The Latest on HR in Beijing

​The Chapman Consulting Group’s Ben Davies will be competing in the “Sunrise to Sunset” ultra-marathon in Mongolia this week. This is Ben’s first 100km and we wish him all the best.

On his way to Mongolia, Ben Davies has, this week, been meeting with our HR Leader alumni in Beijing. The Chapman Consulting Group is working with various Regional and Global HR Leaders to appoint high potential HR Heads for China, in Beijing, at the moment.

Ben’s latest observations on the Beijing HR market are as follows:

1. HR Leadership talent that has left Beijing for the brighter lights of Shanghai are now being lured back to Beijing.
2. The size of HR roles in Beijing is increasing, in line with China’s growing international prominence. So we are seeing more China HR Head roles there with direct lines into global.
3. HR salaries are rising fast in Beijing and salary levels are almost now equivalent to Shanghai.
4. There is a hot demand for regional HR talent in Beijing, particularly in the large technology sector there.
5. Regional HR talent is being lured to Beijing from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore – especially those who are Mandarin speaking.
6. Multinationals in Beijing are shunning full expat packages, where possible, and favouring attractive local plus or ‘inflated’ local packages.
7. We are seeing a curious number of Regional Staffing Head roles being created in Beijing. Along with a similar increase that we’ve seen in Shanghai, this is due to China making up a larger portion of the region’s staffing activity than ever before.