The number of women in managerial positions in mainland China has increased this year, according to the findings in the 2017 Hays Asia Salary Guide.
The annual Hays Asia Salary Guide reveals women account for 35 per cent of management roles in mainland China along with Malaysia on the same figure. Representing a three per cent increase from last year’s figure, Hong Kong follows at 33 per cent, Singapore 31 per cent and Japan at 22 per cent.
“Mainland China continues to stand out when it comes to the diversity of its workforce in managerial positions and we applaud the high number of women in management roles” says Simon Lance, Managing Director of Hays in China.
The Guide, now in its tenth year, highlights salary and recruiting trends across Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, mainland China and Japan. The research is based on a survey covering 3,000 employers representing over six million employees.
With diversity a huge topic right now, it was also revealed that across Asia, 52 per cent of employers report having formal diversity policies and procedures in place, but only 18 per cent say their organisation adheres to these regulations “well” and a further 36 per cent only “fairly well”.
Mainland China’s workforce is the least ethnically diverse in Asia with only six per cent of its workers hailing from another country compared to Singapore’s high of 21 per cent. Foreign workers comprise 12 per cent of Hong Kong’s workforce, 11 per cent in Malaysia and just nine per cent in Japan.
In skill short areas, 59 per cent of employers across all countries would consider employing or sponsoring a qualified candidate from overseas. This is a six per cent drop compared to last year’s results, which could be indicative of tightening labour laws in the countries surveyed or it could signal the need for employers to do more to attract skilled foreign workers to their hard to fill roles.
“Considering the challenges and opportunities expected this year, it is important employers in mainland China have the widest talent pool to choose from when filling roles, especially those experiencing skills shortages,” Simon says. Simon adds further by saying “to remain competitive in the ever changing and complex business environment, companies need to be able to bring in talent from overseas with ease when the right skill sets cannot be found locally.”
Due to changes of employment laws by governments in certain countries across Asia that support the recruitment of local candidates over foreign candidates, companies are now investing more in developing their current workforce with 36 per cent of employers believing they do not have the talent needed to meet their current business objectives.
The majority (53 per cent) of employers have indicated that they have up-skilled their current workforce to counter areas of skills shortages while 39 per cent have focused on improving their candidate attraction strategies.
To view the 2017 Hays Asia Salary Guide in full, visit https://www.hays.cn/en/salary-guide/index.htm.
Hays, the world’s leading recruiting experts in qualified, professional and skilled people.
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About Hays
Hays plc (the "Group") is a leading global professional recruiting group. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK and Asia Pacific and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe and Latin America. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As at 30 June 2016 the Group employed 9,214 staff operating from 252 offices in 33 countries across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2016:
– the Group reported net fees of £810.3 million and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £181 million;
– the Group placed around 67,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 220,000 people into temporary assignments;
– 22% of Group net fees were generated in Asia Pacific, 45% in Continental Europe & RoW (CERoW) and 33% in the United Kingdom & Ireland;
– the temporary placement business represented 58% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 42% of net fees;
– Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA