Recruiting in China

SHANGHAI: A survey released by 51job Inc Wednesday, a leading provider of integrated human resource services in China, showed that over 70 percent of enterprises which have been affected by the financial crisis have seen a gradual recovery this year. Some have maintained the same revenue they did last year and some have even achieved higher revenue, the survey showed.

Online game, e-commerce, food and commodity industries invested more in employee recruitment and training, said Feng Lijuan, chief HR expert of 51job Inc. A total of 100 enterprises have been chosen the best companies in terms of human resource management.

"The award will be presented to those whose human resources practices have made significant contributions to their corporate development," said Feng.

Through the award selection process, 51job Inc discovered that over these past few months, HR managers had turned a time of crisis into an opportunity to demonstrate the growing value of human resource management, she added.

"Today, human resource management is not only a partner to business strategy and development, but also an effective tool to manage economic slowdowns," Feng said.

The 100 best HR companies cover 19 industries, with IT at the top, manufacturing ranking second and finance third. Most face fierce competition for talent. Among them, foreign-funded companies occupy a majority and there are more State-owned ones than private ones, she said.

"Foreign-funded ventures were largely impacted globally by the economic slowdown, but their business in China has achieved the fastest recovery," Feng said.

The 100 winners have taken some actions to decrease the staff turnover rate by the preference of internal recruitment and rotation, according to Feng.

"What's more," Feng said, "the reinforced performance management they have made enables them to keep a higher salary level for employees."

Salaries of the 100 winners increased by 4.92 percent in the first half of this year over the same period last year. Among them, 52 companies increased salaries by five per cent to 10 per cent.