ASIA SURVEY WATSON WYATT C&B
Asia - Employees in Asia say they don't really mind the salary freezes and marginal wage increases.
In a recent poll by Watson Wyatt, it found that many companies based in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are have chosen to freeze pay this year due to the poor economy.
According to Reuters, Russell Huntington, Asia Pacific director of Watson Wyatt's Human Capital Group, said workers in Asia were, on average, much better off than their European and United States peers.
"In Asia Pacific, the extent of the salary reduction and pay freeze isn't as great as in Europe and the United States, where 29% and 56% of companies are freezing salaries," he said.
Huntington added that most employees also expected their salaries to remain frozen due to the economic crisis. "Companies are desperate to cut operating costs and here is a great opportunity to do so. And in the scheme of things, a missed pay review or a salary freeze is relatively light, and quite different than losing your job."
Huntington said despite employees' knowledge of the situation, companies should continue communicating openly to staff about the organisation's finances. "It is the obligation of the leadership to communicate this, and perhaps ironically, the outcome will be positive."
The survey was conducted from February to March this year and polled about 1,600 organizations in 11 countries.
