Tag Archives: Asian Employment

过完年想跳槽可年终奖还没发,怎么办?-job changing without annual bonus

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This article is published on <Q Daily>. Tony Liu, consultant from RMG Selection in the IT industry, offers suggestions about how to deal with a dilemma-job changing without annual bonus. Go for the new position? Or stay in the current company to get annual bonus? How to choose between these two has always troubled employees. In fact, employees of different levels should think differently.

每年春节前后职场上最热闹的话题一定是跳槽,相伴而生的总是另一个问题,那就是年终奖。

50 薪虽然对大多数人来说想都不要想了,但有个双薪、三薪的,好像也还算不错。年终奖确实是一些公司留人的一种手段,但对于公司人来说,觉得真的受够了,但又不想错失这份收入,有什么办法呢?

《好奇心日报》采访了罗迈国际商务咨询(RMG Selection)的互联网行业猎头顾问刘君,他给了一些建议,大家不妨参考下。

<Q Daily> invited Tony Liu, consultant from RMG Selection in the IT industry, to give suggestions about how to choose between  a new position and annual bonus. Suggestions are as follows.

就目前的状况来看,公司年终奖的发放主要集中在每年一、二月份,比较及时的公司会在上一年12 月底发放完毕,较晚的公司会在春节过后即发,但也有部分公司会到六月份才将年终奖发放完毕。所以,如果年终奖发放时间是比较正常的大多数,完全可以和下一家公司开诚布公地说明年终奖发放时间,并商定在这之后的入职时间。但是总有一些情况导致跳槽不能两全其美,比如现公司发年终奖太晚,比如下家公司的职位需求非常着急,再比如你自己也不希望再在现公司消耗下去等,那么针对不同级别,刘君给了不同的建议。

对于基层级别员工,年终奖真的没多少

Basic-level Staff: Annual bonus would not be much.

对于基层级别员工来说,其未来职业发展都应该是其第一选择。如果可以明确新公司可以提供一个 3~5 年内更优质的发展,事实上在职业初期的涨薪幅度也会是不小的,所以从经济和发展角度都是优选。更何况,对于基层级别员工,无论年终奖占一年收入几成,其绝对值都不会太大,以后再看这个放弃不会觉得可惜的。 Career development should be the first choice for basic-level staff. If the new company promised better development in 3 to 5 years, then accept the new position is wiser both from the perspective of money and development. Because on the initial stage of your career, usually higher salary increase  is offered. Further, annual bonus normally would not be that much no matter how much it accounts for one’s salary. So basic-level staff won’t regret to give up the current job.

中层员工,有 3 种情况可以考虑放弃年终奖

Mid-level Staff: In these 3 cases, you should give up annual bonus.

对于中层级别员工,事实上是比较复杂的决定。取决于你个人年终奖多少,未来公司提供的机会如何。我会建议以下几个情况可以在冲突时选择放弃年终奖:1. 从中小型公司跳槽到大型公司。2. 从不带领团队到带领一个 3 人以上的团队。 3. 基本薪水涨幅在 50% 以上。在一些特别的情况下,也可以考虑和下一家用人单位签订签约奖金作为放弃年终奖的补偿形式
The situation for mid-level staff actually is more complicated. How much is annual bonus? How is the position offered by the new company? All these should be taken into consideration. Here are three cases in which I suggest you give up the annual bonus. First, you are leaving from a small and medium-sized enterprise to a large-sized enterprise. Second,  you will lead a team with three members while you are not a team-leader in the current company. Third,  over 50% of salary increase is offered. And in some special conditions, you can also discuss with the new company to give you sign-on bonus.

高层员工,你完全可以两全其美 

High-level Staff: You can absolutely achieve both.

对于高层级别员工,很多公司都是会给予股权、期权年终奖,其行权期会有 3~4 年的时间,数额涉及也比较大,而且这些高层级别员工也是市场上稀缺的人才,一旦和新的公司达成跳槽的共识,新公司也很难很快找到其他 BACK-UP 人选,所以无论是何时发年终奖,这类型的员工都可以和新公司商谈在年终奖之后再入职。

The new position always offer high-level staff stocks and  option bonus which can last for about 3 or  4 years. It can be a large amount of money. Moreover, high-level staff is in strong demand in the job market. Once they agree to change their job, the new company can’t find replacements in a short time. So it is alright for high-level staff to ask for joining the new company after receiving annual bonus.

