As Hong Kong protests linger, employers and job candidates are considering interim moves to Singapore, Taiwan, recruiting firm says
- Employers, job candidates are taking a conservative approach to hiring and job changes, according to recruiting firm Robert Walters
- About 10 per cent of recruiting requests include Singapore, Taiwan as temporary alternatives until situation improves, firm says
Months of anti-government protests and civil unrest in Hong Kong have prompted global banks and other employers to consider hiring in alternative locations like Singapore and Taiwan until situation improves, according to recruiting firm Robert Walters.
Employers and job candidates are taking a “much more conservative approach” to hiring and job changes because of concerns about the market outlook following steep economic losses in the city’s tourism, retail and property sectors, managing director Ricky Mui said.
“Where there is an option of having headcount in Hong Kong or abroad, usually Taiwan or Singapore, companies will actually prefer to move the headcount away from Hong Kong in the interim,” he said in an interview. “Some cautious candidates actually prefer to be based outside Hong Kong due to the market conditions and social unrest.”
The firm has seen more of such temporary arrangements in the current job market, he added.
The protests that began in June over a now-withdrawn extradition bill have since morphed into broader demands for universal suffrage amid concerns the city’s high degree of autonomy is being eroded. Hong Kong police have fired more than 10,000 rounds of tear gas and arrested over 5,800 people in months of disturbances
Investors ‘cautious’ about Hong Kong as protests, trade war linger
Violent protesters have targeted the city’s transport networks to force their demands, hurting businesses from retailers to hoteliers as many tourists skipped Hong Kong for holidays. Along with the impact of US-China trade war, the local economy fell into a technical recession last quarter.
Nomura forecasts the economy to contract by 1.2 per cent this year and to only grow by 0.1 per cent in 2020. Unless the social situation improves, economic underperformance and capital outflows are likely to be among key themes in 2020, it said in an outlook report.
Against the weakening economic backdrop in Hong Kong and globally, big banks have been cutting jobs and costs to improve their profitability.
Prospects tighten for expat bankers as Hong Kong lenders trim staff
Deutsche Bank said in July that it would slash about 18,000 jobs and close its equity sales and trading business globally. HSBC said in October that it would accelerate its cost reduction efforts, including job cuts, while Morgan Stanley is reportedly cutting 1,500 positions worldwide.
At Robert Walters in Hong Kong, about 10 per cent of the recruiting requests from companies indicated their willingness to move the role to Singapore or Taiwan on an interim basis, Mui said.
“I'm not getting requests every time we get a role but where there is an opportunity that is more flexible, they'll say ‘location: flexible, Hong Kong, Taiwan or Singapore’,” he added. Negotiations on alternative locations are seen as a preventive measure, he added.
Retailers such as Hermes report resilient revenue despite Hong Kong protests
Hiring in 2020 will be conservative as most employers have done or are doing their budgets with a wait-and-see approach, Mui said.
That more cautious approach has also led to lengthening hiring processes, additional stages of interviews and more rigorous due diligence on candidates. In some cases, companies have frozen headcount in the fourth quarter.
“We expect to see more replacement headcounts [rather than new jobs] unless you are in niche growth areas like technology and transformation, digital, e-commerce,” he said.
