Maybe it’s wishful thinking on my part, but I have stopped feeling like the oldest guy in the room these days. Shanghai is really putting down roots as a business center and many of the core teams running multinational departments, JVs and WOFEs are starting to look more, uh, mature. Shanghai has grown as a regional operating and management center as successful start-ups and branches expand to serve clients throughout China, HK, Taipei, Korea and Japan – thus draw in experienced talent from all over Asia.
My business is helping China-based companies develop compensation and retention plans. I’ve been finding that Shanghai clients’ focus is shifting as demographics change and market develop. 3 or 4 years ago, the goal of retention plans was to hold on to entry or mid-level local managers and develop them to take on more responsibility. While that’s still a concern for most international businesses in China, the new priority seems to be Key Person (‘key man’ is soooo 20th Century) retention plans.
More and more of my business conversations are about how to hold on to the core group of top managers - many of whom are established expats of a certain age. Often overlooked, these are the guys who make the medium-term strategic plans that are increasingly driving the success of China-based businesses. The logistic and bureaucratic fire-fights of the early 2000s seem to be under control, and now top decision-makers are thinking about growth (top line & net net) and expansion (branches & headcount).
The question for a lot of senior managers is now, “how do you hold on to the people who look, talk and think just like you?” And it’s no longer a local-expat, us-them decision-making process. 40+ Chinese C-level managers tend to have even more options and opportunities than their expat counterparts – and have the same concerns and values when it comes to compensation.
The answer to your company’s retention challenge can usually be found in a well-constructed compensation plan. Pensions, deferred compensation and intelligently-designed incentive plans are the only thing that will retain and attract top managers. But it’s not a matter of negotiating salary and benefits. Compensation and retention are long-range, high level strategies – not bureaucratic chores that have to be dispatched after your C-level stars have told you they are leaving.
If you are responsible for the bottom-line performance of your company, then you are an HR manager. Get used to it, and get good at it. Selection and Retention are strategic imperatives at each and every company. It’s a global concern, but in China where there is a shortage of top management talent, it is a make-or-break success criterion.
ChinaPensionPlan.com is designed for top decision-makers, MDs and department heads whose performance is directly tied to bottom-line profit growth. We will be providing you with HR strategy recommendations, solutions and ideas that target the executive suite. We look forward to working with you.
