Hong Kong firms need to offer hardship allowances to attract talent, as quarantine makes overseas recruitment ‘extremely difficult’

“We need to reflect on why some companies in an international financial centre need to offer hardship allowances to attract talent,” Hong Kong Investment Funds Association boss says

If talent shortage forces companies to relocate their regional offices, it will seriously threaten Hong Kong’s international financial centre status

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Arrivals at Hong Kong International Airport await transport to their quarantine hotels, in this file photo from August 14. The city has cut the hotel quarantine period from seven days to three, but this is not enough, says HKIFA chairman Nelson Chow. Photo: Dickson lee

Published: 6:30pm, 16 Aug 2022Updated: 10:29pm, 16 Aug 2022

One in five global companies operating in Hong Kong will need to offer hardship allowances to attract overseas talent to the city, the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association (HKIFA) said.

Tough quarantine rules put in place to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic had made it either “difficult” or “extremely difficult” to recruit expats to Hong Kong, according to 70 per cent of respondents polled by the industry body last month. HKIFA represents fund companies with more than US$50 trillion in assets under management globally. It surveyed all 56 members for the poll, of which 36 responded.

About 20 per cent of such firms were already offering these allowances – extra cash usually paid to those who work in less developed regions. Such compensation had rarely been seen in Hong Kong before the onset of Covid-19.

“We need to reflect on why some companies in an international financial centre need to offer hardship allowances to attract talent,” Sally Wong, HKIFA’s CEO, said in a briefing yesterday on Tuesday.

The association, as well as bankers, brokers and regulators have all lobbied the government over the past few months to relax Hong Kong’s tough Covid-19 containment measures. The city and mainland China are among the few places globally that still require visitors to quarantine in hotels.

These measures have prevented the recruitment of expats and led to an exodus of talent for cities and regions that do not have such restrictions any more. More than 113,000 residents left the city in the 12 months to the end of June, according to government data released last week.

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