For more than 10 years, Randstad Singapore conducts the Randstad Employer Brand Research to find out the latest key insights to changing talent expectations and job search behaviours. Respondents in the same study also get the opportunity to vote for the most attractive employer that they want to work for in Singapore.
Thermo Fisher, a global life sciences company that supplies scientific instrumentation, reagents and consumables, and software services to some of the world’s largest healthcare and technology companies, was voted the most attractive employer to work for in the life sciences category in Singapore.
In 2022, 56.75% of respondents said that they would like to work for the organisation, ranking it as one of Singapore’s most attractive employers. Within a year, Thermo Fisher rose from #23 to the 6th most attractive employer to work for in Singapore.
The company scored exceptionally high for employee value proposition (EVP) factors, particularly in financial health, corporate reputation, career progression and having a pleasant work atmosphere.
how thermo fisher attracts talent
We spoke with Eileen Tan, Head of Talent Acquisition - South East Asia and Taiwan at Thermo Fisher to learn about the company’s efforts in driving its talent strategy and increasing its attractiveness to the local workforce.
1. in your own words, what makes Thermo Fisher different from the rest of the life sciences and healthcare companies?
At Thermo Fisher, you are encouraged to realise your best, both professionally and personally. All of our interactions with customers, suppliers, partners, and one another are guided by our '4i Values' - Integrity, Intensity, Innovation, and Involvement.
We all have personal values that guide our decisions. As an organisation, our 4i Values connect our goals and work across roles, leadership teams, countries, and backgrounds.
We recently concluded the ‘Belonging week’ that was launched across all Thermo Fisher offices around the world. This was an exciting opportunity for all colleagues to come together to learn, nurture our culture of belonging and celebrate our 4i Values. Employees learned about trust, community, and connections through seminars, workshops, and activities during this five-day virtual event.
We recognise each employee's unique perspective and create value by transforming knowledge and ideas into differentiated products and services for our customers. And since we are such a large company with a presence in diverse industries, we offer not just a job but a career.
2. how do you keep track of the changing talent expectations while remaining agile and adaptable in your talent engagement strategy?
At Thermo Fisher Singapore, we actively seek inputs from our employees through various employee touch points and surveys throughout the year to determine what needs to be changed and where we can improve on.
We believe that we are the only company in our space to evolve to a trust based, hybrid workplace. Our employees are empowered with tools and technologies to balance their work life priorities and choose the optimal work schedule and collaboration style for them.
This year, we launched a campaign strategy to establish and execute our new flex work policy. For roles that can be done from anywhere, we encourage our employees to come into the offices once or twice a week.
At Thermo Fisher’s new office space at Singapore Science Park, we placed a strong emphasis on creating shared spaces that facilitate collaboration and communication among employees, so that they also see the value of coming into the office to catch-up with one another.
As part of the re-engagement campaign, we conducted a series of events including a commercial mid-year summit, regular employee engagement roundtables and offsite team building activities to boost employee engagement.
After two years of restrictions around in-person events, our next step is to re-invigorate our employee volunteering programmes so we can give back to the community at large.
3. what keeps your employees motivated and excited about working for the company?
Singapore houses our headquarters for Asia Pacific and emerging markets, and it is also one of our key global R&D and manufacturing sites. Naturally, with operations of this scale, we are able to create many opportunities for our workforce to diversify their skill sets.
We constantly expose our employees to various global projects and key initiatives, where they can connect with colleagues from other countries to brainstorm and learn from each other. We incorporated the Practical Process Improvement (PPI) methodology to guide us to think creatively to reduce waste and increase productivity.
4. can you give us an example of how early talent are developed in thermo fisher?
We started the global Talent Acquisition Talent Academy back in 2021. It is a comprehensive onboarding and learning and development cohort programme that was designed for fresh university graduates.
In this programme, we develop their growth potential in partnership with the global team to prepare participants for a career future in talent acquisition. In Singapore, we were able to hire two participants within the Talent Acquisition team, who now report directly to the TA leadership team.
