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16 March 2006
Hong Kong
Jobs are often the first to go when market economies are flat or declining, and the last year has been no exception. According to a global online survey conducted by ACNielsen, a quarter of the world’s Internet population has been affected by redundancy, with eight percent laid off personally and an additional 17 percent claiming an immediate family member to have been made redundant in the past year.
The ACNielsen survey, conducted in November 2005, polled over 23,500 respondents – regular Internet users – in 42 markets globally.
Across the regions of the world, Latin American consumers appear to have been the most affected, with 43 percent redundancy, either personally (11%) or a member of their family (32%). (Table 1) Globally, Brazil topped the list of those most affected by redundancy, either directly or indirectly (52%), followed by Mexico (46%) and Chile (45%).
Hong Kong is in line with the Asia Pacific average with six percent who had experienced redundancy, and one-tenth having a family member affected. Thailand topped the region with 16 percent of respondents surveyed being laid off while Indonesia stood out for having nearly a third of respondents whose immediate family member has been made redundant in the past 12 months. (Table 1A)
At the other end of the scale, the Japanese, Finns and Kiwis had the least experience of redundancy, with 95 percent of Japanese, 92 percent of Finnish and 87 percent of Kiwi respondents claiming that neither they, nor a family member, had been laid off in the past year.
“Unemployment rates are currently running at less than five percent in Japan and around three percent in New Zealand, which could go some way toward explaining the low level of redundancy ‘experience’ in these markets,” said Ms Winnie Yeung, Director, WinningBrand and Customized Research, ACNielsen Hong Kong. “Similarly in Hong Kong, the job market has been improving amid the rebounding economy which explains a relatively low redundancy in the past year compared with other markets.”
Staff loyalty no longer valued, except in France!
Around the globe, 58 percent of people think companies don’t value staff loyalty as much as they did in the past. The most certain of this are more than two thirds of North Americans (70%) and Latin Americans (67%), followed by more than half of consumers in Asia Pacific and Europe.
In Asia Pacific, Australia (73%) felt most strongly about the lack of value placed on staff loyalty followed by Singapore and New Zealand. (Table 2). In Hong Kong 49 percent of people agree that companies do not value staff loyalty as they did. Interestingly, more than two thirds of the French (76%), the highest in the world, think companies do value staff loyalty while Indonesia (40%) and the Philippines marginally (28%) are the only Asia Pacific markets with the highest number of people still believing in their company’s value for loyalty.
“Based on previous ACNielsen Employee eQTM studies about employee satisfaction, the strength of HK companies in staff retention is less than both the Asia Pacific and China while its risk of losing staff is actually higher,” Yeung continued. “Amidst the improving job market and war for talents, employers are advised to better understand their employees and minimize the expectation gaps for more effective run of their business.”
Are governments doing enough to encourage job creation?
Seven in 10 people surveyed think their government isn’t doing enough to encourage job creation, with Latin Americans again topping the list (74%) followed by the Europeans (73%). Nearly two thirds of people in North America and Asia Pacific felt the same. The Polish are the world’s most dissatisfied, with nine in 10 thinking their government isn’t doing enough to create jobs. People in Taiwan, Brazil and Indonesia followed closely at 87, 86 and 85 percent respectively. At the other end of the scale, nearly half of Singaporeans (43%) were the most convinced of their government’s efforts on the job front, followed by UAE (41%), New Zealand and Malaysia (32%).
Hong Kong exceeded the Asia Pacific average with seven in 10 people do not think the Government is doing enough to improve the job market, on par with global average.(Table 3)
“In the consumers’ eyes, there is room for improvement for governments in the area of job creation. Providing an attractive fiscal environment for business investment, cooperation with corporations, retraining programs for the long-term unemployed or providing grants for start up businesses are all strategies that have worked else where,” .Ms Yeung continued.
Overall, though, we don’t feel overworked
For those currently employed, over half feel their work hours are just right, led by Europe (56%) and Asia Pacific (54%), where specifically, Finland, Thailand and Indonesia topped the list. Globally, one third thought their work hours were too long, most strongly felt in Latin America (39%). Chile, Greece and Singapore had the world’s greatest number of people who thought their current work hours were too long. Taiwan (46%). China and Hong Kong (39%) were the other three Asia Pacific markets on the list. “The differences in the perception about work hours are not only results of differences in domestic work environment but also major discrepancies in different industries.”
It’s worth mentioning that about one-tenth of those in Indonesia and India think that they could work longer hours and while the Russians went even further as the market with most spare time on their hands – and claimed their work hours were not long enough! (Table 4)
About ACNielsen
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 1A
Table 2
Table 3
Table 4
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