the role in the function engineering is also still at the top in terms of salary.

The report also stated that DevOps received the highest salary increase (19%) among functional roles engineering others throughout the market. The role of DevOps is increasingly important because new startups will almost certainly start their journey from cloud computing.

Other positions that will also become increasingly popular this year are sought by companies product. Function product This will be a priority for startups in the early stages, so they can quickly reach the product-market fit stage.

After engineering and product, date following in third position as the function with the highest demand. Salaries for roles in functions date has jumped significantly since the last report, as the use of data science, machine learning and AI has become increasingly widespread by various businesses that utilize the technology in their products (tech-enabled).

Meanwhile, non-technology positions in startups that are also becoming increasingly popular this year are: business development & sales. On the other hand, recruitment in the field marketing and public relations (PR) is growing in popularity as company founders shift their focus to sustainable growth.