Despite forecasted business growth in Hong Kong, salary stagnation persists amid skill shortages in the territory. This is one of the key findings in the Hays Asia Salary Guide 2019, a report that highlights salary and recruiting trends based on responses from Hays Asia operating markets Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Hong Kong’s businesses have seen a year of extended growth over the last 12 months, with 70 per cent of companies reporting increased business activity in 2018. On a similar scale, they also predict a continuation of heightened business activity in 2019, and as a result, half of them foresee an augmentation of permanent staff levels in the coming year.
Furthermore, 25 per cent of those surveyed expects the local economy to grow, an improvement from the 20 per cent who said the same in the survey last year. However, those predicting the economy to weaken also increased, from 16 per cent to 30 per cent.
Salaries
Employers noted that salary changes were comparatively slighter, with 45 per cent of them increasing compensation packages by three to six per cent – down from 50 per cent in 2018 – while more candidates (27 per cent this year from 19 per cent in 2018) saw smaller increments of up to three per cent.
About three in five (64 per cent) of employees interviewed stated that they were ‘satisfied’ with their current remuneration packages, a substantial improvement from the 51 per cent the previous year. However, only four per cent of respondents claimed to be ‘very satisfied’.
“It is clear that while positivity surrounding salaries is up, there is still room for improvement,” says Dean Stallard, Managing Director of Hays Greater Bay Area.
“With more and more employees leaving mostly due to the allure of better salary or benefit packages, companies looking to retain adept employees should work on improving satisfaction rates where remuneration is concerned. Employers should also respond to the fact that almost half (47 per cent) of Hong Kong professionals requested salary rises over the past 12 months, by far the highest proportion across Asia.”
Benefits and bonuses
Over the past year, the number of companies guaranteeing bonuses to all staff increased slightly from 64 per cent to 65 per cent, compared to the year before. At the same time, there is a slight decrease (two per cent) in the number of employers giving benefits in addition to financial incentives.
The most common forms of additional benefits are health and medical provisions (81 per cent), life assurance (42 per cent) and pension (37 per cent).
Skills Shortages
Employers remain concerned that skills shortages may affect the running of their operations. Close to nine in ten (89 per cent) of those interviewed expect a deficit of required talent to hamper the effective operation of businesses in 2019, and about three in five (61 per cent) of employers confirmed that productivity has been negatively impacted in the past year.
In addition, confidence in an ability to recruit skills required to meet organisational needs in the coming year is down, with 47 per cent ‘confident’ and six per cent ‘very confident’, down from 54 and nine per cent respectively in 2018.
Areas of greatest skills shortages
Most Hong Kong employers have stated that the most sought-after skills are hard skills over soft skills (61 per cent vs 49 per cent respectively). Of the former, project management, statistical analysis and data mining were the areas of greatest demand. Of soft skills, problem solving, critical thinking and verbal communication abilities are most in demand, with majority of employers placing high importance in these psychological competencies.
The areas in which employers have had the most difficulty in recruiting are as follows:
• Sales: middle management (nominated by 21 per cent of employers)
• Sales: entry level up to middle management (nominated by 20 per cent of employers)
• IT: middle management (nominated by 19 per cent of employers)
• Accountancy and finance: middle management (nominated by 19 per cent of employers)
• Accountancy and finance: entry level up to middle management (nominated by 16 per cent of employers)
• IT: entry level up to middle management (nominated by 15 per cent of employers)
Get your copy of the 2019 Hays Asia Salary Guide by visiting www.hays.com.hk/salary-guide or by contacting your local Hays office.
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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 2018 the Group employed 10,978 staff operating from 257 offices in 34 markets across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2018:
– the Group reported net fees of £1.072 billion and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £243.4 million;
– the Group placed around 77,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 244,000 people into temporary assignments;
– 19% of Group net fees were generated in Australia & New Zealand, 26% in Germany, 24% in United Kingdom & Ireland and 31% in Rest of World (RoW);
– the temporary placement business represented 58% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 42% of net fees;
– Hays operates in the following markets: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mainland China, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA