Why attracting Hong Kong's top talent is more than just about money

Asia's great financial centres - Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Shanghai - continue to be attractive to companies looking for new opportunities. As a result, business leaders in these markets are full of optimism for both the growth of their local economy and their individual businesses in 2015.

According to Robert Half’s latest research, 81 percent of CFOs and finance leaders in Hong Kong believe their firm will achieve growth in 2015. This has a flow-on effect in the employment market with companies continuing to make both new and replacement hires.

Experienced and younger finance and accounting professionals are well-placed to climb the career ladder in Hong Kong as future leaders.

The challenge for today’s business leaders is to attract and retain top talent. For example, 85 percent of finance leaders in Hong Kong are concerned about losing their best people to a competitor, while 93 percent report difficulty in finding quality finance and accounting professionals to join their team.

To win the battle for talent, Hong Kong companies must look beyond salaries and focus on creating a positive work culture. A work-life friendly environment is increasingly desirable to jobseekers, and a growing number of companies are making changes to the way they operate in order to allow employees to balance their work and personal commitments.

It can be a leap of confidence for employers to offer this sort of flexibility but the rewards are real.

Performance reviews and how they are conducted are also a factor that potential employees are interested in. Jobseekers know the best way for their efforts to be recognised is for their performance reviews to be fair and objective.

The rewards for outstanding performance should also be transparent and include a clear career development path as well as the chance to gain regional experience.

Of course employee pay packages still pack considerable clout when it comes to recruiting and retaining the best people. Companies that do not offer competitive salaries may put themselves out of contention when it comes to attracting skilled professionals.

This highlights the need to stay abreast with current salary levels – more so because we are seeing a growing pattern of professional staff prepared to negotiate their salary.

When a firm cannot afford higher salaries, it is critical to offer ‘something extra’. In addition to a supportive work-life corporate culture, companies can consider offering better insurance coverage, more vacation days, or performance-based bonuses.

In today’s competitive market, awareness of current salary and hiring trends, coupled with a healthy dose of flexibility, could be the key that ensures a win-win for both companies and candidates.