Study: HK media and advertising workers to see pay rise in 2023

Employers in Hong Kong are expecting an increase (1.6%) in overall salary adjustment in 2023, of which the media and advertising industry sees the most increment (3.7%), according to JobsDB’s latest survey.

Conducted among 481 commercial firms in September, the study aims to find out and foresee challenges of hiring, compensation and benefits in local talent market.

The overall salary adjustment prediction in 2023 is +1.6%. Top job function with the highest predicted salary adjustment is the media and advertising industry (3.7%), followed by information technology (3.5%), digital marketing, eCommerce and social media (3.4%) as well as marketing and branding (3.0%).

63% of surveyed employers said they have provided performance bonuses for employees in the past 12 months, which has slightly increased from 59% compared to last year. Furthermore, companies have used measures to generate interests from qualified candidates. Over half of employers (52%) provided attractive salary and compensation, while some also promoted work-life balance, positive culture of the organisations as well as good working environment and facilities.

However, 68% of the surveyed companies reported recruitment difficulties as compared to five years ago. The top reasons are raise of expectations for salary and benefits (60%) and difficulties in recruiting capable talent (60%), followed by difficulties in recruiting experienced talent (53%) and moving out of Hong Kong candidates (38%).

To address challenges in recruitment and talent retention, 52% of the surveyed companies said they are more willing to offer better pay and benefits to new recruits, up 11% from last year. In addition, they are placing greater emphasis on the “promotion of work-life balance” (29%), “positive culture of the organisation” (28%) and “good working environment / facilities” (28%) to attract talent, with 32% of businesses providing flexible work locations policy, allowing staff to work from anywhere and increasing flexibility at work.

JobsDB Hong Kong managing director Bill Lee said that skills mismatch was one of the root causes of talent shortage, “The pandemic has framed new requirements on talent. All sectors are undergoing reorientation, drastically transforming their demand for different skill sets. Unfortunately, the labor market has not been able to catch up with these changes."

"Companies need time and resources for internal training and upskilling, thus sustaining a prolonged talent mismatch. On the other hand, apart from offering competitive salaries and better benefits, investing extra resources for internal training, promoting a positive culture and work-life balance, as well as making staff a priority, are also recommended to stem the brain drain," he added. 

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