Hong Kong Employees Lack Loyalty

A Third ‘On the Move’, A Quarter Unhappy with Pay, and 40% rate their company’s products their second choice!

10 November 2005
Hong Kong

Staff turnover has long been one of the key challenges for employers everywhere in the world, and is fueled further when an economy is booming. Hong Kong, despite its relatively small market, is being faced with an employee talent war amongst employers as the economy rebounds. According to a survey conducted by ACNielsen from September 30 to October 10, 2005 interviewing 600 adults in Hong Kong and China, only 38 percent of the employed (aged 18+) is sure they are going to stay in the current job while one in three is considering changing jobs and one in four is sitting on the fence.

On the other hand, in the workforce in Mainland China, half of those surveyed claimed they would be staying and only one-fifth admitted that they are seeking an alternative job. (Table 1)

“In markets like Hong Kong and China where the economies are fast developing, a stable and committed workforce is simply critical to the success of a business,” said Ms Winnie Yeung, Director of ACNielsen Customized Research and specialist in ACNielsen | eQTM and Winning BrandTM studies. “However the latest findings and analysis based on the ACNielsen | Employee eQTM model indicate that not only is the strength of HK companies to retain staff weaker than both the Asia Pacific average and China but the risk of losing staff is also higher.”

Hong Kong employees’ potential dissatisfaction towards their employers can be partly attributed to the fact that a quarter of them consider their current salary not competitive compared to other companies in the same industry, which is five percentage points higher than their counterparts in China. Despite the 41 percent who claimed their pay was competitive, that was again another eight points lower than those in China (49%).

Other alarming findings revealed in the ACNielsen Employee eQ study are that there were significant expectation gaps between the HK workforce and their employers. Accordingly, while employees regarded areas like Corporate Culture and Communications, Career Enhancement and Development for staff, and Appraisal and Recognition the most important factors for them to stay in a company, they felt their employers had done a better job only in pursuing corporate agendas like building corporate reputation and image, delivering company vision and maintaining business performance and stability instead.  (Table 2)

The expectations of their employers by HK employees were quite similar to those in China, with the exception that company’s performance and stability was considered more important than performance appraisal and recognition among the mainland Chinese workforce.

“While employers are keen to build their corporate reputation and image, it is important that they be empathetic and put themselves in their employees’ shoes about what will motivate and retain them.” Ms Yeung continued.

Among all the feedback employees gave, below are the seven key ones Hong Kong employers should take note of:

1. A third think that ‘Exchange of ideas or information are never valued or shared in their company’; the feeling is 14 points stronger than those in China
2. A third think that ‘Very little teamwork exists and people are not encouraged to give a helping hand’; (vs 20% in China)
3. 43 percent feel that ‘No budget is planned for training, there is so much work yet so little opportunity for proper training’; (vs 32% in China)
4. A third feel that ‘Promotions are not always fair and often not based on performance’; (vs 20% in China)
5. A third feel that ‘the performance appraisal process is often unsystematic and not properly conducted’; (vs. 21% in China)
6. More than a third see ‘Very little recognition given to performance and the company does not appear to value accomplishments’; (vs. 22% in China)
7. The view that ‘I am always assigned to do meaningless tasks’ is agreed by a third of HK employees; (vs 27% in China)

 Apparently the list could go on according to ACNielsen’s study and the above seven proved to be less satisfactory when compared with their relatively positive counterparts in HK and those in Mainland China.

To further evaluate loyalty among the workforce in Hong Kong, ACNielsen combined the analysis of HK employees’ satisfaction level with the company’s Brand Equity Model. Subsequently, an Employer Brand Equity Index of 5.3 was recorded for Hong Kong, the lowest compared with the three key cities in China.  “Our subsequent in-depth analysis further revealed the internal and external risks employers in HK are facing as their employees’ loyalty to their company is not consistent,” Ms Yeung warned.

As the findings has shown, employees were not necessarily proud of the products/services their company offers – something they were involved in the making of, one way or the other. Only a quarter of HK employees said the products/services their company offers would be their first choice as a consumer whereas 40 percent said it would be their second-most preferred choice only. When asked if they would buy their company’s products/services at whatever cost, only one in 10 confirmed that they would and 12 percent said they wouldn’t. While it sounds a bit encouraging that majority of employees (78%) in Hong Kong said they would recommend their company’s products/services to friends, the remaining one fifth would actually ‘betray’ their company by recommending competitors’  brand!  

“This is worrying and a final call for companies in HK. It came out a thousand times more powerful and damaging with even just one employee who would recommend against their own company’s products/services,” Ms Yeung continued.

All in all, the loyalty of Hong Kong employees was found to be lower in most areas, when compared to their Mainland Chinese counterparts. (Table 3-5)

“Building a respected employer brand and retaining a workforce that is loyal to the company requires long term commitment and investment by a company,” Ms Yeung added. “Strong ownership, sustainable leadership and two-way communications are key, and it’s time for employers in HK to go back to the basics, hear what their employees think and act on it.”

ACNielsen, a VNU business, is the world’s leading marketing information provider.  Offering services in more than 100 markets, the unit provides measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics and consumer attitudes and behavior.  Clients rely on ACNielsen’s market research, proprietary products, analytical tools and professional service to understand competitive performance, to uncover new opportunities and to raise the profitability of their marketing and sales campaigns.  To learn more, visit www.acnielsen.com.hk.

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Table 4

Table 5