Number of women in managerial roles in Hong Kong jumps to 33%

Singapore is just behind Hong Kong with just 31%.

The number of women in management positions in Hong Kong in 2017 has increased from 2016 according to findings from the 2017 Hays Asia Salary Guide.

Jumping from 28 per cent in 2016 to 33 per cent in 2017, Hong Kong is placed third in a table of countries surveyed for the guide.

The Guide, now in its tenth year, highlights salary and recruiting trends across Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, mainland China and Japan. The research is based on a survey covering 3,000 employers representing over six million employees.

Mainland China and Malaysia jointly hold the lead of 35 per cent of women in managerial roles, Singapore just below Hong Kong at 31 per cent and Japan trailing behind coming in at 22 per cent.

“Hong Kong continues to stand out when it comes to the diversity of its workforce in managerial positions and we applaud the high number of women in management roles. It can however do better and we have every faith this figure will increase next year,” says Dean Stallard, Regional Director of Hays in Hong Kong.

With diversity a huge topic right now, it was also revealed from countries surveyed that 52 per cent of employers report having formal diversity policies and procedures in place, but only 18 per cent say their organisation adheres to these regulations “well” and a further 36 per cent only “fairly well”.

Mainland China’s workforce is the least ethnically diverse with only six per cent of its workers hailing from another country compared to 12 per cent of Hong Kong’s workforce. Foreign workers comprise 11 per cent of Malaysia’s workforce and just nine per cent of Japan’s workforce.

In skill short areas, 59 per cent of employers across all countries would consider employing or sponsoring a qualified candidate from overseas. This is a six per cent drop compared to last year’s results, which could be indicative of tightening labour laws in the countries surveyed or it could signal the need for employers to do more to attract skilled foreign workers to their hard to fill roles.

“Considering the challenges and opportunities expected this year, it is important employers in Hong Kong have the widest talent pool to choose from when filling roles, especially those experiencing skills shortages,” Dean says. Dean adds further by saying “to remain competitive in the ever changing and complex business environment, companies need to be able to bring in talent from overseas with ease when the right skill sets cannot be found locally.”

Due to changes of employment laws by governments in certain countries across Asia that support the recruitment of local candidates over foreign candidates, companies are now investing more in developing their current workforce with 36 per cent of employers believing they do not have the talent needed to meet their current business objectives.

The majority (53 per cent) of employers have indicated that they have up-skilled their current workforce to counter areas of skills shortages while 39 per cent have focused on improving their candidate attraction strategies.