外企在吸引人才時面臨中資企業挑戰

Yajing Wen is the sort of Chinese worker that foreign companies like to hire. The U.K.-educated engineer received her master's degree in March and set out to look for a position with the relatively high pay and flexible working hours that many Chinese believe foreign firms offer.

溫雅靜（音）正是外資企業喜歡僱用的那種員工。這位在英國留學的工程師今年3月份剛剛拿到碩士學位，並開始尋找一份薪水較高、上班時間靈活的工作。許多中國人都認爲外資企業提供這樣的工作機會。

But in July, she took a job with a Chinese company.

但今年7月份，她卻在一家中資企業找到了一份工作。

Ms. Wen, 35 years old, cites job security as one reason. 'Normally, Chinese companies won't fire people unless they have big problems,' she said. 'But foreign companies have a limited number of staff in China, so if you're not very useful, they've got some better person to replace you.'

35歲的溫雅靜稱自己選擇中資企業的原因之一是工作穩定。她說：通常來講，除非員工有嚴重問題，否則中資企業不會解僱員工。但外資企業在中國的職位有限，所以如果你沒太大用處，它們就會用更好的人取代你。

Western companies have long been the top choice for China's job seekers because of their more competitive salaries, training and travel opportunities. But in China's slowing economy, many foreign companies now face fierce competition from domestic companies offering more stability and, increasingly, more pay.

西方企業一直以來都是中國求職者的首選，原因在於它們提供的薪水更高，有更多培訓和旅行的機會。但在中國經濟放緩之際，許多外資企業目前在人才招聘方面則面臨着本土公司的激烈競爭，這些中資企業不僅提供更穩定的工作，還支付越來越高的薪水。

Last year, 47% of China's workers said they preferred to work at a domestic company, compared with 24% that preferred a foreign firm, according to a survey by CEB, a membership group for Western and Asian multinational companies. That is a flip from five years ago, when 9% preferred a domestic firm and 42% a foreign company. CEB's latest survey covered 16,500 people.

西方和亞洲跨國企業會員組織CEB的一項調查顯示，去年，47%的中國員工說他們更願意在中資企業工作，而更願意選擇外資企業的員工比例只有24%。這一情形與五年前截然相反，當時只有9%的人更願意選擇中資企業，而有42%的人傾向於外資企業。CEB最新的調查覆蓋了16,500人。

'There's been a long-standing foreign employer premium that's now gone,' in China, said Brad Adams, head of Asia research for CEB.

CEB亞洲研究負責人亞當斯(Brad Adams)說，外資企業在招聘人才方面長期享有的優勢已經不復存在。

That has led some Western companies, such as Procter & Gamble Co. PG -2.05% and General Electric Co. GE -0.15% , to ramp up perks such as travel and benefits. GE says it has raised its entry-level salaries in China around 3% to 5% in recent years. W.R. Grace GRA -1.46% & Co., a specialty-chemicals company, has raised employee salaries an average of 8.5% in China this year, to compete with domestic companies and other Western corporations.

這導致寶潔公司(Procter & Gamble Co.)和通用電氣公司(General Electric Co.)等一些西方企業紛紛提高旅行和福利等其他待遇。通用電氣說，該公司近年來已經將其在中國的入門職位薪水提高了大約3%-5%。專用化學品公司W.R. Grace今年將中國員工薪水平均上調了8.5%，以此同中資企業和其他西方公司競爭。

Some Western companies in China are also taking the 'radical' step of reviewing their pay every quarter, rather than once a year, to stay a step ahead of local companies, said Richard Parnell, chief executive, Asia Pacific, of recruiting firm Robert Walters.

招聘公司華德士(Robert Walters)亞太區首席執行長帕內爾(Richard Parnell)說，一些在中國經營的西方公司還在談論採取更進一步措施，把薪資調整頻率從每年變爲每季度，以此領先於中資企業。

Chinese companies also are competing for high-profile foreign executives. Hugo Barra, Google Inc. GOOG -0.68% 's head of Android product management, joined Chinese phone maker Xiaomi Inc. this year. Huawei Technologies Co. snagged executives from the West, including Ericsson's ERIC -1.76% C.T. Johnson, Nokia Corp.'s -1.93% Colin Giles and former U.K. Chief Information Officer John Suffolk.

中資企業同時也在爭奪知名的外籍高管。谷歌(Google Inc.)旗下安卓(Android)產品管理負責人巴拉(Hugo Barra)今年加入了中國手機制造商小米公司(Xiaomi Inc.)。華爲技術有限公司(Huawei Technologies Co.)也從西方挖來了一些高管，包括愛立信(Ericsson)的約翰遜(C.T. Johnson)、諾基亞(Nokia Corp.)的趙科林(Colin Giles)和前英國政府首席信息長薩福克(John Suffolk)。

For foreign companies in China, the stiff competition translates into higher costs and more work to retain employees. American companies cite rising labor costs and the slowing economy as their top business challenges in China, according to the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing.

對在華外企來說，激烈的競爭意味着留住員工的成本更高、需要做的工作更多。位於北京的美國商會(American Chamber of Commerce)說，美國企業認爲，他們在中國遇到的商業方面最大的挑戰是勞動力成本上升和經濟增速放緩。

Domestic companies are also becoming more sophisticated in the way they recruit, from a Chinese steel company touting its expansion into financial and real-estate investments overseas, to a state-owned telecom wooing parents as well as students, according to consulting firm Aon Hewitt.

諮詢公司怡安翰威特(Aon Hewitt)說，中國的本土企業在招聘方面也變得越來越精明，比如一家中國鋼鐵公司就以向海外金融和房地產領域擴張爲賣點吸引求職者，還有一家國有電信企業不僅去吸引學生，還大力向學生的父母示好。

'The telecom company understands that because these are only children, they will turn to their parents for the final decision,' said Alan Pang, Aon Hewitt's head of talent for greater China.

怡安翰威特大中國區人才負責人Alan Pang說，電信企業的理解是，他們都還只是孩子，在做最終決定之前會徵求父母的意見。

When Huawei needed to fill entry-level positions for college graduates in southern China this year, the technology company offered a starting salary of 10,000 yuan, or roughly $1,600, a month. Sandy Shen, a Gartner analyst, estimates that entry-level salaries for professionals in the technology industry run between 3,000 yuan to 6,000 yuan. Huawei said it pays higher salaries in the southern boomtowns of Shenzhen and Guangzhou because of higher living costs.

今年華爲在中國南方的城市招聘大學畢業生從事入門級工作時，這家技術企業開出了月薪1萬元人民幣的起薪。Gartner的分析師沈哲怡(Sandy Shen)估計，科技業專業人士的入門級職位的薪水在3,000元到6,000元之間。華爲說，在深圳和廣州等南方城市支付較高的薪水是因爲那裏的生活成本也比較高。

Nigel Knight, a managing partner at Ernst & Young, said the advisory firm has seen 'a trickle, not a flood' of workers leave the company in recent years to join domestic enterprises. In some cases, the workers have left because they expect faster growth or potential for promotion at domestic companies, said Mr. Knight. Multinationals he consults with are dealing with the same issue, he said.

安永(Ernst & Young)的主管合夥人黎俊偉(Nigel Knight)說，安永發現該公司近年來有一部分――細流，不是洪流――員工離開該公司，加入到中國本土企業。黎俊偉說，有些時候，員工離開是因爲他們認爲，在國內企業成長更快，更有機會升職。他說，他提供諮詢的那些跨國企業也面臨着同樣的問題。

At a job fair in November at Renmin University in Beijing, the longest lines were in front of China's state-owned enterprises. Several job candidates said they were interested in the Chinese companies because they believed they would be able to get a hukou, or household registration permit, which would entitle them to social services in the city. China uses the hukou system to keep rural migrants from flooding into cities.

今年11月在人民大學舉辦的一場招聘會上，國有企業攤位前排的隊最長。一些求職者說，他們對中國企業感興趣，因爲他們認爲中國企業能解決戶口，這樣就能享受城市的社會服務。中國利用戶口制度來阻止農民大量涌入城市。

Overall, 'foreign companies are more professional, but they usually don't provide hukou,' said Lin Kai, a Renmin University graduate who attended the job fair.

參加這次招聘會的人民大學畢業生林凱（音）說，總體來說，外國公司更專業，但他們解決不了戶口。