We support the academists through a matrix reporting structure where the fresh talent are encouraged to work closely with the other regional leads so that they can learn how to support different business groups and divisions across regions.
This process fast tracks their learning as they can acquire a variety of skills and knowledge from different leaders within the team. They are also encouraged to share their perspectives on how we can do things differently to improve our outcomes.
5. do you have other stories of employees who have switched careers within Thermo Fisher and where are they now?
We have more than 1,000 employees in our Singapore offices whose remits span across local, regional and global. We also offer a wide variety of jobs in commercial, manufacturing R&D and supporting functions, allowing us to rotate our employees frequently to help them achieve their career aspirations. Our hiring requirements are spread evenly across the sub-regions, which presents significant opportunities for talent and employees to develop within Thermo Fisher.
The company is on an upward growth trajectory. One of the key differentiating factors when it comes to talent transformation is the way we approach talent recruitment. The process of intra-organisational career advancement is supported by our approach when sourcing for new talent, which prioritises internal employees.
At Thermo Fisher Scientific, we offer you not just a job, but a career.
6. in terms of talent recruitment, what would you say is your greatest learning moment during your time in Thermo Fisher?
Our Global Talent Acquisition function is constantly looking at how we can upskill our recruitment competencies, optimise our resources and leverage on technology to increase our productivity and improve candidate experience.
Throughout my career at Thermo Fisher, I’ve had the opportunity to take on different roles, participate and lead process and system optimisation projects on a regional and global level. I have never felt bored as there’s always something new to learn or do to stretch me beyond my comfort zone.
Every day, I learn from my colleagues, and I pay it forward by coaching and enabling team members to create a highly motivated team and effective work environment.
7. how do you communicate the activities and happenings in Thermo Fisher to job seekers?
Employer branding is a key focus at Thermo Fisher. We drive our communication with our external talent pipeline through our ‘Life at Thermo Fisher’ social pages and CRM campaigns.
We are constantly sharing the latest events and happenings at Thermo Fisher Singapore, covering a wide range of topics like work-life balance, diversity and inclusion and company awards. This is only possible by promoting a strong sense of employee advocacy and encouraging our employees to share their employee experiences in video or visual format.
Our past job applicants and candidates also receive regular emails from us about new job openings, key company and career developments, event invitations amongst others. We keep them engaged through consistent communications so that they can always re-apply when the right opportunity arises.
8. what do you wish job seekers looking for an opportunity at Thermo Fisher should know about?
Thermo Fisher Singapore serves the research, healthcare, industrial, and applied markets and has a broad and complementary offering of more than a million products. We help companies accelerate life sciences research, solve complex analytical challenges, improve patient diagnostics, deliver medicines to market, and increase laboratory productivity.
The company generates approximately $40 billion in annual revenue and 25% of our current revenue are from products that didn’t exist 5 years ago.
Your work with us will have a significant impact both inside and beyond the company. Bring your passion for discovery to make the world a better place to live in and you’ll enjoy the satisfaction of doing work that people and communities rely on today and in the future.
about the randstad employer brand award
The Randstad Employer Brand Awards assess the attractiveness of Singapore’s 75 largest commercial employers known by at least 10% of the population. The results of the Randstad Employer Brand Awards are based on public perception and focus on two main areas:
- overall brand or company awareness
- absolute employer attractiveness
The awards are not open to nominations and the results are solely based on the opinions of the local workforce, making it the only award that truly represents ‘the people’s choice’.
The respondents were asked to identify companies whose names they recognise and indicate how much they wanted to work for them. This was followed by an evaluation of employee value proposition drivers, such as salary and employee benefits, work atmosphere, job content and more, for each of the commercial companies surveyed.
A strong employer brand is important in every business in order to attract and retain key talent. Connect with us to learn more about employer branding, industry insights, hiring outlook and latest talent trends. To hire your future talent with a competitive edge, get in touch with our specialised recruiters and learn more about our bespoke HR solutions.