 

三思后行,应对离职危机

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一家前景不错的公司向你发出了聘用邀请,尽管你非常希望加入这家公司,此时也不要过于兴奋。职场上很多人太过冲动,收到其他公司的录用通知后就迫不及待地给现在公司的人力资源部门递上草草拟写的辞职信。他们认为立刻结束现在的工作是正确的选择,否则会影响他们到新公司办理入职手续。 然而他们却忘记了在匆忙离职过程中人们经常会犯的一些小错。这些错误看似没有什么特别,但是很容易让自己在老雇主公司多年的努力付诸东流。等到新单位要求做新员工背景调查时,恐怕老同事和经理就不能为你美言啦!其实,谨慎处理离职过程非常有必要。以正确方式全身而退,我认为需要考虑两个要点。首先,做出离职决定前,是否清楚根本离职原因?其次,一旦决定离开,离职过程中需要注意几点?让我们从根本离职原因开始探索离职可能引发的危机!

1. 辞职决定是否出于一时冲动?

带着负面情绪辞职很可能会引人误入歧途。让我们设想以下场景:你刚和直线经理Tom因为一个公司的活动策划案发生了争执。你和团队成员为了这个策划案辛苦工作了一个月,而Tom仅用了十分钟草草看了策划,他坚持认为策划中的很多核心内容要调整,但是他没有给出任何具体原因。此刻你心里充满了怨气和怒火,你开始为团队所做的努力和Tom据理力争。你的经理变得不耐烦了,不愿意听你的抱怨和解释。最终,你没能控制好自己的脾气,对Tom嚷着你受够了,即刻就要辞职。

难道有人会希望以这样尴尬的方式离职吗?为了控制好自己的脾气,很多人都在学习情绪管理的漫漫长路上修行。尽管如此,25岁左右的年轻职员还是很容易情绪失控,做出一些让自己后悔的决定。俗话说冲动是魔鬼,它会悄悄地吞噬人们的理智,并让人们以为辩解与争论是理智行为。但是,他们不明白:人类会不断重复自己的行为,有第一次的不理智就会有第二次和第三次。最终这些人会抱怨自己时运不济,没有遇到伯乐。早知如此,何必当初呢?人们在情绪激动或怒火中烧时做出离职决定尤其不明智。我建议大家在魔鬼来临前独自一人出去走走,只有头脑冷静时人们才能认真地思考他们是否想要辞职。

2. 哪些因素会影响跳槽决定?

在招聘行业中专业猎头顾问都会预想候选人辞职过程中可能出现的种种情况,通常他们会为候选人列出一个离职问题清单。其中一个非常敏感的问题是要不要接受老雇主的挽留。有些员工离职是因薪资待遇不够好或工作成绩没有得到及时认可,这些员工有相对弱点。一旦老雇主了解他们是因为钱财或者功利原因离职,为了暂时留住员工以确保工作顺利进行,老雇主通常会提出加薪,奖励或者升职以挽留员工,此时这类员工就会重新考虑辞职决定,甚至很有可能不闹辞职了。

以十五年专业咨询顾问的经验,我认为接受老雇主挽留会带来相对的风险。当一名员工提出离职时,即使公司提出挽留计划并得到员工的同意,该员工对公司的忠诚度也会持续受到质疑,在同事异样的眼光下工作对于员工未来发展非常不利。因此,人们必须清楚自己想辞职的根本原因,而不是停留在钱财或者功利层面。对此,有一个简单的方法可以检验,假设老雇主提出加20%的薪水挽留你,这样的条件会让你产生放弃换工作的念头吗?如果你的第一反应是不放弃或者不确定,那么你就可以准备写辞呈了。

如何正确辞职是我们要探讨的第二个部分,也是离职危机的核心问题。员工在辞职过程中犯的一些错误很可能导致其与同事和直线经理间关系破裂,因而摧毁了员工在公司的良好形象。辞职过程中主要有以下三个常见误区,下面我来为大家逐一分析。

