Staffing in China
Any foreign company, which successfully establishes itself in China, will not only have Chinese partners, but Chinese employees. This raises a number of cross-cultural issues around Western and Chinese styles of doing business, workplace management and mutual expectations between employees and employers.
Under Chinese law, employers entering the market are free to set the terms and conditions of employment in such matters as pay and other benefits, working hours and job descriptions/requirements. Employers can hire staff through a familiar range of means, including newspaper and other advertisements and through the growing numbers of specialist hr firms in the market. One very popular means of finding Chinese employees is through employment fairs, which take place frequently in China's major cities.
Foreign invested companies in the Chinese market have unique attractions to local workers. They usually offer higher pay, are regarded as more prestigious and offer a better platform for successful careers. Additionally, growing numbers of graduates, including many who have studied in the UK, US or Europe, provide foreign investors with a large labour pool from which to find suitable people.
Most companies venturing into China start by employing expatriates to head their projects. But as a general rule, foreign invested companies should seek to localise employment as far up the management chain as possible as soon as they can. Aside from demonstrating the necessary commitment to China, this also enables more effective management of the inevitable frictions that arise between Chinese and Western ways of doing business as well as getting round the language barrier. There are also cost advantages. Local compensation packages are increasing rapidly, but are not yet at the level of those required by expatriates.
Some companies choose to import overseas Chinese managers, often from Hong Kong, Singapore or Taiwan on the grounds that they will share the language and wider culture local staff and the market in general while being competent in English and grounded in Western business practices. However, overseas Chinese staff may have as little detailed knowledge of conditions in mainland China, and are sometimes perceived as arrogant or "too westernized" by local Chinese staff.
China itself is producing growing numbers of people with the skills and experience to take up management roles in foreign invested enterprises. What people in this category may lack is experience in Western business, and the key here is to look for people with experience in other foreign owned or invested firms.
In many respects, Chinese returnees offer the best option for local management. Returnees in this context are people who have studies and/or worked abroad for a limited period of time. At one time, a chance to study abroad was looked upon as a ticket to prosperity - and a one-way ticket at that. But with opportunities in China now burgeoning, the tendency is increasingly for Chinese students to graduate abroad and then return at the earliest opportunity. The appeal of Chinese graduates of foreign universities to employers lies in their mix of Western and Eastern skills and competencies. After a few years immersion in non-Chinese educational establishments they have experienced and adapted to the West as Chinese people, and so are well equipped to help others make the same adaptation.
While the number of highly qualified and experienced local staff is growing in China, demand still outstrips supply, with the result that wages are rising rapidly and many foreign invested companies find themselves with high employee turnover as staff "job hop" looking for the best terms and conditions.
Combatting this tendency requires more than just the right compensation package. It underlines the necessity of culturally aware management and on forging a good reputation amongst potential employees and in the community at large. Many companies in China affiliate to charities or support business in the community programmes offering training or providing services to disadvantaged groups. While the days when businesses offered their employees an "iron rice bowl" are now over, people in China are habituated into thinking of businesses as social as well as economic enterprises
Under Chinese law, employers entering the market are free to set the terms and conditions of employment in such matters as pay and other benefits, working hours and job descriptions/requirements. Employers can hire staff through a familiar range of means, including newspaper and other advertisements and through the growing numbers of specialist hr firms in the market. One very popular means of finding Chinese employees is through employment fairs, which take place frequently in China's major cities.
Foreign invested companies in the Chinese market have unique attractions to local workers. They usually offer higher pay, are regarded as more prestigious and offer a better platform for successful careers. Additionally, growing numbers of graduates, including many who have studied in the UK, US or Europe, provide foreign investors with a large labour pool from which to find suitable people.
Most companies venturing into China start by employing expatriates to head their projects. But as a general rule, foreign invested companies should seek to localise employment as far up the management chain as possible as soon as they can. Aside from demonstrating the necessary commitment to China, this also enables more effective management of the inevitable frictions that arise between Chinese and Western ways of doing business as well as getting round the language barrier. There are also cost advantages. Local compensation packages are increasing rapidly, but are not yet at the level of those required by expatriates.
Some companies choose to import overseas Chinese managers, often from Hong Kong, Singapore or Taiwan on the grounds that they will share the language and wider culture local staff and the market in general while being competent in English and grounded in Western business practices. However, overseas Chinese staff may have as little detailed knowledge of conditions in mainland China, and are sometimes perceived as arrogant or "too westernized" by local Chinese staff.
China itself is producing growing numbers of people with the skills and experience to take up management roles in foreign invested enterprises. What people in this category may lack is experience in Western business, and the key here is to look for people with experience in other foreign owned or invested firms.
In many respects, Chinese returnees offer the best option for local management. Returnees in this context are people who have studies and/or worked abroad for a limited period of time. At one time, a chance to study abroad was looked upon as a ticket to prosperity - and a one-way ticket at that. But with opportunities in China now burgeoning, the tendency is increasingly for Chinese students to graduate abroad and then return at the earliest opportunity. The appeal of Chinese graduates of foreign universities to employers lies in their mix of Western and Eastern skills and competencies. After a few years immersion in non-Chinese educational establishments they have experienced and adapted to the West as Chinese people, and so are well equipped to help others make the same adaptation.
While the number of highly qualified and experienced local staff is growing in China, demand still outstrips supply, with the result that wages are rising rapidly and many foreign invested companies find themselves with high employee turnover as staff "job hop" looking for the best terms and conditions.
Combatting this tendency requires more than just the right compensation package. It underlines the necessity of culturally aware management and on forging a good reputation amongst potential employees and in the community at large. Many companies in China affiliate to charities or support business in the community programmes offering training or providing services to disadvantaged groups. While the days when businesses offered their employees an "iron rice bowl" are now over, people in China are habituated into thinking of businesses as social as well as economic enterprises
Very good information. If need more information check here, We provide employee staffing for foreign company.
ReplyDelete