Hong Kong - Expect pay to rise by 5pc

The average Hong Kong worker can expect a 5 percent salary increase this year despite the uncertain economic outlook.

That is the reading from consulting firm Hay Group, which last month checked on 130 local and multinational companies involved in 11 industries in the territory. Intended pay increases averaged 5 percent, it found.

Actual increases last year came out at 4.9 percent on average.

Base salaries in the real estate sector are forecast to rise slightly more than other sectors - by 5.5 percent.

Thomas Higgins, Hay Group's Hong Kong director, said pay increases are essential given the demands for talent. The only way to be competitive is to regularly benchmark a firm's salary levels "against what's happening in the market," he said.

But a basic salary can no longer be viewed as the key mechanism for hiring, he added. "Sweeteners" and benefits are just as important.

"Research indicates that the world's most admired organizations don't pay any more than anyone else," Higgins said. Instead, they implement variable pay programs "with clear links to performance."

Such firms also have systems in place to identify staff with leadership potential and "retention and engagement strategies for the talent needed to run their businesses."

More than half of the operations surveyed by Hay are also working on ways to help male staff balance work and family commitments by offering paternity leave, though there is no statutory obligation to provide this benefit in Hong Kong.

Fifty-six percent of the 130 companies surveyed offer paternity leave, with 42 percent providing one or two days, 36 percent three or four days and the rest up to seven days.

Alice So

The Standard

Business & Investment Opportunities

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