beyondbrics

As business confidence in many western countries is once again being hammered, staying in work is the first thing on many managers’ and professionals’ minds.

But not so in Asia. As the regional economy remains resilient, employers will continue to hire, and the only question for executives and other white-collar staff , especially in China, is how much their salaries will rise, says Hays, the recruitment agency.

Only 9 per cent of employers in Asia surveyed by Hays for its 2012 salary guide, published on Wednesday, did not raise salaries, and that proportion is expected to fall to 6 per cent this year.

One key reason: Employers see shortages of talent across a broad range of industries. 95 per cent of the multinational and local firms surveyed said skill shortages had the potential to hamper the effective operation of their business.

China stands out. Here, only 2 per cent of the interviewed companies are planning to keep salaries flat. One-third of employers in China expect to offer raises between 3 and 6 per cent this year, but 22 per cent expect to offer between 6 per cent and 10 per cent more, and one-tenth think that they will raise by more than 10 per cent.

In accountancy and finance, for example, Hays expects more Chinese staff to move between employers to gain steeper pay rises as they get more confident and open to new opportunities. According to the survey, most employers in this sector are willing to raise salaries by 10 to 15 per cent this year.

In the information technology industry, the pressures are even stronger. “China is becoming a R&D base for the global IT market which is leading to increased demand for junior and middle level developers,” says the survey. “But given the short supply of high quality R&D candidates, many engineers now have unrealistic salary expectations and demand a 30 to 40 per cent salary increase to move into a new role.”

In life sciences, where China is attracting a growing number of research and development centres, companies can even be sucked into bidding wars for promising employees.

Companies are seeking to fill global roles with strategic tasks, biostatisticians, data managers and drug safety managers.

It is not oncommon for these candidates to receive multiple offers as well as a counter offer from their current employer.

Companies recruiting such candidates need to ensure their offer is attractive otherwise it will be quickly discarded.

One interesting observation in the survey is that despite long-running trends of localising management and reducing expatriate numbers in multinational companies’ operations in China, foreign candidates sometimes feature prominently in the competition.

Job candidates in private equity and venture capital “face strong competition from overseas banking candidates who are willing to relocate to China for work,” finds the survey.

Not surprisingly with the blows western banks have been taking over the past four years, this is a broader trend.

During 2011 we also noted increased interest from foreign banking professionals looking to Asia, and in particular Singapore, for their next career move.

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