阅读：中国就业与人才问题 

 来源: 环球教育网  www.ielts.com.cn  2005-4-18

   China's people problem 

   Apr 14th 2005 | HONG KONG AND SHANGHAI 


   Problems recruiting and retaining workers, particularly skilled ones, are raising the cost of doing business in China

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   CAN China―population 1.3 billion―really be running short of people? In many of the most important parts of its booming economy, the answer, increasingly, is yes. Though China has a vast pool of unskilled labour, firms in the south now complain that they cannot recruit enough cheap factory and manual workers. The market is even tighter for skilled labour. As the economy grows and moves into higher value-added work, the challenge of attracting and retaining staff is rising with the skill level, as demand outstrips supply. The result is escalating costs for firms operating in China. “If you think that China is a cheap place for labour, think again,” says Vincent Gauthier of Hewitt Associates, a human-resources consultancy.

   The particular shortages mentioned most often are of creativity, of an aptitude for risk-taking and, above all, of an ability to manage―in everything from human resources and accounting to sales, distribution, branding and project-management.


   Though developing economies often encounter talent shortages as they start to grow, China's history has left it with some peculiar deficits. Its Confucian heritage, which emphasises rote learning and hierarchy, may partly explain why many graduates, despite good paper qualifications and English language skills, are often cautious about taking the initiative. Some firms complain that China's one-child policy has made it harder for them to find natural team-players. That there are few MBA programmes in China may not help either.
   Large parts of China's economy remain in thrall to the state, where loyalty to the Communist party more than business acumen drives career success. Jeff Barnes, “chief learning officer” at General Electric (GE) in China, says that the “issue we have is finding mid-level and top-level leadership. The Chinese talent is first-generation. They don't have role models. Their parents worked for state-owned companies.”
   The wrong sort of chairman
Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution in 1966-76 wiped out a generation of management potential, as millions of Chinese learned that capitalism was evil. After a lifetime under socialism, many lack the mindset to adopt western working practices. In China, says Jack Perkowski, boss of Asimco Technologies, a supplier of vehicle parts, “the talent pool consists either of managers from state firms who are too bureaucratic or entrepreneurs who have come up through the private sector and are unconstrained by capital or the law.”
   Foreign firms now invest some $1 billion a week in China. As they expand, they increasingly need workers able to handle the complexities of multi-site operations. Staff shortages threaten these plans. In a recent speech, Arics Poon, managing director of Oracle for South China and Hong Kong, said that “we need a group of strong, professional managers or we may fail to support our growth in China.” Anthony Wu, head of accounting firm Ernst & Young (E&Y) in Hong Kong and China, admits that “we have decided not to tender for some major clients because we feel we don't have the staff to service them.”

   Business plans for China rarely reflect the cost and time involved in recruiting and retaining local staff. Firms are finding that they cannot replace expensive expatriate staff with cheaper local hires (“localise” in the jargon) as quickly as they hoped. Many underestimate the cost of local staff. Chinese graduates often have an inflated view of their own worth, complain some foreign managers. Multinationals are also competing for talent with China's domestic companies, which need to improve the quality of their people as their markets open to foreign rivals.

   Chinese people returning from overseas (lyrically named hai-gui or “returning turtles”) are plugging some of the shortages, particularly at the most senior levels. David Wei, president of B&Q China, Yifei Li, managing director of MTV China, and Zhu Min, head of restructuring at Bank of China, all worked or were at least partly educated outside China. But at a more junior level, returnees can sometimes have problems reintegrating, may lack local market knowledge and are expensive. 

   Recruitment, retention and localisation of staff is now top of the agenda for firms in China. Paolo Gasparrini, head of China for L'Oréal, a French cosmetics firm, says that “to find good people in China is not easy. Technically and in administration they are very good. But in marketing―a crucial discipline―there are just a few people with short experience and everyone is competing for them. You find yourself micro-managing more than you'd like.” Mr Poon concurs: “If the tasks are across departments, or if it means working in a team or trying to relate to others, they [Chinese staff] still have a long way to go.”

   Fierce competition and a limited supply of talent is resulting in high turnover rates. “The biggest issue is retention of people,” says E&Y's Mr Wu. “Retention is much cheaper than recruitment.” One in ten executives changed job in the southern city of Shenzhen last year and one in 12 in Beijing, according to Hewitt. The same research points to a nationwide employee churn rate of 11.3% in 2004, up from 8.3% in 2001. Some smaller firms see turnover as high as 30%, but leading global firms are not immune. L'Oréal, with 3,000 people in China, says that staff turnover in its marketing department is nearly 15%. “A lot of fresh graduates leave. We lose almost all we hire in the first three years,” says Daisy Dai, its human-resources director.

   Pay and benefits are soaring. A Chinese middle manager at a foreign company in Beijing or Shanghai can now command total annual cash compensation (salary plus bonus) of $27,000-$32,000, says Hewitt. Senior managers receive between $46,000 and $54,000 and top executives can expect $80,000 to $90,000 or more. While underlying inflation in China is around 2%, average annual salary increases for mid-level and senior managers are now 6-10%. Lai Kam-tong at the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management says that accountants' salaries are rising by 14% a year. Jürgen Viethen, general manager for F&G China Electric, a small Spanish-owned electrical switchgear-maker, is offering key employees raises of up to 50%―and still losing them.

   Bonuses, longer-term incentives, free housing and meals, a mobile phone and a set of wheels are becoming standard perks. More than one-third of 1,600 multinational firms surveyed by Hewitt now offer a company car. More holidays, maternity and paternity leave, more frequent job rotation and share options also now feature. Add in the big contributions that employers must make to China's national security fund system and the total cost of an employee can be double his basic pay.

   Above all, Chinese employees want good training, as they are acutely aware of the limitations of their educational system and keen to acquire marketable skills. Ping-on Mak, senior human resources manager for GE Consumer Finance in Asia, says that the attitude of many young Chinese managers is “if I want training, I'll go work for a multinational and then after three years I'll leave.” But GE, with an in-house “university”, and L'Oréal, which provides mentoring, say that training produces employees who tend to stay longer.

   Some foreign firms hope to persuade the expatriates they send out to stay longer than first planned―despite their higher cost. Some are relocating operations from the coast to smaller, cheaper cities to tap new markets for talent. Some are even considering outsourcing from China itself, by moving parts of their operations to, say, Vietnam and Cambodia, where the workforce is even cheaper and younger.

   None of this has, yet, slowed China's economic growth. Basing production in mainland China remains cost-effective for most foreign firms. But the growing shortage of executive talent may make the growth assumptions written into many business plans over-optimistic. F&G's Mr Viethen's lament that, despite being a business manager, “I spend most of my time on human resources, not sales,” rings true at many foreign firms in China.


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