Special Topic: Finding and Keeping Jobs in China

It has been a recurring theme of my columns here at eChinacities.com that, with the onset of the financial crisis, the Chinese job-market underwent a dramatic climate change. Prior to 2008 and the global economy sliding towards recession, China was gripped by a war for talent with scores of jobs on offer and not enough people to fill them. This resulted in a ‘war for talent’ with anyone with decent qualifications and a whiff of practical experience able to demand salaries ridiculously out of synch with their actual abilities. Now, in economically tighter times, many of those jobs have disappeared and previously in demand employees are simply grateful to keep hold of the job they have. Although the situations are diametrically opposite, both are (or in the case of the ‘war for talent,’ were) causes of great employee stress. This set me to wondering how the ways in which Chinese workers battle stress have changed over the past year.

Photo: Elislike

I began researching this back in 2007 when, even though the financial climate was warm and sunny, stress was proving a problem in many major organizations. A survey undertaken by Hudson in 2007 revealed that 53% of Chinese workers had experienced work-related stress in the previous year, a figure higher than any other Asian nation. The problem was that because the economy was booming and companies were paying their staff high salaries, they expected high levels of performance in return, as Angie Eagen, GM of Hudson explained to China Daily, “The higher stress these people feel is caused by the fast-paced economic development in China in these past years," She added, "Most companies set high growth targets, which translates into stepped up productivity for workers."

The majority of respondents in the Hudson survey blamed their stress on being overworked, with 36% choosing this as their major reason. A further 12% cited long hours and short deadlines as their problem. With such problems, many companies decided to ease the pressure by simply hiring more staff, 61% to be precise. Other companies took a slightly different approach. For example, an American software company based in Tianjin took a very physical approach to reducing employee their stress. One of the company’s senior managers organized a badminton club. He explained that originally this had been designed as a way for staff to keep in shape, but he soon realized that things were getting quite competitive and that many of his employees enjoyed it as a way to let off some steam.

Employees themselves also had some very interesting approaches to stress busting. For example, in Shanghai in 2007, 120 female white-collar workers got together to enjoy a pillow fight. The event, organized by a dating website, was designed to allow women between 25 and 35 to vent some steam as one of the organizers explained to Shanghai Youth Daily, “We borrowed the idea of a pillow fight from the West as a way to ease mounting pressure facing lots of white-collar workers in Shanghai.” She added, "By throwing pillow punches at one another, they may get relief from stress, however temporary it may be.” It certainly seemed to work. One of the women who attended revealed, “It drove me high and helped me free myself from unbearable strain and a heavy workload,” she said, “I just feel as if I'm returning to my carefree childhood with this soft violence.”

There were several other wacky ideas out there too. For example, all across China many women began enjoying pole-dancing. The slightly risqué hobby became popular as many clubs began to offer all female classes in which women could feel free to express themselves after a hard day at the office. In Shanghai, several office workers took a slightly morbid but nonetheless effective approach to reducing their stress. They spent their lunch breaks in local cemeteries smelling the flowers. One of them told China Daily, “The environment there is as beautiful as any park, if not more so. The grass is always green and it is really convenient for me to get to." Another added, “Whenever I am feeling frustrated with work or life, I come here to the cemetery. The serenity helps me to put things into perspective.”

Now, in 2009, there is still stress in the workplace, but for very different reasons. Whereas before, employees were stressed because of high workloads and the need to justify their inflated salaries, they are now stressed because they are worried about keeping their jobs and about receiving the dreaded pink-slip. A survey in Shanghai Daily in March of this year found that 70% of employees were feeling the pressure of the financial crisis. This time, though, dealing with stress will not be so easy. For starters, companies cannot simply hire more staff to help the problem go away – they no longer have the cash to do that. This means that the onus of staving off stress falls squarely on the shoulders of China’s workers themselves.

However, this will no longer be quite as easy as before. Just as with company budgets, employee finances are likely to be a lot tighter than before. Hudson’s Q2 survey revealed that well over 35% of companies had cut or cancelled bonuses and a further 12% were planning reductions in salary. This means we are likely to see a lot more cheap and free stress-busting solutions. The graveyard is in; the pole-dancing is out.

Special Topic: Finding and Keeping Jobs in China

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