1. 先向人力资源部门递交辞呈,后告知直线经理

在中国生活工作了十多年,我对于人际交往和关系的认知有了一些改观。中国人视“关系”为生活中一个非常重要的方面。没有到位的 “关系”,办事和工作上的进展不会那么顺利。我认为这个道理也适用于员工的辞职过程。我常看到员工辞职时纠结于是否和直线经理谈离职原因,碍于情面很多员工会选择直接越过这一关。他们没有给直线经理任何提示或暗示就把辞职信发给了人力资源部门,希望以此避免与直线经理间的“关系”危机。殊不知把自己与直线经理间的信任纽带抛在脑后,当人力部门将意外消息告知直线经理时,经理会表现出的讶异以及遭人背叛的感觉。除非员工确定在入职新公司前不需要直线经理帮助你做背景调查,否则请务必在递交辞呈前与直线经理促膝长谈一番。

2. 递交辞呈等于一天离职

根据中国劳动合同法律规定,申请辞职的正式员工可以在一个月内离开公司。在一些特殊情况下,员工一天或者一周就可以办完离职手续,这是因为员工得到了公司的离职批准并完成了交接工作。然而并不是每个职位都会出现这样的情况。友情提示:在离职过程中千万不要给人事部门的同事或者直线经理人施加压力或者对他们出言不逊,说“张三李四几天就办完了离职手续”可不是一个好例子。一个良好的解决办法是与直线经理妥善协商具体的工作交接时间。对于区域级别的高管来说,离职时间可能要多于一个月,你要考虑到自己身兼重任,找到一个可以接替自己的人选可不是一件容易的事情。所以,离职过程中保持耐心就是最好的法则。

3. 尚未完成离职,自动进入“懒散模式”

有些员工在交上辞呈后,就自动进入了“懒散模式”。从前的早到者现在迟到一刻钟也无所谓;从前工作很卖力的员工的现在午餐时间要休息两个小时;从前经常主动加班的员工现在早退半小时也毫不在乎。其实,同事和经理都会将这些细节看在眼里。试想你在公司努力工作了五年,与同事和经理建立了稳定的关系,而短短一周的懈怠表现就足以毁掉你用五年树立起的良好口碑。经过多年观察和总结,我相信一个员工如果一贯兢兢业业,并能在离开公司的最后一刻保持始终如一,这个员工是值得赞扬的人才。总而言之,如果你还希望给老同事们留下好印象,在等待离职期间工作态度上就千万不要懈怠。

世界看似很大,实则相反。对于同行来说更是如此,大家很可能在不同的公司再度成为同事。我建议不要将老同事们抛在脑后,否则某天在新公司重逢,你的日子会不太好过!

Read the original link at: http://www.ceconline.com/mycareer/ma/8800070606/01/ 

雾霾来袭,外籍人才大流失?

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近来知名电器行业日企松下为外派到中国的外籍员工买“霾单”在中外媒体都引起了轩然大波!外媒对于中国外籍人才未来的流失的形势表示非常不乐观,中国媒体则对外企为何不为中国本土员工提供污染补偿表示愤愤不平。两股负面情绪的交战引起很多身处其中的外籍员工的思考,以外媒报道来看待中国目前的雾霾形势,或许一些外国人会为了健康选择离开,然而这并能代表每一个外国人的想法,更不能在外籍人才流向中起主导作用!介于不久前英国金融时报以及彭 博社记者采访了我对于目前北京雾霾污染的情况以及想法,我不得不说看到这些外媒报道时,我认为他们尽力最大化了雾霾的负面影响,而这对于目前在中国工作外籍人员来说似乎并不公平!尤其是看到了一些外籍高管抱怨这里的天气影响了他们的心情,他们的工作,甚至影响了他们的孩子。这里我想我有必要强调带着幼童的特殊外籍群体,因为他们患上呼吸道疾病的几率确实很大,所以为了孩子的健康他们有必要考虑是否应继续生活在雾都。然而在这以外的外籍人员真的会大批量离开中国吗?在我看来这不一定,根据我在中国十多年的经验和体验,被外派到北京上海这样的大都市对外籍高管是一把双刃剑,雾霾PK双倍薪金福利(以外汇计算),对很多欧美高管都有极大的诱惑力!

目前媒体对于雾霾的大肆宣传给各大外企的人力资源经理们也带来了不小的压力。每每迎面走来一个外籍高管,他们都会有一丝忧虑,这些公司的核心外籍管理和决策员工会因为雾霾而毅然决然地离开吗?其实人力资源部门对“雾霾”一词是非常敏感的,因为这对他们的招聘工作影响甚大。从HR的角度出发,流失一位外籍高管就意味着3个月的招聘期,确定最终人选后,还要为人选准备3到6个月的适应融合期。所以,在雾霾包围的情况下,保留核心外籍员工才是HR们的工作重点。既然大家对于外籍人才的流动趋势格外关心,我希望能通过分享一些行业中外国高管们的情况让HR们冷静下来!

