Western Firms Find Hiring, Retention in China Surprisingly Tough
PARIS -- Hubert Giraud of Capgemini never thought hiring people in China, the world's most-populous country, would be so difficult.
As multinationals like Capgemini, a French information-technology and consulting company, flood the market looking for skilled workers, they are running up against unforeseen problems. Salaries among qualified workers are rising faster than expected, midlevel managers in their 40s are scarce, education standards are weak and many Chinese say they would rather work for a local firm rather than a Western company.
Strong competition for experienced employees, the cultural complexities of working in a Western company and the sense that the top positions will always be held by European or U.S. managers push many Chinese workers out of Western companies after only a few years.
"Eighty million people live in this province," says Mr. Giraud, Capgemini's global head of business-process outsourcing, referring to Guangdong in Southern China, where the firm employs 500 people in the outsourcing unit. "When you see that, you think you can get anything you want. It's just not true."
In a nation of 1.3 billion only 5.2% of the population has a college degree and above, China's National Bureau of Statistics reported in March. By comparison, roughly 25% of the U.S. population of 298 million have college degrees.
Many multinationals, which spend heavily on training young Chinese graduates to compensate for the educational shortfalls, lose them to local companies after a few years because the Chinese perceive that opportunities for career development and promotion are greater.
In China, as well as rapidly developing economies like India, it isn't unusual for Western companies to lead investment in their sectors and import their own educational standards. What surprises some companies is the lengths to which they have to go to train young Chinese, as opposed to Indians, who generally have workable English.
It is common, managers interviewed for this article say, for a company to lose a third of its work force in a year. Headhunting firm Heidrick & Struggles said in a July study that "talented managers" in China are changing jobs every 15 months. Heidrick says most companies are happy if they can limit turnover to no more than 15%, particularly in fast-growing industries like technology and telecommunications. Bob Krysiak, STMicroelectronics NV's president and general manager for Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, says attrition rates for the company's China operations range between 12% and 15%.
"China is like the Internet bubble in the U.S. -- vibrant and bullish," says Vincent Gauthier, general manager for human-resources firm Hewitt Associates in Hong Kong. "If you are in your 30s, have English and skills, you can walk right out of one job and into another without breaking a sweat. And people do."
The recent influx of college students to Chinese universities means it is easy to recruit 22-year-olds with no job experience. However, people with even a few years of experience are in deep demand.
The surge in employment opportunities has been driven by China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001, which led to a leap in investment in China. Last year foreign companies invested $60 billion in China, compared with $38 billion in 2000, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics.
China's Ministry of Commerce said in the first four months of 2006 roughly 12,000 new foreign companies began operations in China. Heidrick notes that established companies in China, both local and foreign, are rapidly expanding their ranks. Of the companies polled by Heidrick, the number of those with staff of more than 5,000 tripled in the past two years, to six.
Few companies are backing down from plans to carve out a corner for themselves in China's thriving marketplace, despite rising wages and intense competition. That is because most companies see the Chinese market itself as an important source of revenue. According to Heidrick, two-thirds of respondents cite selling to China's 1.3 billion people as the key reason for being in China, while setting up operations to outsource for the West is a secondary concern.
Both U.S.-based and other foreign companies face intense competition for staff and rising salaries to increase their operations. Capgemini, which derives 1% of its revenue from China, is looking to triple its staff in China in the next four to five years to between 2,000 and 3,000.
STMicro, which draws a quarter of its sales from China, announced that it would invest $500 million in a new semiconductor factory. It plans to hire 2,500 across China during next few years.
Meanwhile, General Electric Co. said it is looking to maintain its annual 10% earnings growth in part by outsourcing to China. At present the company makes about $5 billion in revenue from China, and recently Chairman Jeff Immelt said he expects that number to double in the next four to five years. GE employs 13,000 people in China.
The labor shortage, particularly among experienced workers, means companies routinely poach talent from each other, driving up salaries in the process. Hewitt Associates estimates that wages are rising as much as 15% a year for experienced, English-speaking workers, but anecdotal evidence puts the number much higher.
Stefan Dyckerhoff, head of Capgemini's consulting arm in China, hires first-year consultants for $5,000 per year but bumps their pay up to $35,000 by the third. By comparison the average rural salary in China is $225 annually and the average urban salary is $1,164, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Mr. Dyckerhoff says salary inflation is outpacing what the company charges in consulting fees, though profit is still possible.
STMicro which employs 4,000 people in China, pays a relatively experienced engineer in Shanghai about $40,000 a year.
The problem, says Mr. Krysiak, is that raising salaries alone doesn't keep workers. Many are leaving for rising Chinese technology companies or even to become entrepreneurs.
"There is a lot of venture-capital money chasing Chinese enterprises," he says. "We lose people because some of these guys all want to be part of the next IPO."
Junwen Mo, a 22-year-old Chinese business student, has an internship at BNP Paribas but says many Chinese want to work for a Chinese company in the long run.
"For prestige and personal satisfaction it is better to work for a Chinese company," he says, adding that foreign companies might pay better salaries but they don't grant promotions. "If you are ambitious you have to work for a Chinese company after a few years of experience."
Losing people like Mr. Mo is painful for Western companies that have spent both time and money training them.
Although China produces 3.1 million college graduates a year, educational standards are lacking, McKinsey & Co., a U.S. consulting firm, says in a 2005 report. Even engineering students from the most prestigious universities in Beijing receive little practical training in projects or in working with a team. Few speak passable English. As a result McKinsey estimates that only 160,000 engineering graduates a year are suitable to work in multinationals -- a pool no larger than the U.K.'s, which has a population of about 60 million.
