COVID-19 hit Generation Z’s entry to the world of work hard, damaging not only their career prospects but the sustainability of the future talent pipeline. Fortunately, employers who are returning to growth are uniquely positioned to help the COVID-era cohort of university and school graduates start over.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), which assesses the sustainability and societal impact of businesses, has gathered significant momentum in recent years. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced many businesses into survival mode and in some cases sustainability efforts slipped down priority lists. As the world begins to recover from the global pandemic, businesses must again move substantiality back near the top of their agenda.
Though Japan’s economy had slowed even prior to the global pandemic, following three straight quarters of decline the second half of 2020 saw an economic rebound, climbing to above pre-corona levels. And as the government’s stimulus initiatives begin to bear fruit, consumer confidence is returning, all of which bodes well for Japan’s industrial sector.
Hays, the world’s leading recruiting experts in qualified, professional and skilled people, has launched a four-part video series revealing how Manchester City players have had to prepare and be adaptable during their careers to help them reach their career goals.
While the general consensus in early 2020 predicted a conservative year for salaries in Asia, no one could have foreseen the true scale of the slowdown on the horizon. As a result, due to the undoubted challenges that businesses have faced in the past year, the 2021 Asia Salary Guide report by leading recruitment experts Hays finds that, while employees are more concerned by salaries than ever, businesses have been forced to cut back in all areas of augmentation.
As employers across the region implemented cost-cutting solutions to counter pandemic-related revenue shortfalls, finance become prominent in the minds of employees. Consequently, jobseekers selected ‘salaries’ as the most preferred reason for choosing a new employer (58 per cent), with candidates in China (69 per cent) and Hong Kong (64 per cent) most concerned about income. This should not come as a surprise, as jobseekers have responded in this way consistently since 2017.
This annual Hays Asia Salary Guide, remains a definitive snapshot of salaries for positions across industries in Asia. The salary and hiring insights, including a thorough market overview of business outlooks, salary policies and recruitment trends, are based on survey responses from the five Hays operating markets in Asia: China, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore.
Torrens brings 15 years’ experience in recruitment to the position. He began his career with Hays in London in 2006 with responsibility for accountancy and finance recruitment across the city’s banking sector, and in 2010 moved to Hays Singapore in a management role. In January 2019 he was promoted to regional director Singapore and has been responsible for the country’s operations for over two years.
Hays’ Chief Information Officer, Steve Weston, said in a recent blog that even before COVID-19 hit, disruption was second nature to IT teams, as it is change and disruption that often fuels the need for technological solutions. However, the pandemic has meant IT departments are experiencing a level of disruption like they have never seen before.