China: the talent war is getting a face lift

Turnover is dropping. It is around 10% now whereas it amounted to 45% in Shanghai during full growth. Figures are difficult to establish but it is sure that, during this crisis, between psychological impact and actual problems finding a job, even Chinese employees with the highest skills learned to be cautious and now avoid too abrupt career turns. Indeed, the Chinese economy is shaken up and unemployment is threatening. Even though the Chinese GNP is still growing (+7.9% for the last quarter), unemployment is increasing. Official figure say 4.8% of the active population is without a job, but there are probably much more since Beijing doesn’t include rural jobs or the numerous workers without a contract. “American businesses present in China quickly adopted drastic measures, much more than European and mostly Chinese businesses” explained Stella Hou, in charge of remunerations in the Asia-Pacific area for Hewitt Associate. The large Chinese public service applies Beijing’s orders: zero layoffs. For instance, at the Dalian harbor, the strategy of the director, Sun Hong, in the face of a year (2009) which has been disastrous for exports, was to multiply training for idle workers to “get through winter and get ready for spring.” Besides, not all sectors had to cut back: retail trade is still growing in poor regions in the center and west of the country, and shops are still having a hard time finding skilled workers.