2021 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (HKSAR) pay and benefits survey report

The 2021 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (HKSAR) Pay and Benefits Survey covered 94 organizations from different business sectors. Data collection was conducted from July to September 2021 through online questionnaires. A total of 81,680 employees were covered in the Survey, comprising employees at 4 different job levels: Managerial Staff, Supervisory/Technical Staff, General Staff and Operative Staff. The total number of benchmark jobs surveyed was 305.
The survey covered a number of topics including Profile of Organizations Surveyed, Actual and Projected Salary Adjustments, Starting Salaries for Fresh Graduates, Incentive Schemes, Employee Benefits, Workforce Movement, and Annual Cash Compensation Packages for 305 Benchmark Jobs. The data were analyzed by Business Sectors, Organization Size, and or Staff Levels for ease of reference.
The survey results showed that the overall actual average salary increase during the period from July 2020 to June 2021 ranged from 1.3% to 2.1%. Supervisory/Technical Staff and General Staff have recorded an average salary adjustment of 2.1%, Managerial Staff 1.9%, and Operative Staff 1.3%. Among business sectors, the Trading Sector reported the highest average salary adjustment of 3.8%. In terms of staff level, the highest average salary adjustments reported were 3.6% for Managerial Staff, 4.1% for Supervisory/Technical Staff and 3.8% General Staff from the Trading Sector, and Operative Staff has the highest average salary adjustments of 2.2% from the NGO & Social Enterprises Sector.
For the 2022 projected salary adjustment, 88 organizations provided data for analysis. The overall projected average salary increase was 2.1%, with an average ranging from 1.9% to 2.4% for different levels of staff. The most important criterion for salary review for all levels of staff was “Organization’s Overall Performance”, followed by “Individual Performance”.
The starting monthly salary for fresh graduates varied according to their qualifications and job functions. The highest average starting salaries were recorded in Engineering function at HK$19,038 for Master’s Degree or above and HK$17,206 for Bachelor's Degree graduates. For new employees’ employment arrangement, the average duration of the probationary period was 3 months, while 56 organizations did not adjust salary after the probation.
For employee turnover, data during the survey period revealed that turnover percentage ranged from 8.8% to 22.6% for different staff levels, with an overall average of 18%. General and Operative Staff had relatively higher turnover percentage in general. Regarding the reason for turnover, “Career/promotion prospect” was the top reason for Managerial Staff, Supervisory/Technical staff, and “Pay” was ranked top for General Staff and Operative Staff.
44 (46.8%) out of the 94 organizations had redundancies during the year. The total number of employees made redundant was 755, with 73.6% were Operative Staff. Real Estate & Property Management Sector retrenched the highest number of employee redundant (423), followed by the Engineering (142). In terms of the redundancy percentage, the highest percentage was found in the Trading Sector (4.6%), followed by Engineering Sector, Information/ Communication Technology & Software Sector, and Trading Sector were 2.3%.
A total of 2,389 additional headcounts were created by 42 responding organizations. 842 of which were General Staff. Logistics & Transportation Sector created 29.3% (701) of the total headcounts reported. In terms of Organization size, large size companies as a whole created the largest number of additional headcounts, mainly were General Staff.
The weighted averages of annual cash compensation packages for 305 benchmark jobs covered in this survey are presented in Part 7 of section 3 in this Report.