Representing 30% of the world’s population and 30% of the world’s GDP, RCEP launched in January of 2022 has seen an increase in trade between the 15 member countries.

The world’s largest Free-Trade Agreement is designed to increase job opportunities through the market-integration of the member countries.  A report from China for Q1 2022 states a 6.9% year-over-year increase in China’s trade with RCEP members, which represented both import and export business.

RCEP came into effect for the initial 10 countries on 1 January.  Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Japan, Lao PDR, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam were joined in February by Republic of Korea and by Malaysia in March.   The remaining members, who include all members of  ASEAN will join officially following completion of the process. 

In addition to improving market access to goods and services for businesses, we hope RCEP will echo ASEAN’s work toward ensuring migration policies that support, sustain and protect cross-border and migrant workers.   

The ATMA Launch Committee has been making good progress towards the official launch of the Asia Talent Mobility Alliance.

We are on the final step of formally establishing the organization as a non-profit registered in Hong Kong. Within weeks, the company will be a reality and we will be ready to move onto the next steps.

Following the legal registration, our next tasks will be to open up membership to those who match our community’s vision and mission and to enable registration for our first webinar.

“Members are actively involved or interested in talent management, recruitment, relocation, global mobility or any form of employer-sponsored or managed moves.”

To find out first when the membership registration begins, please register here or you can also follow our LinkedIn page.

The inaugural ATMA monthly webinar series begins in July and we will publish the date on the Events section of our home page as well as LinkedIn.

Articles regarding the Talent Uprising are plenty these days.  The shortage of workers post-pandemic has impacted how companies are approaching talent management overall.

Employers are switching from a reactive to a more pro-active process for sourcing and engaging talent.  The goal has changed from filling vacant positions to strategically thinking about how to ensure talent will be available in the future as positions open.

This recent article “New Recruitment Practices in Asia Pacific” from the HR Exchange Network offers five emerging ways to build up talent capacity.

•     Hire for future talent needs
•    Consider job applicant potential and skills instead of only focusing on qualifications such as university degrees
•  Look for new pipelines of talent including colleges and meeting young job seekers where they hand out online
• Consider incorporating AI-powered recruitment programs
• Use programmatic job advertising to find niche candidates

Relocation benefits were not mentioned, but they make a strong partnership with recruitment especially as the search for talent goes beyond the city location and sometimes the country.  Relocation benefits can be used to improve the company onboarding program by helping with the personal move needs of newly hired employees, paving the way for a great start to the relationship.  Relocation and expatriate benefits also help ensure focus is kept on the job by removing some of the stress involved with a new location, finding where to live or which schools are best for children. 

As an example of using relocation benefits as part of the recruitment offer, The Asian Development Bank publishes their list of employee benefits, including relocation support, on their websites career section.

The pandemic accelerated everything, including cross-border e-commerce.

Chinese cross-border companies had a bumpy, yet in some cases meteoric rise in business that seems poised to continue.  Not without risks, as outlined in this post by SixthTone.com the market is evolving to create both winners and losers.

Once dominated by Amazon and Walmart there are several options for online stores to reach markets in Asia, Europe and around the world.  Diversification of on-line store locations to balance risk now include eBay, AliExpress, and Wish as well as Shopee and Lazada.

Shenzhen, known as the "Cross-Border Capital" is mentioned for actions taken by the government to further expand options.

"...Commerce bureau issued a notice offering financial support to cross-border e-commerce enterprises that develop overseas markets through independent sales channels: 2 million yuan for each project, as well as up to 3 million yuan in awards."

Read the full article here:  https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1009763/as-amazon-changes-course%2C-chinas-sellers-shop-for-options

Employers Need Workers, What do Workers Need?

As the pandemic moves into an endemic phase, the original reason for  remote and hybrid work also retires.  There are real concerns about maintaining an engaged, inventive and productive team without the interaction that comes with close physical proximity.  Many employees, on the other hand are unwilling to return to the strict office culture.

Techwire Asia just published an article exploring the topic as well as a report by Poly Research whose results showed the relationship between retention of existing employees through the lens of hybrid work:

Exiting employees disclosed that the top reasons for leaving are tied to their employer's approach to hybrid work:

• • Employees discovered better suited jobs (19%)
  • Employees did not get the desired flexibility of hybrid working (16%)
  • Employees were unhappy about the way employers handled COVID (9%)
  • Strategy and equality are misaligned: Less than half (48%) of all organizations are fully prepared for hybrid working, while 37% are only prepared in the short-term. A further 52% think that hybrid work is a blip. Meanwhile, 24% each of the Americas and APAC employers, and 17% of EMEA employers are demanding that their employees return to the office full-time.

Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam, reportedly has admitted the brain drain in Hong Kong is real.  

This brings us back to a recent webinar that Steve, Fred and Sean of our ATMA launch committee  participated in:  "Searching for the Next Asia Megahub"   

Together with friend and colleague Voon Lee, the panelist discussed the fierce competition between Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo to be the next centre for business in Asia.

Closed borders and talent wars are prompting companies to re-think some strategies. 

Providing benefits to new hires and transfers within Asian countries is coming into greater focus.   Like everywhere, talent benefits and incentives need to meet the needs of the employee, be cost effective and help attract and retain talent. 

Weichert Workforce Mobility in a recent blog titled "Examining Global Domestic Mobility in APAC Region" states:

"The trends unfolding across the APAC region are consistent with what mobility professionals are seeing in other parts of the world, with mobility assertively taking the stage as a powerful tool in the war for talent."

The authors also share some insights gained from recent roundtables held to explore the topic.    You can read the entire posting here. 

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a 10-nation organization has the motto:

"One Vision.   One Identity.  One Community"

In September of last year, the group of nations took the One Community pledge forward by adopting a framework to protect the environment.  

The framework provides structure to existing ASEAN initiatives that explores opportunities to accelerate the region's transition to a low-carbon economy.

TAn exciting step towards a greener and more sustainable Asia is truly welcome.  You can learn more and download a brochure from the ASEAN website:  https://asean.org/asean-adopts-framework-for-circular-economy/

McKinsey & Company recently published a report titled, : Back to human" Why HR leaders want to focus on people again."

The summary takeaways are that Human Resource leaders are moving away from HR process to a focus more directly on people.   

In today's world of burnout and talent shortages, this seems natural, although reading through the article, the shift was well on its way pre-pandemic.  Like everything, the pandemic put change on a fast-track. 

McKinsey Why HR Leaders want to focus on people again.pdf