Expatriates employed with multinational firms in Hong Kong enjoy benefits worth seven times more than locally hired workers, the highest disparity in the Asia-Pacific, a survey showed yesterday.
The primary reason for the discrepancy was the cost of living in Hong Kong, which despite having fallen since the 1997 to 1998 Asian financial crisis, remained the highest in the region, said Elaine Ng, consultant at HR Business Solutions (Asia), who conducted the survey.
An expatriate company head hired to work in Hong Kong is provided average annual housing benefits worth US$178,000 compared with US$93,300 in Singapore and US$80,000 in China.
Ng noted that firms tended to transfer staff from overseas headquarters when seeking people to fill senior positions because "they were more trusted."
Therefore to attract foreigners, firms would need to offer similar benefits that they would be accustomed to at home.
"We found housing was a major component in why the difference between Hong Kong expatriates and locals was the highest. The cost of housing in Hong Kong is significantly higher than say Singapore -- perhaps double," the survey said.
"So a foreigner coming over from the US or Singapore where they reside in a big house will expect the same in say Hong Kong where the cost is higher," it added.
Many multinational companies still used lavish benefits as a means to entice foreign workers to senior positions leading to a wide difference in employment packages between expatriates and similarly qualified local staff. However, the added costs could place added pressure on businesses, the report warned.
Taking into account, housing, the education of children, club memberships, car and travel, Hong Kong expatriate executives received 106 percent in perks relative to their basic salary, or seven times more than locals who received just 15 percent.
The expatriate figure was 72.6 percent in Singapore compared to 13.7 percent of locals, or just over five times more, similar to Japan which had figures of 79.3 percent and 15.8 percent.
In Taiwan the ratio for expatriates relative to basic salary was 47.9 percent against 24.2 percent for locally hired staff.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure