Employers at two-thirds of multinational companies on the
Chinese mainland can expect year-end bonuses to rise at least 10
percent this year, a human resources report released yesterday
revealed.
The figures were released amid revelations that many employees
were dissatisfied with wages and bonuses, with 10 percent quitting
their jobs.
Hudson Recruitment, a Nasdaq-listed international headhunting
firm, surveyed 737 multinational companies on the mainland, mostly
based in Shanghai, about their hiring intentions, year-end bonuses,
salary and turnover in the first quarter.
Across all sectors, 66 percent of employers surveyed said they
were planning to pay a year-end bonus of 10 percent more than that
of last year.
The consumer sector turned out to lead the year-end bonus list
with 78 percent of respondents saying they would pay more than 10
percent.
But the report didn't provide an average year-end bonus
figure.
It did, however, say that 32 percent of the surveyed firms would
raise employees' salaries at least 20 percent this year, compared
with 25 percent for the same period last year.
In media and public relations firms, 21 percent of surveyed
employers promised a salary rise of more than 20 percent, the
lowest among all sectors.
The mainland finished first in both year-end bonus and salary
increase categories in the quarterly report that covered the
Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.
Angie Eagan, general manager of Hudson's Shanghai office, said
the high bonus increase and high pay rise reflected the country's
headcount shortage.
"It's interesting to find employers here using bonuses and
higher pays to retain talents as a way to stop people leaving,"
Eagan said.
The survey reported that 61 percent of employers were looking
forward to hiring new staff in the first quarter of this year.
"But this strategy does not seem to be working, as they are also
facing the highest staff turnover rates," she added.
In the past 12 months, turnover in the Chinese mainland was
high. Forty-seven percent of firms said more than 10 percent of
their employees quit their jobs.
The turnover rate is almost twice the figure of Japan, the
report said. The most frequently cited reason for resignation was
limited career progression and "dissatisfaction with salaries or
bonuses."
(Shanghai Daily January 18, 2008)
