Study Forecasts Double-Digit Salary Increase in China for First Time in 10 Years

New Hewitt Study on Enterprise Annuity Provides a Comprehensive Market Review and Insights to Assist Business Planners

    ChinaHRP.com SHANGHAI, China, Oct. 20-- The economic environment is still very uncertain, with fluctuating oil prices, a less than certain understanding of the potential impact of the US credit crisis on China and other major markets in Asia, the threat of recession, all accompanied by rising employee expectations and cost pressures on businesses to do more with less. Hewitt has just released the Hewitt China Pension Report, the first of its kind conducted by Hewitt and one of the most comprehensive pension reports in the current marketplace.

    Carl Redondo, co-leader of Hewitt's Greater China Retirement & Benefits Consulting practice, says, "This is a time of great opportunity for C&B specialists to rise up to the challenge of being true business partners in offering strategic advice to the business. How should C&B and HR professionals advise their business on salary increases this year? 

    "Our survey data indicates possible double-digit increases for the first time ever in the past 10 years. Can businesses bear such costs? How long will this last? Have C&B specialists taken into account the various perspectives when putting a number in the salary increase forecast? What factors are being considered? How are they going to manage the budget if budgets get cut back?"

    Sun Fan, co-leader of Hewitt's Greater China Retirement & Benefits Consulting practice, offers a few tips for C&B specialists on how they can add value and think about doing things differently this year:

    -- Prepare for alternative salary budgets based on different business scenarios -- the optimistic, the realistic, the pessimistic;

    -- Prepare for a more detailed business case-driven budget allocation      guidelines to differentiate key talent, top performers, and high potentials to ensure you keep people critical to your business success;

    -- Think beyond the normal practice of possible ways of saving costs without jeopardizing employee morale -- put more emphasis on performance-based rewards, and measure it against the timetable that reflects business performance cycles. One CEO we interviewed suggested a three-month delay in salary increases this year. Another suggested  cutting back on salary increases, but retaining the budget for future potential variable payout if business performance goes well;

    -- Balance your own individual business case with external market  comparisons: Does this make sense for your own organization too?

    The newly released Hewitt China Pension Report offers a thorough overview of the pension alternatives in China, its history, status quo, regulation changes, and solutions for different companies and why. Contents help employers to understand the pension alternatives in China and the implications of providing such plans to employees from legal, financial and HR perspectives.

    Report contents leverage results from a recent study of Hewitt on Enterprise Annuity (EA). It documents the practices, the outcomes, and the concerns about EA adoption from 314 companies in China, providing a reference for other companies to decide whether to go for EA or other solutions.

    Redondo adds, "The purpose of this report is to provide information and insights to help a wide range of companies which are interested in retirement plans to find out the major concerns and challenges, and possible areas of improvement, for plan design and implementation.

    "Many companies are facing pressure from shareholders, regulators, and internal risk management teams to ensure that the company's retirement programs are well-established, well-governed, tax-efficient systems that expose the company to little or no risk from financial, fiduciary, and employee-relations perspectives," according to Sun Fan.

    "This report provides organizations with confidence to make informed decisions at a time of uncertainty and change regarding how a company will provide supplemental retirement benefits to employees in China.  We focus on now and also look into the future, and we included details on pensions and also on other HR programs."

    Highlights of the report:
    -- A comprehensive overview of China's pension system;

    -- How do early EA adopters design their plans;

    -- How regulation changes impact the employer's decision on EA;

    -- What's the future of supplemental pension in China;

    -- Results of Hewitt 2008 Enterprise Annuity Survey;

    -- Insights and suggestions from Hewitt consultants.

    About Hewitt Associates
    For more than 65 years, Hewitt Associates (NYSE: HEW) has provided clients with best-in-class human resources consulting and outsourcing services.  Hewitt consults with more than 3,000 large and mid-size companies around the globe to develop and implement HR business strategies covering retirement, financial and health management; compensation and total rewards; and performance, talent and change management. As a market leader in benefits administration, Hewitt delivers health care and retirement programs to millions of participants and retirees, on behalf of more than 300 organizations worldwide. In addition, more than 30 clients rely on Hewitt to provide a broader range of human resources business process outsourcing services to nearly a million client employees. Located in 33 countries, Hewitt employs approximately 23,000 associates.