Salary hike pushes job hunters to seek new roles

Reinforcing HK as a high-paced society.

Perhaps as a testament to life in the fast lane in Hong Kong, more job hunters are saying that salary increases are their main reason for why they want to look for new roles.

According to Michael Page's 2014/15 Michael Page Hong Kong Employee Intentions Report, respondents to the survey reveal that an increase in salary is their top motivating factor when looking for a new role (40%).

This is a fairly significant increase of 11% from 29% of respondents in 2013/14, the report said.

Here’s more from Michael Page:

Other top factors for surveyed employees include company culture (16%) and a scope for career progression (16%). This is unchanged from the previous year.

The increased emphasis on salary compared with last year’s survey results reinforces Hong Kong’s reputation as a high paced society where professionals are mainly driven by monetary and financial rewards.

Top reason jobseekers are looking for a new role (by age): Further illustrating the importance that employees place on financial rewards, almost all survey respondents indicate an increase in salary is their top reason for looking for a new job.

This is particularly true for those in the early stages of their career. For survey respondents aged 24 and below, 42% say their focus is on salary increase in their next role, for 25 to 34 it is 28% and for 35 to 44 it is 23%.

For respondents aged 45 to 54, the main focus is on a scope for career progression (24%) while for respondents 55 to 64 years old the focus is on a salary increase in their next role (21%).