HE'S 45 and an executive with a company which picks up the tab for his very comfortable life . . . and his days are numbered.
If you're earning US$100,000 (HK$780,000) a year with a package of perks which includes accommodation, your children's schooling and annual air fares back home, you should be looking over your shoulder. That warning comes from a leading Hong Kong firm ofhead-hunters, which has noted a definite shift in demand.
As the civil service sector wrestles with the dramatic upheaval to its employment structure, so, too, a revolution has been taking place in the boardrooms and personnel offices of the hongs.
While politics and the ominous ''1997'' are dictating many of the changes to the bureaucratic rules which for so long have divided the Government's local and expatriate workers, market forces have demanded a rethink over who should take the top jobs in the private sector.
Head-hunter Martin Darke, senior manager with Ernst and Young's Exec utive Search, has seen a change in the demand from employers looking for executives - ''Nobody is asking specifically for anything other than locals,'' said Mr Darke.
''One of the essential factors is cost. Expat packages are going through the roof. To hire an expatriate executive always costs twice as much as a local hire when you take into account accommodation, kid's education and a ticket home,'' he explained.
''Over the past 10 years, the market at senior level has become more and more competitive and Hong Kong has become, more and more, an important market. There are now more well-qualified Chinese people who are well educated and have overseas experience.'' Jardine Pacific's director in charge of personnel and public affairs, Eleanor Ling, described the expat package as a cost differential, adding, ''People have to look at who is the best person doing a job, and cost is a factor. Hong Kong is very expensivefor employers.'' Hong Kong companies are admitting that local is best. A prime example is Cathay Pacific, as its general staff manager, Ian Wilson, explained.
