A significant 23 per cent of Hong Kong workers plan to change employers within six months with 33 per cent already on the hunt for a new job, according to recruiting experts Hays.
According to the 2018 Hays Asia Salary Guide, nearly half of all candidates surveyed in Hong Kong plan to change employers within the year and 41 per cent are currently open to an offer.
“Our Guide is an excellent indicator of generational change amongst Hong Kong’s workforce. Salary and benefits remain a key driver for job hunters, but we are seeing candidates place greater value on non-financial benefits too particularly on ‘career progression’ and ‘work-life balance',” said Dean Stallard, Managing Director of Hays in Hong Kong & South China.
“A total of 58 per cent of candidates told us that ‘salary and benefits’ was the top reason for accepting a new role, but this is a drop on our previous survey when 64 per cent of respondents cited this reason,” said Dean. A ‘lack of career progression’ was the second most common reason (46 per cent) followed by ‘the management style & company culture’ (41 per cent).”
“Employers should take note that when asked about retention factors, ‘work-life balance’ (38 per cent) came in as the second top reason why employees won’t leave their job this year, coming in behind ‘salary and benefits’ (49 per cent). The third most nominated reason was ‘career progression’ (36 per cent).
Professional development a way to future proof your career
“In a continuing trend, career development remains important to candidates but 29 per cent say there is no scope for ‘career progression’ with their current employer and 36 per sent are unsure about what’s available. This makes the case for employers to communicate career pathway options more clearly as well as what responsibilities lie with employees themselves,” said Dean.
“For our 2018 Salary Guide, we added a new question asking candidates if they think their current skill set will be in demand in five years’ time. Most candidates said ‘yes’ (48 per cent), yet 26 per cent also told us they spend no personal time on professional development and nearly a third spend as little as an hour or so a week.”
“Our research points to the need for employers to foster greater self sufficiency amongst employees when it comes to professional development. The importance of this issue is underscored by the fact 89 per cent of employers in Hong Kong responding to the 2018 Salary Guide believe skill shortages have the potential to hamper effective business operations over the coming year.”
“However, the most important message is for talent who want to stand out from the pack. Staying relevant in a fast changing employment market is the responsibility of every candidate in Hong Kong and should be their top priority for 2018,” said Dean.
Salary expectations
Of the candidates surveyed, 49 per cent are unhappy with their ‘compensation & benefits’ package while 51 per cent are happy.
Despite this, a massive 58 per cent did not ask for a pay rise in the last year. A further 15 per cent asked but were not successful while 27 per cent asked and received a pay bump.
In 2018, the largest proportion of respondents (40 per cent) expects a pay rise of between 3-6 per cent while 18 per cent expect an increase of up to three per cent. Another 40 per cent expect an increase above six per cent with two per cent expecting no salary increase over the coming year.
During their last review, 11 per cent of candidates did not receive a pay rise but 20 per cent received a bump of more than six per cent. Most candidates (50 per cent) received a pay rise from between 3-6 per cent, while 19 per cent were awarded up to a three per cent increase.
This year in Hong Kong, nearly half of employers (49 per cent) plan to award increases of between 3-6 per cent while another 24 per cent expect to increase salaries by up to three per cent only. 22 per cent plan to award salary increases of more than six per cent while five per cent will offer no salary increase.
Other key candidate findings from our survey include:
- 28 per cent regard their current balance as “good” and a further 17 per cent as “very good”.
- 39 per cent rate their work-life balance as “average”, 11 per cent as “poor” and five per cent as “very poor”.
- 68 per cent of candidates are willing to relocate for a job (up on the previous year’s 50 per cent).
- 59 per cent believe their performance is fairly evaluated by their employer while 41 per cent do not.
Learn more about the 2018 Hays Asia Salary Guide by clicking here.
- Ends -
Hays, the world’s leading recruiting experts in qualified, professional and skilled people.
Follow Hays on LinkedIn - The #1 Recruiter on LinkedIn globally
Hays is located in Hong Kong at 6604-06, 66/F, ICC, 1 Austin Road West, West Kowloon, Hong Kong.
About Hays
Hays plc (the "Group") is a leading global professional recruiting group and is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. 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 2017 the Group employed 10,000 staff operating from 250 offices in 33 markets across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2017:
– the Group reported net fees of £954.6 million and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £211.5 million;
– the Group placed around 70,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 240,000 people into temporary assignments;
– 24% of Group net fees were generated in Asia Pacific, 49% in Continental Europe & RoW (CERoW) and 27% in the United Kingdom & Ireland;
– the temporary placement business represented 59% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 41% of net fees;
– Hays operates in the following markets: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Mainland 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