HKGCC: Companies in HK losing more mid-level employees, turnover rates reach 20%

Companies in Hong Kong losing more mid-level employees as their turnover rates have reached above 20% due to emigration wave, according to Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC) CEO George Leung. 

Leung said on a radio programme of CRHK that while every company has a turnover rate of more than 20%, most of the manpower lost in recent years were mid-level employees, who belong to the most productive working group and have the greatest opportunity to become the backbones of future management. The talent crunch has caused a great impact on the operation of enterprises.

While government's figures showed that Hong Kong’s workforce in 2022 decreased by 2.4% from the 3,776,300 recorded the year before, Leung said as the government has a plan to attract talents, other countries are also launching similar schemes as well.

"If the government wishes to lure large number of talents to Hong Kong in the long run, mainland talents are natural choices. HongKongers should have an open-minded mindset to accept mainland professionals to come to Hong Kong in response to the local talent crunch problem," he said.

In terms of hiring strategy, Leung said the government needs to provide support in housing and education. He pointed out that Hong Kong is close to full employment and the labour shortage is not due to lack of attractive wages. It will only form a vicious circle if the government raises employees' salaries only. He added that while many enterprises have invested heavily in digitalisation, some positions cannot be replaced and the problem cannot be completely solved.

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Recently, Hong Kong has expanded its talent list to include new job types such as artificial intelligence (AI) specialists, in an effort to lure overseas talent to the city.The talent list, first created in 2018 to lure overseas professionals to the city, has increased the coverage from 13 professions to 51 under nine industry segments, aiming to attract more high-quality talent to come and meet Hong Kong's development needs.

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