让我们先从员工离职的原因开始分析吧!根据罗迈国际《中国人才流动调查报告2013》(TFS2),导致员工跳槽的因素包括薪金涨幅,升职空间,企业文化,领导风格,工作内容,工作地点,工作环境,福利待遇以及家庭因素。2013年初工作环境在跳槽因素排行榜上并不起眼,近来媒体的报告一下将雾霾问题顶到了舆论的风口浪尖,甚至可能误导外籍员工相信再不离开雾都他们都会患上癌症或缩短50年寿命!其实,雾霾对于外籍员工的影响会体现在各个行业中低层岗位上。如果在中国的薪水与在国外基本持平或者略高一些,薪水根本不会影响他们的决定。一些在优越自然环境下成长并生活过的外国人对工作环境的要求更高是很正常的现象,所以他们会成为离开雾都的潜在人群。虽然如此,环境同比机会,不知外籍员工们心理会如何衡量呢?国际上经常谈论中国作为一个经济大国的崛起不仅为本国经济发展带来机遇,同时也吸引了很多对中国市场颇为乐观的外国人来中国就业。他们千里迢迢来到充满神秘色彩的东方国度,寻找工作机会,适应中国职场文化,体验中国生活,结实中国好友,难道因为雾霾而放弃职业发展的大好机会和平台?这是一个很难回答的问题,争论很容易,不过做出决定有难度!

很多做外籍员工招聘的猎头都知道企业招聘外籍员工大多需要提供“外派员工一揽子补助”,其中包括住房,交通,通讯,子女教育,差旅,餐饮等补助项目。这是我接下来想谈的第二点,外籍员工补助PK雾霾,谁会胜出?看来这些补助并没有什么特别之处,但是算算总额占基本薪金比来还是很让人惊讶的!知名外企里的外籍高管补助可高达基本薪水的100%。我的一位德国好友在一家外资生物工程公司做人力资源管理,几年前他被外派到北京做中国区的人力资源总监。公司为他在CBD核心区租赁了一套昂贵的公寓,为了方便出行为他配备了汽车和私人司机,考虑到家庭因素他要经常往返于中国和德国,公司为他提供了往返机票的补助。现在先别羡慕这些条件是多么诱人,因为这些仅是一小部分。为了让他和家人团聚,公司把他的妻子和子女接到了北京,同时还承担了4个孩子在国际学校的教育费用!而这些在德国是决定不可能提供给他的,毫无疑问他在北京的待遇远远超过他在德国的待遇。对他来说,离开北京意味着减少一半以上的收入,此外还要自己支付子女在德国的教育费用。在北京和上海,这样的外籍高管不在少数,他们放弃高薪待遇的可能性很小。罗迈国际物流行业顾问鲁本在谈及污染的影响时表示,雾霾并不会影响到一些国际物流公司在北京和上海地区的外籍销售经理们,对于他们来说住房补助是非常具有吸引力的一个条件。因此,目前物质待遇方面已经非常好的外籍高管们考虑离职的可能性会相对较小。

从企业的角度出发,商机和市场才是核心。不管有没有雾霾,世界500强的企业家们都不会放弃中国市场的!那么如何在有污染的地区留住核心外籍管理型人才就成为了他们非常重视的问题。在办公室里安装空气净化器,为外籍员工配发过滤口罩甚至空气净化器,或者像松下一样给外籍员工甚至员工家属污染补偿。考虑到严重的空气污染会影响人们的肺功能,引起呼吸道疾病,在医疗方面有所补偿是理所应当的。企业在看待污染问题时,会从长远的角度出发。在经历了奥运会和世博会之后,中国成功地向世界展现了两个全新的城市,所以中国政府不会对污染问题置之不理。目前污染源主要集中在河北地区,因为那里是很多重工业和制造业工厂的大本营。不久前中国总理李克强与德国外长施泰因迈尔讨论了中国发展新能源的问题,这是从根本上解决污染问题的良好的开端。

最后我只想强调一下,虽然许多外媒对中国污染的情况并不乐观,但是这种负面情绪并不会造成外籍人才大规模的流失。谈及薪金待遇和物质补偿不能说他们只看重钱而不看重健康,因为这种决定不是简单地因为一个因素而做出的。不仅如此,在工作机会,发展平台,社会文化,商业投资以及市场机会的综合影响下,外籍人才是否流失要看政府行动!

