(SINGAPORE) The talent crunch is starting to bite as Asian economies boom, but the best chief executive officers (CEOs) have found ways to fight back.

A recent study by Hewitt Associates looked at 750 employers across Asia. Less than half of these felt that their organisations had sufficient talent to fill important positions.

The study also came up with a list of '20 best employers' in Asia. Even they were grappling with the shortage of talent but still found themselves in a better position than their counterparts. Two-thirds - or 65 per cent - of the 'best employers' felt that their organisations had the depth of talent to fill key roles.

The 20 'best employers' - including three Singapore companies - were judged to have created a working environment that produces a positive employee experience as well as good results.

Their human resource (HR) practices enable them to attract and retain talent better than other employers, even as finding the right talent becomes more difficult, said Hewitt's report.

Although the study covered a range of industries, all three Singapore companies that made it to the 'best employers' list were in the hotel sector. They included Four Seasons Hotel at No 5, Ritz-Carlton Millennia at No 11 and Raffles Hotel and Resorts at No 18.

CEOs in the 'best employers' group are considerably more involved in resourcing, succession decisions and matching the supply of talent with positions as they become available.

About 80 per cent of them are involved in the selection of their senior management compared with just 30 per cent in the 'non-best employers' group.

In addition, about 30 per cent of 'best employer' CEOs meet with high-potential employees weekly, compared with just 15 per cent of the rest of the employers.

The best employers are also more likely to focus on performance and competency assessment as a means to segment future potential and top talent.

About 95 per cent of them have a clearly defined leadership capability model versus 64 per cent of the rest of the employers.

Employee engagement also tend to be higher at 'best employer' organisations.

On average, the 'best employer' organisations have an employee engagement score of 87 per cent, compared to an average score of only 57 per cent in 'non-best employer' organisations.

'Engaged employees display the behaviours that are critical to business success and competitive differentiation. They speak positively about the company, have no immediate intention nor desire to leave, and willingly put in extra effort to ensure strong company performance,' said Hewitt.

Higher employee engagement levels among 'best employers' therefore give them a competitive advantage over their peers, said Hewitt.

This is borne out in the financial performance of these companies - 'best employers' have shown greater improvement in both revenue and productivity.

Revenue at 'best employer' organisations grew by an average of 22 per cent from 2002-2005, versus an average of 20 per cent at the rest of the organisations studied.

In terms of productivity (measured as sales per employee), 'best employers' saw an average of 12 per cent growth in productivity while 'non-best employers' experienced a growth of only 7 per cent.

The positive correlation between employee engagement and business success is something that more 'best employers' recognise compared to 'non-best employers'. About 55 per cent of the former group use employee engagement as a performance measure compared to only 28 per cent of 'non-best employer' organisations who do so.