To compensate for the poor education system, companies are investing in training programs to get new recruits up to speed, which can add 15% to personnel costs, McKinsey says.
在华外企痛感人才难得
法国信息技术及咨询企业Capgemini从未想到在中国招聘和留住人才是如此困难。
Capgemini业务程序外包的全球主管于贝尔?吉罗(Hubert Giraud)在谈到中国南部的广东省时说，这个省有8,000万人口，乍看起来，你会认为能得到你想要的一切。但实际上并非如此。Capgemini在广东的外包子公司共聘用了500人。
当跨国公司在中国寻找训练有素的员工时，他们遭遇了未曾料到的问题。合格工人的薪资增长速度超过了他们的预期，40岁左右的中层经理缺乏，教育标准低下，许多中国人表示，他们宁愿为本地企业工作，也不愿为西方公司工作。
对有经验员工的激烈争夺、西方公司企业文化的差异、以及高层职位将始终由欧美人把持的观念令许多中国员工在仅仅工作了几年后就选择了离开。
根据中国国家统计局(National Bureau of Statistics) 3月份公布的数据，在中国的13亿人口中，只有5.2%的人拥有大学文凭。而在美国的2.98亿人口中，约有四分之一拥有大学文凭。
许多跨国公司不遗余力地培训年轻的中国毕业生，以弥补他们在校学习期间的不足，但几年后，许多人就应聘到本地企业，因为他们感到在国内公司的职业发展和提拔机会更大。
经理们称，一家公司每年流失三分之一员工的现象很普遍。猎头企业Heidrick & Struggles在7月份的研究报告中称，中国的“优秀经理”每15个月就会换一份工作。Heidrick称，许多公司如果能将人员流动率控制在15%以内就会感到满足，特别是在科技和电信等快速增长的行业内就更是这样。STMicroelectronics NV负责香港、台湾和中国大陆地区的总裁兼总经理鲍勃?克雷夏克(Bob Krysiak)说，该公司中国业务的人员流动率约在12%至15%之间。
人力资源机构翰威特公司(Hewitt Associates LLC)驻香港总经理文森特?戈捷(Vincent Gauthier)将这种情况比作是美国互联网的泡沫时代。他说，如果你30来岁，英语好，又有专长，那你可以毫不费力地换份工作。人们也正是这样做的。
中国高校近年来的扩招意味著很容易招聘到年龄在22岁左右，没有工作经验的毕业生。不过，受欢迎的却是具有几年工作经验的人。
中国商务部(Ministry of Commerce)称，2006年前4个月，中国新开业的外企约有12,000家。Heidrick指出，中国现有的公司，无论是本土的还是外企，都在迅速扩大员工队伍。在Heidrick调查的公司中，拥有5,000名以上员工的中国企业在过去两年里增长了两倍。
各国的在华企业在扩大业务时都面临著激烈的人才竞争和提高工资的压力。Capgemini计划在今后4至5年里将在华员工总数增加两倍，达到2,000至3,000人。
STMicro的销售额约有四分之一来自于中国。该公司宣布，将向新的半导体厂投资5亿美元，并计划今后几年里在中国招聘2,500名员工。
与此同时，通用电气公司(General Electric Co.)表示，计划通过向中国外包业务等措施保持10%的年收益增长率。目前该公司的在华收入约为50亿美元，董事长杰夫?伊梅尔特(Jeff Immelt)最近表示，他预计这个数量将在今后四至五年增长一倍。通用电气在中国的员工总数为13,000人。
劳动力的短缺，尤其是有经验员工的短缺，意味著企业通常要从别的公司挖人过来，这就推高了薪酬。翰威特估计，有经验，讲英语的员工每年的工资涨幅高达15%，但有传言称薪资上涨的幅度更高。
Capgemini驻中国咨询分公司的负责人斯蒂芬?迪克尔霍夫(Stefan Dyckerhoff)招聘咨询师第一年的起薪为5,000美元，但到第三年就把薪资提高到了35,000美元。中国国家统计局的数据显示，而中国农民的平均年收入约为225美元，城镇人口的平均年收入约为1,164美元。STMicro在中国聘用了4,000人，在上海向有经验的工程师支付的薪水约为每年4万美元。
克雷夏克说，问题是单单提高工资也留不住员工。许多人都离职到中国技术企业，或独自创业了。他说，有许多风险投资追逐中国企业，我们的员工离职是因为有些人希望成为下个首次公开募股(IPO)的受益者。
22岁的中国商学院学生莫俊文（音）在法国巴黎银行(BNP Paribas)做实习生，但他说，从长远来看，许多中国人希望在国内公司工作。他说，从声望和个人满意度而言，为中国公司工作更好。外国公司可能薪资较高，但却得不到提拔。如果你雄心勃勃，就应该在积累几年经验后，到国内公司工作。
失去莫俊文这样的人才对花费时间和金钱培养他们的西方公司而言无疑是痛苦的。
美国咨询机构麦肯锡公司(McKinsey & Co.)在2005年的报告中表示，尽管中国高校每年的毕业生人数高达310万人，但教育标准仍然不足。即使是北京最著名大学的工科学生也没有接受过多少项目实践培训或在一个团队工作过。英语口语不错的人寥寥无几。因此，麦肯锡估计每年只有大约16万工科毕业生适合到跨国企业工作──并不比只有6,000万左右人口的英国的工科毕业生人数多。
Nina Sovich
