As the financial crisis gets closer to the workers’ daily life in Shanghai, the white collar and some gold-collar workers are like toast of the town, feel the pressure from all sectors.

A Shanghai white-collar worker of an American company told us his company has relieved 10 percent of the staff, and there would be more layoffs after the Chinese lunar New Year holidays. The unnamed employee also said that during every day’s work recently, his colleagues are talking about who will be the next one to leave the company.

The latest entrants to the jobless club Miss Xu who used to work in a foreign-funded real estate company as a human resource manager in Shanghai complained to us: " Our company has laid off staff since the middle of December and around 55 percent of the original staff lost their jobs in this financial crisis and I also get laid off with two months’ salary as termination pay.

According to the statistical data of Shanghai government shows that the country’s heavy reliance on export, labor-intensive industries creates a ripple-down effect and industries related to trading, finance and economics, It, communications, banking, consultancies, media firms etc are all facing cost cuts.

A white paper released in January by Shanghai Human Resources Consulting Association predicted that the first-half of 2009 would see negative growth in new positions at Shanghai’s foreign companies and privately-owned firms.

The white paper also shows that the 7000 foreign companies survive in Shanghai showed that 48 enterprises had already started feeling the effects of the crisis.

A total amount of 2,218 employees were laid off or 0.79 percent of the entire staff. And even worse the situation will not get better until the second-half.

With the cutting off of employees the employments dispute cases had jumped to 30 percent of all cases. To protect the legal rights of employees, Shanghai government had asked those enterprises which cut more than 20 jobs or more than 10 percent of the entire staff to file a report with the local trade union or notify all staff 30 days before the final decision. This requirement is also in keeping with state council’s recent guidelines.

This policy can help the workers secure their own benefits and show the responsibilities to the enterprises which are particularly valuable in the financial crisis. But also Shanghai government also knows that if the small-sized enterprises do not cut jobs they will soon or later out of business, so the government also provide a better business environment, free credit controls, and reduce business costs.

Miss Xu is stilling looking for a new job after having been cut for two months. She has to lower her salary expectations and increase his job search field in order to get a new job quickly. Meanwhile, information from the HR company shows that even in the crisis the enterprises are still looking for talent workers as always.

Total 282,210

Are you interested in the business opportunities in China?

China is one of the world’s great growth markets and is likely to be for many years to come. Foreign companies often face difficulties in assessing Chinese market demand and enacting effective strategies because of the language barriers, culture differences, and high expense.

BPOVIA is the leading virtual assistant and Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) service provider in China. BPOVIA is the only virtual assistant company ever been nominated for the prestigious “Red Herring 100 Asia” Awards 2008. Combines international perspective with local know-how, BPOVIA can provide our clients China business development service and help our clients doing successful business in China.

Please visit http://www.BPOVIA.com/ for details about our service.

CEO of Antal International Tony Goodwin noted that the SMEs should do so before the MNCs realize the potential of Chinese economy and start to rehire next year. In an exclusive interview by China Daily, he said hiring people will offer greater long-term benefits than firing. Corporate executives should consider formulating “long-term” human resources strategy during these uncertain times.

In China, US companies tend to react a little more aggressively to the effect of global economic downturn in reducing their workforce, according to Goodwin. In contrast, domestic and European multinational enterprises keep more restrained attitudes toward the unfolded crisis. And such kind of conservative approach is a wise one because of the underlying strength of the lager developing economies, especially China.

The fact that some MNCs are now firing people would probably cause problems for themselves in coping with the growth of business next year. However, they have provided great opportunities for small and medium-sized companies to recruit many talents they never found before. “If the financial crisis had not had happened, the smaller companies would never have stood a chance of competing with the big corporations for top managers,” said Goodwin. With so many talents, SMEs like BPOVIA in Nanjing is becoming much stronger and more effective.

He also noted that foreign companies can accelerate their localization instead of firing people to save costs. That is to hire more Chinese managers rather than bring people from their own countries.

Liew Mun Leong, CEO of Singapore-based MNC CapitaLand said the firm will have a 100 percent Chinese management in 2009.

Are you interested in the business opportunities in China?

China is one of the world’s great growth markets and is likely to be for many years to come. Foreign companies often face difficulties in assessing Chinese market demand and enacting effective strategies because of the language barriers, culture differences, and high expense.

BPOVIA is the leading virtual assistant and Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) service provider in China. BPOVIA is the only virtual assistant company ever been nominated for the prestigious “Red Herring 100 Asia” Awards 2008. Combines international perspective with local know-how, BPOVIA can provide our clients China business development service and help our clients doing successful business in China.

Please visit http://www.BPOVIA.com/ for details about our service.