Recruiting in China

A SHORTAGE of professionals has led to a decrease in the number of multinational companies offering benefits such as flexible work hours, sabbatical leave and gym memberships to their employees this year, according to a recent survey.

Companies in China offer the second lowest number of benefits in Asia, leading only Japan, according to the report by Hudson Recruitment, a Nasdaq-listed human resources company.

Hudson surveyed about 2,500 multinational company executives in Asia about their hiring expectations during the third quarter this year. Altogether 673 of the respondents are based on the Chinese mainland, mostly in Shanghai.

Among all sectors, 44 percent of respondents said that their companies have a work-life balance policy, which is designed to enable staff to balance the demands of their job and personal life.

The figure fell slightly from 47 percent when the same question was asked in the second quarter of 2005 for the previous survey, the report said.

Companies in the information technology sector are the most likely to offer work-life benefits, with more than 51 percent of those companies having such policies.

The sharpest decline was reported in the banking sector, where the percentage of benefit-offering companies dropped from 56 percent to 40 percent.

Angie Eagan, general manager of Hudson China, said that decline was the result of heavy recruiting by banks.

"Most employers do understand the importance of work-life balance, but they just cannot afford the luxury to be flexible with people due to a shortage of talents," Eagan said.

She added that benefits are easily applied in fully staffed companies. Many companies are struggling to find enough trained workers, however, making it difficult to offer such benefits.

The report indicated that employment expectations remain high on the mainland. Sixty percent of respondents plan to increase headcount in the third quarter of this year, the highest level in Asia.