Hong Kong bosses most demanding in region. 70% of Hong Kong employers expect their staff to be available at any time.When recruiting the best, a pull factor gaining increasing significance is the level of work-life balance that you can offer as an employer. According to the latest Robert Half Workplace Survey, Hong Kong employers are the most demanding in the Asia Pacific Region. 68% of employers said they expect their employees to be available or contactable while on annual leave or out of the office. This is well above not only the regional average, 40%, but Singapore, 45%, Australia, 22%, and New Zealand, 20%, as well.
The survey also revealed that the highest demand is on middle managers, with 76% of respondents indicating they expect middle managers to be available while on holiday or outside of office hours, compared with 47% of senior management or directors and 23% of junior or entry level staff.
“In an environment where employees have had to help companies ‘do more, with less’ for some time, many are in need of a healthier work-life balance,” said Andrew Morris, Managing Director, Greater China, Robert Half International. “While technology can keep us connected 24/7, employers should resist the temptation to phone or email employees outside of work hours unless it’s truly urgent.”
“Employers must respect their staff’s need to properly unplug. They can do this by arranging proper ‘handovers’ when staff go on holiday and bringing in temporary staff to cover when key employees go on leave so that important tasks keep moving forward,” added Morris.
Compared to other finance professionals in the region, Hong Kong employees stay the most tuned-in to work during their down time with 77% claiming that they remain connected to work or do work-related tasks while on holiday compared to Singapore, 69%, Australia, 58%, and New Zealand, 62%. They indicated the top reasons for staying connected are the need to be available in case of emergency, 51%, technological advancements which allow access to information anywhere in the world, 38%, and the inability to switch off, 34%.
According to the survey, time off in lieu and overtime payment for extra hours worked are the most common ways employees are compensated, however not all employees are rewarded for putting in extra hours. While 49% of Hong Kong finance professionals said they receive time off in lieu and 46% receive overtime payment for additional hours worked, 16% said that they are not remunerated for working overtime.
The survey also included an update on the hiring trends for the Finance and Accounting, IT and Banking industries for the first half of 2011. According to the survey, 52% of companies in Hong Kong, 49% in Singapore, 40% in Australia and 16% in New Zealand plan on increasing full-time staff levels. It can be seen from Chart 1 that in New Zealand, 75% of employers have no plans to change staff levels over the next quarter.
As can be seen in Chart 2, with temporary and contract staff, companies were much more conservative, with 48% of companies in Hong Kong, 43% in Singapore, 27% in Australia and 17% in New Zealand; planning to increase staff levels.
When asked about what levels companies were going to hire in the Accounting, Finance and Banking sectors, Chart 3, a large majority of companies noted they would be looking to hire at the junior/entry—Hong Kong, 61%; Singapore, 75%; Australia, 74%; New Zealand, 60%—and middle management levels—Hong Kong, 67%; Singapore, 59%; Australia, 51% and New Zealand, 56%.
Morris commented on these trends, “Hiring in general for 2011 is starting to return to normal (pre-GFC) levels, and is not as aggressive this year compared to last year, However, the APAC has come out of the crisis stronger.” He went on to note, “The majority of companies are showing similar trends this quarter as last, (Q2 over Q1) in that they are following a ‘hire and hold’ technique. It appears companies are more conservative and responsible. They want to avoid making roles redundant. Many companies are hiring to sustain growth, and if there is another financial blip at this current pattern, companies may do better. However, if the markets begin to heat up again, the situation may be different.” Chart 4 shows that the functional area companies most plan to hire in are accounting and finance, followed closely by banking. Interestingly companies with functional units in operational support in Singapore,56%, and New Zealand, 40%, say they plan to increase staff in this area—indicating that the two countries are in need of more operational staff.
Morris noted that the industries in general are moving ahead with hiring, with IT showing the greatest demand, as companies begin to invest in back office operations and general infrastructure.
For trends, Morris highlighted that Australia has shown two very different economies. He said, “Perth and Brisbane are absolutely booming due to the mining industry, while Melbourne and Sydney are not booming as much.” Regionally, he noted that there is still a war for talent, that will increase in intensity over time. He also said that expats will start to be hired back to the APAC in order to fill talent shortages.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