Read the original link at : http://www.ceconline.com/hr/ma/8800070603/01/

Do you really understand employee happiness?

Do you really understand employee happiness 2

Job-hopping after the Chinese New Year has always been a tacit rule for job-seekers in different industries. As a result, headhunters are much busier than in other months. After working in China for around 10 years, I find it difficult both in terms of recruiting and job seeking in this period of time. In early February, Chinese technology industry experts announced the news about the high-end talent shortage, which in fact didn’t surprise me. It was in the process of conducting the RMG China Talent Flow Survey 2012-2013 in 2013 that the full picture of the current talent shortage became clear. I understand that labour shortage is always prevalent in the service industries and on the assembly and production lines in traditional manufacturing industry. However, when I heard about the shortage of high-end talent, as well as confirming my understanding of the market conditions, I immediately thought that we should consider the problems behind this as well.

In order to overcome the difficulty in post – festival recruitment , various companies will optimize their recruiting plans. Some offer highly competitive treatment and supplementary commercial insurance, while others subsidise employee food and accommodation or focus on the enjoyment factor of the working environment. Despite these attractive conditions and all the efforts, the hiring market situation is still challenging. If HR professionals think that it is the “picky” attitude of the applicants that creates the difficulties in recruiting, then they are largely wrong. Do you truly understand what employees need and do you really consider employee happiness all the time? No matter how attractive the offers might be, if employers’ offers do not cater to job-seekers’ demands, they won’t work happily anyway.

There are many ways to improve employees’ levels of happiness. In general, we can increase it through material incentives, mental encouragement or both combined. In order to make the point clearly to every HR professional, let’s get started

with material incentives. With regards to the treatment aspects, most HR people will stop thinking after high salaries, bonus, birthday benefits, annual health examinations and other such typical schemes. However, people’s understanding of material treatment is where the problem is. In terms of material treatments, does dining or entertainment count? When it comes to employees’ happiness, IT mammoth Huawei is quite a good example. It is estimated by the media that Huawei employees’ average annual income amounts to about 280,000 CNY. Talented employees are certainly well paid. The company focuses on improving the environment of the company’s dining hall. I would say it must be hard for employees to be unhappy working in such a nice environment with a high-end dining hall and coffee bar, as well as various entertainment facilities. Of course, companies with different styles and scales vary in their working environments.

Amongst all of the factors influencing employees’ happiness, families play a very, if not the most, important role in their levels of general satisfaction with their work. Kyle Cao, recruiting specialist at RMG Selection, says that many pharmaceutical companies have incorporated the employee family plan into employees’ benefits to stimulate hard work and devotion of the employees.

Do you really understand employee happiness 1

When it comes to employee training, many HR people will think about training projects like induction training, promotional training and study abroad schemes. However, very few of them associate this with having a positive impact on their employee’s happiness. HR departments simply think that they have nothing to do with each other. Frankly speaking, a lot of industries and functions actually need long term training plans. Take RMG as an example here. In the last couple of years people who would like to join RMG always  ask me about training prospects. It is understandable that these people don’t know much about the field and want to get used to their roles as quickly as possible by attending some training sessions. I have to emphasise that what makes employees happy is not basic training but skills-based training and practice.

Employees’ happiness with their role also derives from the recognition of their efforts from the company and the managers. The recognition does not necessarily need to come in the form of a material reward. Sometimes a bit of encouragement from management can evoke the activeness of employees to a large extent. For example, many companies will vote for the best employee of the month, the best seller of the season or the employee of the year. In this regard, why not show high recognition to the best staff members by putting up their pictures on an honour wall? Managers can encourage their employees by sending emails to express their appreciation of their contribution at work. Without much effort, employees’ levels of job satisfaction will go up naturally.

With the Chinese economy maturing and changing from being less reliant on exports, the needs and wants of employees will change too. High salaries will never be the only factor that influences employees’ job satisfaction. With better living conditions, if companies really want to give employees true happiness they must grasp the employees’ psychological demands as well as their material incentives.

