A new study shows that employers in China and Hong Kong are failing to clearly identify the jobs that are critical to long-term business success, and are struggling to provide managers and employees with the career-development skills they need.
Mercer Human Resource Consulting conducted the study and found that Chinese companies tend to focus more on the short-term priority of attracting and retaining talent than on developing employee capabilities for the future. Only 10% of organizations surveyed in China and 11% in Hong Kong are fully satisfied that they have clearly identified the careers that are critical to business success, while only 6% of organizations in China and 2% in Hong Kong say they have developed the internal talent pipeline to meet growing business demand.
Building world-class capability in business-critical disciplines is reported as a key priority for only 47% of all Hong Kong participants and only 22% of mainland Chinese organizations. Only 45% of organizations in China and 50% in Hong Kong reported equipping their managers with the skills to support a robust career-management system. Only 24% of organizations in China and 28% in Hong Kong facilitate discussions between employees and managers to address career opportunities and development.
241 organizations in Asia participated in the survey, including 38 from Hong Kong and 140 from mainland China.
"Organizations in Greater China need to place greater emphasis on building a sustainable human-capital infrastructure if they want to have a sufficient talent pipeline to keep up with business growth," said Brenda Wilson, Senior Director, Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Greater China.