Cash is no longer king for Hong Kong job-seekers

With the post-Chinese New Year job exodus well underway, headhunters' phones are working overtime, and HR departments are more like logistics supervisors as they tick off those out and those in.

Back in December, early eight out of ten Hong Kong workers said they were "planning to make a New Year's resolution regarding their career".¹ Phrased less euphemistically, this means they'll see if they can get more money or find something better. 94.5% were expecting a pay rise in 2013.

Hong Kong employers are predicting 4.5% salary increases in 2013 – less than China but the same as Singapore.² But are pay rises and salary everything when you are "making a New Year resolution regarding your career"?

It's instinctive to think that salary is all-important, but there's a study showing that high-earners often have lower job satisfaction than medium-earners.³ If the salary is not accompanied by elements like responsibility, mental challenges and a positive work environment, disappointment sets in. So, money isn't absolutely everything.

In fact, a study on work/life balance conducted in late 2012 by Community Business (a local NGO that champions responsible corporate citizenship) yielded some interesting findings: 24.1% of local employees believed work/life balance was more important than money in deciding whether to join, stay with or leave a job⁴.

What should employees be looking for, and businesses be offering, as they navigate the jobs shuffle? In a US survey of 'dream' job benefits, half-day Fridays came out top, followed by on-site fitness centres; the ability to wear jeans; daily catered lunches; and massages. In a more pragmatic question about what promotes employee retention, flexible working came out top.

Indeed, flexible working seems to be a universal wish-list header, because it's a route to the work-life balance that is so desired worldwide.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a mismatch of understanding in Hong Kong on how employers can facilitate work-life balance. The work-life initiative employers are most likely to offer (35.5%) is career breaks/unpaid leave/sabbaticals, according to the Community Business study.

Only 25% offer flexible working. But the initiative employees are most likely to want is flexible working (36%). Only 25% want career breaks. Employers should review their practices.

So, why is flexible working so desired? For employees, the benefits are multiple. With a choice of working hours and location, they gain more control over their lives.

They can juggle their commuting times to miss out on the worst excesses of rush hour, and fit working hours around childcare or the need to look after ageing relatives.

If you also offer them flexibility about where they work, the benefits stack up. If they can work at a location 15 minutes away from home, instead of an hour and 15 minutes, they gain two hours a day, to be used for work and/or family life.

Employers benefit too. In a global survey for Regus of over 16,000 businesses, 63% of businesses said flexible working had made staff more energised and motivated. IN Hong Kong, 75 per cent of local companies that had adopted flexible working practices said that productivity had increased as a result.

If you're already work flexibly, what else could you ask for? Healthcare, pensions, dental care and life assurance are the most common benefits in Hong Kong,⁵ but study/training allowances and professional membership fees are gaining popularity.

Other possible benefits if money is tight include additional vacation; a better-sounding job title; and responsibilities or projects that look good on your CV (though don't say so overtly).

Whichever you ask for, it's more likely to work if you do the following:

Do your homework. Gather industry trends and research illustrating that the practice you're asking for is becoming mainstream. If you can show that competitors are offering it, your employer may feel pressure to follow suit.

Make a business case. Consider the employer's point of view. If you want professional membership fees, explain how your expanded business networks will benefit the company. If you want flexible working, show how it could benefit from people starting earlier or finishing later, or how allowing people to start remote working could reduce real estate costs.

Offer solutions. If you want to work closer to home, set out the possible locations, the costs and the logistics. Otherwise, you just create work for the HR department.

Be reasonable. Don't present an exhaustive shopping list. Focus on a couple of aspects that will really improve your life.

Consider the practice, not just the theory. If you ask for, and are given, flexible working, make sure it won't affect your future career prospects. The face-time culture in Hong Kong means that, at some businesses, promotion won't come if you're not there at the desk.

Questions could include: do other people in the company work flexibly? Are any of them senior managers? How does the performance appraisal and rewards system take account of flexible working? Will your job targets reflect output, not face-time?

Remember, it's easier to turn down a job offer than to exit a job if it's the wrong one. If negotiating flexible working is like pulling teeth, this doesn't bode well in terms of making the arrangement a success.

Consider this before you give your 'yes' or 'no' and who knows? You may find you don't have any reason to "make a new year's resolution regarding your career" at the end of the year.

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¹  “Employee Expectations for 2013”, Randstad Workmonitor, December 2012.
²   “Salary Trends Survey 2012/2013”, ECA International, November 2012.
³  “The Shape of the Relationship between Salary and Job Satisfaction: A Field Study”, Far East Journal of Psychology and Business, June 2012.
⁴  "The State of Work-Life Balance in Hong Kong", Community Business, 2012.
⁵  “Market Trends and Salaries Report 2H 2012”, Ambition, 2012.