ARCHITECTS TURNOVER IN BUILDING CONSULTANCY FIRMS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Architects are a group of professionals who possess unique characteristics During the early stage of their career, they job-hop to gain experience quickly, to get higher salary and job responsibility. With the Singapore government creating construction opportunities to keep the local economy on track, architects are constantly in demand. The architects, especially the younger ones quit their jobs for various reasons. The task of retaining this reservoir of trained architects has become a concern of the profession. This dissertation aims to establish the factors that cause the architects to leave building consultancy firms in Singapore. Comprehensive literature review is carried out to identify the factors that affect employee turnover. Based on this review, a questionnaire was drawn up to test these factors on a pool of 250 practising architects, of which 83 had responded with 67 usable replies. The results from the survey are analysed and compared with those from previous research. From the survey, it was found that younger architects change jobs more frequently. The most common reasons for changing jobs are pay and dissatisfaction with job content. The factors that make a job satisfying are interesting work and opportunities to learn for male respondents, and autonomy for female architects. Sex and personality also play a part in the architects turnover. Some suggestions were also given to reduce turnover in this profession.