What a difference a year makes. This time last year, most companies were cutting costs in order to survive the economic gloom. Now, they are acting like Santa Claus.

Aruna Alimchandani, director at Ambition (Hong Kong), says with the economic upturn, many companies are hiring aggressively. To attract the best talent, and retain staff in an increasingly competitive market, many have to implement novel reward incentives.

'But being competitive doesn't mean the rewards have to be monetised,' Alimchandani says.

'There are many creative approaches such as giving birthday leave to staff, sharing visions of the company to make staff feel valued, providing nursery services for working parents and putting in place staff motivation and performance recognition schemes.'

Baat Gwaa thinks it's great that the candy man is back!