Salaried workers should learn from entrepreneurs to ensure career longevity

[SINGAPORE] As people live longer, there is a pressing need to save and invest to ensure financial adequacy in retirement. 

In 2025, male residents aged 65 in Singapore could expect to live for another 19.9 years, while female residents of the same age had a life expectancy of 23.1 more years.

For many people, building up savings and investments starts with holding a stable job where one’s salary grows over time.

Part of the regular pay cheque can be used for investing, and doing so in a disciplined manner through the years can help one gradually build a sizeable investment portfolio.

However, saving and investing so that one can enjoy financial dignity in one’s golden years may be getting harder because of rising job market uncertainties.

Unfortunately, losing one’s job may be a growing reality for many salaried workers. As businesses restructure to meet rapidly changing needs, numerous jobs might be slashed across diverse sectors.

Retrenchments in Singapore climbed to their highest level in more than five years in Q2, with 4,500 workers retrenched, even as the labour market continued to expand and employment grew for a 19th consecutive quarter. 

Recently, the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) launched a workforce transformation exercise, retrenching 93 employees in the first phase of a two-year restructuring that is expected to affect between 7 and 9 per cent of its workforce.

Affected staff received a comprehensive support package. This included one month’s payment for every year of service, capped at 25 years of service, a three-month ex gratia payment as well as a prorated performance bonus.

Certainly, receiving a generous package can greatly help mitigate the financial impact of a job loss.

Still, regardless of what support one expects to receive in the event of losing a job, perhaps it’s critical, given growing disruptions in the job market, for salaried workers to learn from entrepreneurs when it comes to career management.

In Singapore, a traditional path is to obtain good academic qualifications and become a salaried employee who enjoys steady career advancement. Unlike an entrepreneur, a salaried worker does not risk capital.

While being a salaried worker still offers a solid pathway to building wealth, the growing power of artificial intelligence will likely unleash more job market volatility.

In such a scenario, salaried workers need to start acting more like entrepreneurs so they can have longevity in employment. And having longevity in employment will greatly help one in investing for retirement financial adequacy.

Networking

One, entrepreneurs are typically assiduous in networking to obtain market intelligence, secure business leads, develop relationships with investors, build ties with government officials and so on.

Salaried workers should also do plenty of networking. Building relationships within an organisation, including ties with the upper echelon and outside of one’s immediate team, can help one stay on top of the latest happenings in an organisation.

With the right internal leads and intelligence, a timely move into a new area of focus for the business can potentially save one from being retrenched for example.

Meanwhile, building relationships outside one’s organisation can be invaluable in helping one make a job switch. Referrals after all can give an applicant a powerful edge in a hyper-competitive job market.

Agility

Two, entrepreneurs succeed by being agile – they go into industries where tailwinds and structural growth drivers are strong or where they think they have a clear competitive edge.

Salaried workers would do well to make preparations to switch industries based on how they assess opportunities in various sectors. 

For one, being in a growing industry will likely offer more job options, faster career progression and bigger pay packages.

Of course, assessing whether one has a competitive edge in a particular job matters too, especially as AI’s growth may lead many businesses to streamline their management ranks.

A good entrepreneur might exit a business when the going is good and switch his focus to another area because the latter offers better growth opportunities. Likewise, a salaried worker may be wise to leave the comfort of an existing job pre-emptively to pursue more promising opportunities elsewhere.

Craft

Three, successful entrepreneurs often build their businesses on much perspiration – working long hours and being fully dedicated to building the business.

Perhaps, while salaried workers yearn for work-life balance, a work-first mentality could help one stay ahead of the competition among salaried workers.

Humans may have to increasingly prove their worth by the value-add they bring to protect their jobs from being displaced by AI. For many individuals, putting in long hours into building expertise in a job is probably a prerequisite to excelling at one’s job.

Think of the dedication and endless hours of practice that elite artists and sports persons put into to perfecting their craft.

Mental resilience

Four, successful entrepreneurs are resilient and able to bounce back from failures. The failure rate in business is high – well-conceived business plans may not pan out. Many leading business tycoons have had various business ventures that failed.

While one may do what one can to minimise the risk of losing a job, one might be unable to escape being retrenched at some point in one’s working life.

I have experienced losing a job twice. It’s tough – morale takes a big hit. I had to constantly fight hard to stave off negative thoughts.

However, a retrenched worker may have little choice but to keep spirits up and energy levels high while working fast and hard to pursue new career leads. Wallowing in sorrow and self-pity, even if warranted, will not open new doors.

Being a salaried worker can still offer a good path to make a living, especially as Singapore is doing well in attracting investments from diverse sectors.

Holding a job can help one in borrowing to buy a home. By being in paid employment consistently, one can build up a meaningful sum in Central Provident Fund savings risk-free over the years through the power of compounding.

Nonetheless, expect job market disruptions and no iron rice bowls. Apply the skills of entrepreneurs to career management to help achieve career longevity. Ultimately, having career longevity helps one better save and invest to ensure financial adequacy in retirement.