Even though China constitutes a huge pool of talents, the rapid economic growth produce an increasing workers scarcity. In the competition for talented workers FOEs, and especially foreign SMEs, are not well positioned as they were at the beginning of the new millennium.
Young talents today may not consider FOEs attractive anymore. Chinese companies are matching or exceeding FOE salary packages, offering enticing benefits and attractive career paths, including international expansion assignments. They also observe that few Chinese managers found their way to top positions at western firms. Today a high salary is no longer topping the priority list for millennials; personal learning and development has been cited instead as the top choice benefit.
On the other side often senior professionals that had good scores 10 years ago, even with experience in FOEs, are simply not understanding the new Chinese course and find themselves unfit in the actual reality. Old “Chinese way” and clever shortcuts helping business some year ago may bring your company in unexpected traps today and make your company decrease in the ranking of local and central govern and less likely to get support.
Finding good people is only half the battle, retaining them is also a serious concern. Wages in China cities were constantly growing with 2 digits percentages in the last decade, sometime doubling in 5 years or less. If you do not adapt your salary policy to the market you may find your attractiveness rapidly decreasing.