Majority of companies are continuing to hire new talent, despite the impact of COVID-19
42% of respondents expressed that they are “not too concerned” that COVID-19 will result in a company restructuring.
63% of respondents said that they are still proceeding with their plans to hire talent for replacement and critical roles, despite the impact of the COVID-19. This is according to a recent survey conducted by Randstad Hong Kong. One in four companies (25%) surveyed have chosen to either freeze hiring or parked those headcounts until a later date.
Ms. Natellie Sun, Managing Director, Search and Selection, for Greater China at Randstad said, “Many employers would have planned their hiring activities for the first quarter as they know that’s when job seekers are open to new opportunities after bonus season. Given this trend, it’s business-as-usual for many organisations that still have vacant roles to fill and targets to hit. Hiring activities are also more rampant in high-growth spaces like technology, life sciences and functions within banking. However, we’ve observed a dip in hiring activities within retail, consumer, hospitality and tourism. Some of these companies may have also asked their customer-facing employees to take no-pay leave as a result of reduced foot traffic.”
13% of the companies surveyed said that they will maintain headcount, but may apply other measures such as salary adjustments and bonus suspension to mitigate anticipated losses.
Retail and consumer industries feeling the worst
42% of respondents expressed that they are “not too concerned” that COVID-19 will result in a company restructuring. The other 58% of respondents are concerned that their employment may be vulnerable to possible business restructuring. Out of which, 7% said that they are “extremely concerned”.
Respondents from the retail and consumer industries are the most likely to feel the brunt of the outbreak. 72% of them expressed concern about how the outbreak will impact their employment status.
Valuable lessons from SARS
65% of respondents allowed their employees to work from home to prevent any potential community transmissions. A further 22% of employers introduced shift or split team arrangements for employees to come to the office on different days of the week. Another 4% had allowed their employees to leave work earlier to avoid peak hours.
Ms Sun adds, “The SARS outbreak in 2003 had taught us many valuable lessons. During this period, many people have consciously minimised physical interactions and avoided crowded areas to prevent the possibility of a community outbreak. Many companies have also prepared business continuity plans for circumstances like these, where they have to make temporary business arrangements for their staff to work from home.”
However, 24% of respondents said that this arrangement is only a temporary measure, and they will not implement a work-from-home policy as an employee benefit after COVID-19. 44% of respondents said that they already offer remote working as an employee benefit to either all of their staff or select employees and functions.
The ability for organisations and employees to maintain workplace productivity is still up for debate. 14% of respondents observed a sustained level of productivity, while another 14% of employers noticed reduced productivity, resulting in a closer review of their corporate policy.
Updating digital infrastructure becomes a priority
More than half of the companies surveyed (51%) said that they will review and upgrade their digital infrastructure to ensure more effective productivity, collaboration and communication after COVID-19. 34% said that they will issue laptops to their employees to enable remote working, and 20% will invest in strengthening their cybersecurity network to protect their company’s data.
Ms Sun said, “COVID-19 could have accelerated the plans that employers already had about remote working and upgrades to their technology infrastructure. When employees work from home, they face challenges that they would not if they were to work in the office. Some may have problems accessing files from the cloud network, while others may not be able to connect to the teleconferencing system as smoothly as they’d hoped. Job seekers and employees have also increasingly perceived benefits such as remote working and flexible working arrangements as hygiene factors. This is why employers should collect feedback from their staff and improve their digital systems to make sure they are fully-equipped to provide a seamless working experience, whether at home or remotely.”
Most companies to wait on hiring plans
“Even though employers are hiring talent for new or critical roles now, companies in Hong Kong will likely take some time to adjust for real losses and recalibrate their workforce needs after COVID-19. We expect that most companies will wait until the economy starts to stabilise before they continue with their original hiring plans,” Ms Sun adds.
The survey revealed that 30% will continue to park headcount growth until the economy and business growth picks up. Only 24% of respondents said that they will begin to hire for permanent roles and contract workers to remain agile.
The COVID-19 Employer Pulse Survey was conducted between 24 February 2020 and 2 March 2020 with 372 respondents (employers and HR professionals).
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
