China International Talent (CIT) recently announced the "2011 Shanghai Foreign Enterprise Salary Survey Report," with over 400 foreign enterprises participating in the survey, including recruitment from Zhaoqing. The questions that arise are: what is the salary adjustment rate for Shanghai's foreign enterprises this year? What will next year's salary adjustment be approximately? And what are the characteristics of employee turnover rates in foreign enterprises?
### This Year’s Salary Adjustments Focus on Supervisors and Specialists
According to reports, due to reasons such as inflation this year, living costs for residents have significantly increased compared to last year. From January to August, the overall Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Shanghai rose by 5.2% compared to the same period last year. Many foreign enterprises indeed use CPI as the second most important reference when making salary adjustment budgets. CIT's salary survey results show that the average salary adjustment for foreign enterprises in Shanghai this year has reached as high as 11%, an increase of 3.3 percentage points compared to last year, setting a record high in the past five years.
Moreover, CIT's salary survey also found that last year's salary increases were mainly given to managerial employees, but this year's focus has shifted to supervisory and specialist-level employees. Looking at salary increases across different levels, technical employees experienced the highest salary increase, reaching 18.9%. Employees in manufacturing frontline positions followed closely behind, with a significant increase of 16.15%. Additionally, salary increases for supervisory and specialist-level employees reached 13% and 13.3%, respectively. In contrast, the salary increases for director and managerial-level employees were relatively lower at 5.9% and 9.9%, which is related to their larger salary increases last year.
### Four Industries Leading Salary Increases
CIT's salary survey found that salary growth in internet, chemical, sales, and manufacturing industries was higher than in other industries such as hotels, pharmaceuticals, logistics, real estate, high-tech, and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).
Additionally, many internet companies went public overseas this year, leading to fierce domestic competition and widespread poaching, resulting in rapid salary growth in the internet industry. There is also a significant talent shortage in these industries, particularly in technical roles, sales, and skilled front-line workers. For example, in the internet industry, the resignation rate is as high as 42%, and the talent recruitment gap is 41%.
In the pharmaceutical industry, the resignation rate is 20%, while the recruitment gap reaches 44%. Meanwhile, the advertising industry has the highest recruitment gap at 47%. The consulting service industry shows similar resignation and recruitment gap rates, with a resignation rate of 30% and a recruitment gap rate of 34%.
### Fresh Graduate Salaries Increased by 17.25%
Due to the overall high salary increases in the market this year, starting salaries for fresh graduates have also risen accordingly. According to CIT's salary report, Ph.D. students receive an average monthly basic salary of 6,184 yuan, master's degree holders receive 5,572 yuan, bachelor's degree holders receive 3,358 yuan, and associate degree holders receive 2,435 yuan per month. Of course, there are differences in salaries depending on the industry and functional department. For instance, in Shanghai's foreign manufacturing sector, associate degree holders receive an average monthly basic salary of 2,443 yuan, bachelor's degree holders receive 3,240 yuan, and Ph.D. holders receive 6,369 yuan. The electronics manufacturing and high-tech industries offer relatively higher salaries, such as 2,651 yuan for associate degree holders and 8,142 yuan for Ph.D. holders. The shipping and logistics industry offers slightly lower salaries, with associate degree holders receiving only 2,233 yuan per month. Additionally, Japanese companies offer relatively low salaries to Ph.D. holders, with an average monthly basic salary of only 5,118 yuan.
### Employees Expect Personalized and Thoughtful Benefits
In terms of corporate benefits, economic benefits mainly include car allowances, meal subsidies, training allowances, physical examinations, trips, commercial insurance, paid leave, etc. Non-economic benefits, such as free financial advice and mental health counseling, are less commonly used. This year, some well-known companies like Tencent and Renren Network took a leap forward in benefits by offering interest-free home loans to employees. This indeed played a very good role in employee retention and motivation, providing a very thoughtful benefit to employees.
CIT's compensation consultants believe that corporate benefit types are gradually becoming standardized. To attract the post-80s generation entering the workplace, companies need to think more creatively and design more thoughtful benefits to improve employee satisfaction. Examples include benefits targeting the next generation of employees, benefits for employees' parents, flexible working arrangements, accident protection funds, and physical health consultation services.
### Predicted 2012 Salary Adjustment Rate of 10.5%
Currently, the development trends of issues such as the U.S. debt crisis, the European debt crisis, and currency wars remain unclear. Both domestic and international economic situations are not optimistic, and the domestic economy faces problems such as slowing exports and insufficient domestic demand. Additionally, China's national resident consumption price index (CPI) fell back to 4.2% in November. Regarding next year's salary expectations, many people are speculating whether adjustments will decrease. CIT's compensation experts predict that, considering all factors, the expected salary adjustment rate for Shanghai's foreign enterprises in 2012 will be around 10.5%.
### Selection of "Ten Major Events in Chinese Compensation"
Recently, CIT initiated the selection activity for the "Ten Major Events in Chinese Compensation." Previously, CIT had shortlisted 15 major events related to compensation. It is reported that in 2011, China's economy underwent significant development and changes, especially in aspects of compensation that directly affect everyone, causing significant reactions in society. It is understood that this event will conduct voting through online and offline methods such as the internet and meetings, with the final results of the selection for the "Ten Major Events in Chinese Compensation" being announced on December 22, 2011. CIT has also specially prepared rich prizes such as an iPad2 for this selection. CIT's compensation experts pointed out that they hope this selection activity will help human resources managers and professionals make timely adjustments to their compensation strategies regarding relevant compensation policies and events, providing ways and information for compensation management.
### Announcement of the 2011 China Best Human Resources Practice Enterprise Awards
Recently, Job5156 announced the "2011 China Best Human Resources Practice Enterprise Individual Awards." As a professional award in the field of human resource management, the awards measure the contribution of human resource management to corporate business strategy. Outstanding plans and best practices are selected from nine aspects: talent strategy, recruitment and retention, campus recruitment, employee training, performance and compensation, HR management team, corporate social responsibility practice, work-life balance, and suitable workplaces for women. Among them, Dalian Wanda Group and Schneider Electric won the "Annual Outstanding Contribution Award" for 2011.
According to Feng Lijuan, project leader and chief human resources expert at Job5156, compared to the "China Top 100 Human Resources Practice Enterprises" selection, the "Human Resources Individual Awards" can be considered "complex." The selection lasted five months and went through stages such as enterprise self-selection (up to three items), questionnaire completion, enterprise visits, and case submissions, with final independent reviews conducted by expert judges. The competition for individual awards was extremely intense, with a selection ratio of 1:2 for the "Top 100 Human Resources Practice Enterprises" and nearly 1:4 for individual awards. Such a "painful" and "conflicted" process ensures that every selected company is carefully chosen, and even companies that did not make the list have many management practices worth learning from and promoting.