If we want to solve the problem of senior worker shortages, why not start by improving employees’ happiness at work? After reading this article, lots of HR professionals might come up with unique ideas for their companies. However, it will be meaningless if it is not followed up with some action. It is every recruiter’s essential responsibility to make sure that every employee enjoys working within their

Jumping off the gravy train

jumping off the gravy

The government’s anti-corruption drive has partly resulted in a decline in the number of people willing to work for the civil service

Dai Qiming’s memories of his first day as a civil servant are as fresh as those of the day he left the service.

Dai gazed across at a vast space in Xintiandi, Shanghai’s most cosmopolitan district, where he spent seven years overseeing expat communities, and the rows of 40-story commercial towers that radiate in every direction.

The area is proud of its record as a heavy taxpayer. It houses the headquarters of about 50 multinational corporations and is home to flagship stores for top-end luxury brands, including Vera Wang and Harry Winston.

“I thought I’d become glamorous along with the area. I didn’t. I must give up now,” says Dai, whose “dream job” failed to withstand the seven-year itch.

The anti-corruption and austerity campaign initiated by the new Party leadership has swept through the 7.6 million workers in China’s public sector and eradicated the “gifting rituals” that were once a common practice for people intent on wooing civil servants.

The growing vitality of the private sector and the government’s endorsement of market forces have also dissuaded an increasing number of people from becoming civil servants, a position that was considered a “golden rice bowl” – a guarantee of lifelong employment – for years, if not decades.

So far this year, in some coastal regions, such as Zhejiang province, the number of applicants for civil servant posts has fallen by 25 percent compared with last year.

Austerity campaign

The government’s anti-corruption, pro-austerity campaign has been a major factor in a decline in the growth of the country’s luxury goods market, which fell to just 2 percent in 2013, compared with a staggering 30 percent in 2011, according to a December study by the consultancy Bain & Co.

The number of officials receiving gifts has also declined markedly since the first half of last year.

A random survey of 100 civil servants from eastern, western and central China, conducted by Beijing News in January, showed that 80 percent of respondents received no gifts last year, a stark contrast to the old days when officials regularly received prepaid shopping cards, wine or cigarettes.

“Some companies used to give high-end bags or watches to my supervisors. I received some shopping cards. Nowadays, no one dares to accept gifts because they don’t want to risk losing their jobs. If that’s the case, what’s left for me?” Dai asks.

Jumping off the gravy train

The well-documented end of the lavish lifestyles enjoyed by top government officials and the focus on rooting out corruption among both “flies and tigers”, a synonym for low and high-ranking officials, has resulted in fewer people wanting to work for the state, according to Robert Parkinson, founder and managing director of the international recruitment group RMG Selection.

Dai says the austerity drive was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and he spent two years mulling “a change of life”. Dai graduated with honors from the Public Administration Department of Fudan University in Shanghai, but because he doesn’t come from a well-to-do family, he was in dire need of the stability offered by a government post.

“I chose to work at the sub-district level because it was the ‘most practical’ choice. Put simply, it’s about power and money,” he says.

The desire to land a civil service post has long been representative of employment priorities among the country’s brightest and best. Public posts are the perfect fit and encapsulate the aspirations of many Chinese: a decent income, high social status and a promising future.

Life was pretty good in 2008, Dai says. His annual post-tax net income was 180,000 yuan ($29,000, 21,150 euros), with about 20 percent coming from various subsidies, shopping coupons and discount cards converted into cash.

Work was laid-back and featured a typical troika of endless cups of tea, a selection of free newspapers and a cellphone. He was comfortable dealing with foreign businesspeople, who were friendly, courteous and, most importantly, fully conversant with the “hidden rules” of business.

“When they needed to fill out paperwork for work visas or business licenses, they never arrived empty-handed. During holidays such as Lunar New Year, my ‘gray’ income could reach five figures,” Dai says.

Salary stagnation

But the perks once associated with being a civil servant have dwindled. As part of the new anti-corruption measures, lower-ranking civil servants will no longer be allocated official cars for personal use, and a wave of anti-graft campaigns have increased scrutiny of government officials.

Dai also saw his salary stagnate. With no gray income, his earnings in 2013 fell by 30,000 yuan compared with five years earlier.

