China’s foreign businesses adapt by looking inward for talent as zero-Covid keeps expats away

Even in cities without major coronavirus lockdowns, including Hong Kong, ‘trust issues’ are rife among foreigners, and the main concern is often their children

Foreign business groups say firms want to maintain China presence, but diminished labour pool of outside talent is expected to continue until after 20th Party Congress

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Foreign companies in China are looking to hire local talent as zero-Covid policies make it difficult to find and retain expat workers. Illustration: Brian Wang

Published: 11:00am, 1 Aug 2022Updated: 7:11pm, 1 Aug 2022

Foreign businesspeople, having struggled throughout the pandemic to cope with China’s draconian lockdown measures, are holding out hope that leaders in Beijing will allow for more leeway to address the nation’s economic hardships after this autumn’s critically important 20th Party Congress.

Doing so would serve to help bring more expatriates back to China, they say, according to representatives of foreign business chambers operating in the country.

And some also say Hong Kong should take the lead in relaxing its quarantine policy – shifting it away from mandatory hotel quarantines.

Such compulsory precautions remain a hindrance to some business operations in the international business hub where 94 per cent of the population has received at least two vaccinations against the coronavirus.

Henry Cheung, chairman of the board of directors at the Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, said that forcing people to stay at a hotel “is a cost” for many companies, especially small and medium-sized ones, because they may be saddled with the bill.

“There’s a tradition in Europe that staff take long holidays in July or August,” added Cheung, who is also the managing director at Finnish engineering giant KONE Elevator (Hong Kong). “The quarantine measures [also] imply that they have to shorten their vacation, which is not something they want.”

The feeling of “being locked up” at a quarantine hotel that they dislike is the primary reason cited by staff who “tentatively don’t want to come back”, according to Cheung, especially if they have not been infected with the coronavirus.