Management of foreign employees needs improvement: experts
The management of foreign employees in China needs further improvement, analysts said, as more foreigners are attracted to work in China amid Chinese enterprises' increasing push into the global market.
Big cities like Shanghai and Beijing, are attracting a growing number of foreigners to work here, an official from the Shanghai Municipal human resources and social security bureau told the Global Times on Tuesday, on condition of anonymity.
The official said that many foreigners think China is a better choice to realize their career ambitions, and the country has put forward policies to attract more talent, such as the new pilot work permit program.
According to statistics from a report of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, by the end of 2015, there were 240,000 foreigners with valid foreign employee documents in China.
Foreigners currently working in China can be grouped into four categories - top talent in technological fields, those who provide high-end services, expats on temporary posting, and unskilled workers, Lin Xinqi, director of the Human Resources Department of Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
The Shanghai official said that as long as the recruitment is in compliance with laws and regulations, enterprises could hire foreign employees or overseas Chinese returnees as they need.
An employee working with the overseas department of a Beijing-based online-recruitment website told the Global Times on condition of anonymity that many foreigners are working for Chinese enterprises that have the same structure as foreign enterprises or joint ventures.
These foreign employees could help expand overseas business, the employee said, pointing out that airlines including the China Eastern Airlines are now recruiting foreign staff for their international routes, and some Chinese medical instrument makers are looking for Indian IT talent due to their excellent business knowledge and relatively low salary expectations.
These enterprises also pay great attention to Chinese talent with overseas education and working experience due to their English proficiency and international experience and vision, the employee said.
"Our marketing office is like a mini-UN," Gu Xing, a vice president of the Beijing-headquartered Zapya, an offline file sharing App, told the Global Times. About 10 percent of the company's employees in Beijing are from foreign countries, including Thailand, Pakistan, and Colombia.
"We intentionally hire an employee from each of our major overseas markets, as they help accelerate the localization of our products," said Gu, adding that "they have native language proficiency and after all they know the latest culture and fashion, which is the heart of our business."
Lin noted that the regulations and management of foreign employees should be improved since there are still many unskilled foreigners working illegally in China.
Foreigners need to obtain permits to work in China and the country has launched a pilot program in October to replace two previous permits with one to welcome foreign talent, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