For others, though, the reduction in earnings is not the only thing prompting them to leave jobs that were once the envy of their peers.

A former diplomat, who declined to be named, says his salary was “highly disproportionate” to the extremely long hours he worked.

“My monthly salary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was a little more than 3,000 yuan in 2007, but during the peak seasons, I could work as many as 60 hours a week,” he says. His work situation and a growing disillusion with “diplomatic rhetoric” led him to resign in 2012, after spending four years as an attache in Kuala Lumpur.

He is now hoping to gain expertise in business management, which he regards as a “more useful tool” for planning his career. “I sensed it was insufficient to only master politics. I have an urge to learn more about the economy and the market,” he says.

He joined a state-owned enterprise to “get a sense of what the real business world is like”, and plans to move overseas to study his chosen subjects.

Liu Hong, a researcher at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, who is conducting a key national project into the development of civil servants and their work, says the crackdown on corruption might help filter out those who regard government posts as “lucrative and easy”.

“The campaign will cool people’s unreal expectations about the job and reinforce what it should be. Eventually, only those who demonstrate a strong public service ethos will remain in their posts,” she says.

According to Parkinson of RMG, more people are becoming frustrated with the slow pace of work, the relatively low wages and the dull existence of civil service workers.

“As more and more young Chinese are exposed to the outside world and their families’ views become less important to them, or rather they become increasingly confident challenging those views, they become aware that there are far more lucrative and interesting positions in commerce and industry – sectors with a high demand for well-educated, intelligent and, most importantly, ‘thinking’ graduates,” he says.

Dai notices that the tide had turned when people expressed a willingness to trade a public service desk job for the vitality of the private sector. For example, the dominant topic on his Alma Mater’s online chat room has changed from “Civil servant exam preparation” to “Ten tips on how to quit a public post”.

According to a survey conducted by Henan Business Daily in February, more than 60 percent of civil servants in Henan provincial government departments and public institutions have considered quitting.

Lack of candidates

In Zhejiang, the country’s most affluent province, about 230,000 people signed up for the entry exam to become provincial civil servants this year, a decline of 25 percent from 2013, according to official data.

Wu Song, the mayor of Baoshan, a city in Yunnan province, expects the number of aspiring civil servants to decline in the coming years.

“Traditionally, the Chinese believe that a good scholar is the perfect person to become an official. But things have changed. I think college graduates will have a wider range of career options, such as business, agriculture or science, rather than simply becoming civil servants,” he says.

The central government’s reduction of administrative power and its endorsement of market economics have also provided young people with an incentive for change.

Premier Li Keqiang has repeatedly encouraged college graduates to start their own businesses and has promised a package of policies to support young entrepreneurs.

Li Kai, who will graduate from East China Normal University this year, regards becoming a civil servant as a “job option” rather than a “dream offer”. After spending time as an intern at a local government agency, Li realized he was more interested in the business and corporate world. He has received five job offers from multinational corporations. His classmates have all taken the civil service entry exam.

“The ‘civil servant heat’ is fueled by the perceived social status, strong job security and employee benefits. But people should ask themselves whether the job fits their personality and plays to their strengths,” he says.

Simon Lance, China regional director of the recruitment agency Hays, has also noticed a movement to the private sector from China’s civil service.

“The reasons most regularly cited by candidates who wish to pursue careers in the private sector are related to management style, career progression and professional development,” Lance says, adding that many private businesses are investing heavily in training and development programs.

But gaining a well-paid job is not as easy as one might imagine. Dai says he lacks the skills employers are seeking, especially for positions with competitive salaries. “They are either seeking people with certificates in public accounts and financial analysis, or those who have passed the national judicial examination. I have none of those skills. I’m only good at administrative work,” he says.

Lyu Chenyan, who recently resigned from the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Local Taxation after seven years, says she could not stand the “bureaucracy and hierarchy”. Except for few positions dealing with government affairs, she says her competitive edge is near zero compared with new graduates. Instead, she has decided to study international development at Columbia University in New York.

“During those seven years, I eventually realized that I was not suited to the humdrum, predictable life of the civil service, but if I were to switch jobs right now, I would feel inferior to my peers,” she says.

Contact the writers through [email protected]

Shi Jing and Hu Yongqi contributed to this story.、

Read the original link at:http://africa.chinadaily.com.cn/weekly/2014-03/14/content_17347015.htm

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