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Company bosses are not in workers' good books

Kelvin Chan

Hong Kong workers have the least commitment to their jobs and the lowest confidence in their employers, a survey has found.

Only 48 per cent of Hong Kong workers plan to stay with their employers for the next two to three years and 69 per cent would jump ship immediately if offered a similar job with higher pay, according to an Aon Consulting survey of six countries or regions.

Hong Kong workers also have little confidence in their companies, with 86 per cent saying they would not recommend it as the best place to work. And 57 per cent do not feel a high sense of responsibility in helping their companies succeed.

The findings do not bode well for Hong Kong as it strives to attract investment and top-notch workers, says Michael Chan Kwok-to, director of human-resources at Aon.

'Hong Kong employers are faced with a lot of challenges,' Mr Chan said.

He said companies were at risk of losing professional talent, which would affect organisational capabilities.

'That will drive up costs ... in terms of recruitment and replacement. If employers in Hong Kong do not take care of the commitment issues ... Hong Kong's competitive edge will be diminished,' Mr Chan said.

The report comes as Hong Kong is focusing on high value-added industries and attracting skilled people to fill those jobs.

Worker retention is not a new problem for Hong Kong companies. From the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, when the unemployment rate fell to as low as 1 per cent, businesses battled to keep staff.

Aon commissioned City University's research centre to carry out the survey, which interviewed 1,004 people by phone.

On Aon's workforce commitment index, which has a baseline of 100, Hong Kong scored 81, lowest among the six places surveyed. The US topped at 99.7, while Canada, South Africa, Australia and Britain also scored in the 90s.

In terms of the confidence employees feel about how successful their companies will be, Hong Kong also scored lowest at 12.4. Aon's employee confidence index ranges from minus-100 to plus-100, so the result means Hong Kong workers are still slightly positive.

'Although they are a little bit lower than other countries, Hong Kong employees still feel a little bit positive that their employers will do better,' he said.

South Africans are the most confident about their companies' prospects, with a rating of 57. Canadians are the second least optimistic with a rating of 31.5.

Other human resources professionals agree that Hong Kong companies could improve the way they deal with staff.

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