Nearly half of employers in Hong Kong SAR plan to hire more in 2022

Despite the continued challenges from the pandemic, employers in Hong Kong SAR are more upbeat about business activity in 2022 and plan to hire more.
 
45% of employers expect permanent staff levels to increase in 2022, based on findings from the 2022 Hays Asia Salary Guide, which compiles salary and sector overviews based on real data and a survey of skilled professionals across China, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore. Over 9,500 responses were collected between October to November 2021. 
Only 9% of employers said they expect staff levels to decrease. Asked about real staff changes in the previous year, 26% said staff levels decreased.
 
“Despite the continued challenges and ever-changing rules on restrictions, it is clear from the strong hiring appetite that businesses are determined to seize recovery opportunities this year,” says Sue Wei, Managing Director, Hays Hong Kong SAR.
 
However, compared to last year, skilled professionals in Hong Kong are less inclined to look for a new job. 29% of respondents said they were actively looking for a new job, compared to 36% in the previous year.
 
“People’s priorities have changed in recent years due to the pandemic. Salary package and work-life balance have consistently topped employee motivations when it comes to staying at their jobs, but this year, job security outweighed career progression for respondents.”
On the other hand, jobseekers placed extra emphasis on the search for a better salary package (81% in 2022 compared to 64% in 2021). Benefits like health insurance and allowances also became significantly more important to respondents (41% in 2022 compared to 28% in 2021).
 
Sue Wei, Managing Director, Hays Hong Kong SAR says, “Globally, millions of workers have been empowered to rethink how they want to live their lives and what they want out of their jobs after the pandemic. While compensation is still a high priority for candidates, they are becoming more discriminating about factors like benefits, flexibility, and work-life balance. Employers looking to hire in the coming months will need to re-evaluate how they approach these aspects of work in order to successfully attract and keep employees so they are on track for recovery and growth.”
 
For more 2022 trends and insights, download the 2022 Hays Asia Salary Guide.
 
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Contact name: Bill Wang
Contact job title: Marketing Executive
Contact email address: Bill.Wang@hays.cn
 
 
About Hays
 
Hays plc (the "Group") is a leading global professional recruiting group. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK and Australia and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe, Latin America and Asia. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As at 31 December 2021 the Group employed c.12,100 staff operating from 254 offices in 33 countries across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2021:
 
– the Group reported net fees of £918.1 million and operating profit of £95.1 million;
– the Group placed around 60,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 220,000 people into temporary roles;
 
– 17% of Group net fees were generated in Australia & New Zealand, 27% in Germany, 22% in United Kingdom & Ireland and 34% in Rest of World (RoW);
 
– the temporary placement business represented 61% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 39% of net fees;
 
– Technology is the Group’s largest specialism, with 26% of net fees, while Accountancy & Finance (14%) and Construction & Property (12%), are the next largest
 
– Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA