Salaries of finance and accounting professionals are holding steady in 2009 and 2010 and demand for banking and finance talent remains strong in Asia Pacific despite ongoing economic challenges, according to Salary Guides recently published by Robert Half. This underscores the heightened importance of finance and accounting roles today, triggered by
Hong Kong is making cautious hiring decisions for different positions, but a number of roles have withstood the downturn including positions in audit, risk, compliance and settlement. Increasingly stringent financial regulatory and compliance standards have given rise to the need for more rigorous audit and accounting practices.
The trend towards standardised accounting and reporting systems has also led to a higher demand for professionals in this area.
With decreased access to credit, businesses are focusing more on cost reduction and short term hiring measures. Project-based and temporary roles are gaining popularity as companies seek to ensure completion of work on lower budgets and without significant additions to permanent headcount. Contract staffing is particularly preferred for the flexibility it provides. The impact of hire and departure on staff morale is lower compared to permanent job losses when the time comes for temporary staff to leave the company. Companies typically go through four employment stages, when coping with a recession:
1. non-critical contract employees are released;
2. headcount for permanent and full time roles is frozen;
3. reduction in existing headcount; and
4. contract workers are rehired when the economy recovers.
The current economic climate has elicited Hong Kong’s competitive spirit with many firms, especially small and medium sized enterprises, becoming increasingly focused on how their businesses can grow during these tough economic times.
A key driver behind growth strategy is the access to talent they would not have been able to secure pre-recession and a chance to ‘up skill’ their workforce by replacing non-performing employees with more qualified and experienced staff.
Morris went on to warn, “Securing the best of the best is not necessarily any easier than it was a year ago…the available pool of potential skilled employees has increased but Hong Kong’s top performers are in just as much short supply as ever. They are paying particular attention to how organisations are performing under tough economic conditions before attending any interviews and certainly before accepting any offers.”
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
