To attract the best candidates in the market, Resources Global Professional aims to offer an attractive work arrangement, with major benefits including flexible working hours, choice of projects, competitive benefits and compensation schemes.

As part of the company's scheme for employees, the 'associates', or staff who work with clients, can choose how many hours and which project they want to work on - a winning formula which is bringing positive results.

'Many people are under pressure to work long hours, often more than the stipulated 40 hours per week,' Mr Cherbak said. 'In our company, associates get paid for every hour they work.'

The length of projects varies, and some associates can also choose to work for a few weeks or months before taking time off.

It is a win-win situation for the associate and the company. Furthermore, having associates choose which project to work on ensures that each task is handled by somebody who has the right skills and interests.

Flexible working hours do not necessarily bring a lower income. Because many projects require more than an average of 40 hours per week, associates' earning abilities can easily be more than that of regularly salaried professionals. Most of the associates earn an annual income of US$80,000.

Under the career flexibility scheme, employees can also request relocation to a different city or country.

'If somebody in Hong Kong wants to do work for our office in Australia, [we welcome that]. We are open to different professional pursuits,' Mr Cherbak said.

The model is being applied to more than 90 per cent of the company's employees worldwide. The feedback from employees has been positive. 'It allows people to take control of their own destiny,' Mr Cherbak said.

Resources Global Professionals' HR policies are aimed at dealing with staff retention issues, which has become the hot topic in Asia for most workplaces. Mr Cherbak said that competition to hire the best talent had been fierce in Asia and was also a global trend. This was reflected in the upward trend of salaries for accounting and finance professionals.

'In the past three to four years, the salaries have increased by between 30 and 40 per cent,' he said.

'Those in accounting and finance can be picky. It is encouraging for students who want to take up finance and accounting majors at university.'

There are no expectations for employees to labour endlessly and clock long hours in the office. More companies realise that work-life balance and flexible work options are definitely the trend of the future. Equally important is for companies to go beyond rhetoric and be genuinely truthful to promote the employee-orientated model.

Mr Cherbak urged senior executives to lead the new trend by example. 'We are not saying that we don't work hard, but we also know when to stop and have fun,' he said.

The fact that most of the company's top clients stay on - so far only one has discontinued - indicates their satisfaction with the service and reflects the success of its human resources policy.

'When you take care of people, they will take care of the clients. This will create a perpetual cycle of quality service,' Mr Cherbak said.

Founded in 1996, Resources Global Professionals has more than 80 offices in 18 countries and regions, including Hong Kong and Beijing.

The California-based company employs more than 2,800 associates around the world. The average work experience of its Asian associates is about 14 years.

Destined to succeed

To attract the best talent, Resources Global Professionals offers a flexible work model, which includes choices on working hours and projects, competitive benefits and compensation schemes.

Employees are paid for every hour of work.

Freedom to choose which project to work on also ensures all tasks are being handled by an associate who has the appropriate skill and interest.

The flexible work option gives an opportunity for employees to balance their work and private life and to 'take control of their own destiny'.