We are pleased to invite you to our next Human Resources Working Group Meeting on Thursday 10th November, from 2:00 pm, about training and development. This topic has been defined together with the participants of the previous HR WG on October 13th.

 During the Working group meeting on ??raining and Development?? Mrs Cheng Min, co-Chairman for the HR WG will present the way BASF YPC is training his employees and the development strategy of the company.

After her presentation, each participating company will present its own way to train and develop his employees for about 5 mn per person. The presentation can be done orally or with the support of a word document.

 

We provide you with a platform to share your own opinion with the other HR managers.

  

Agenda: The detailed agenda of the meeting is as follows:

 

Date:      November 10th

Time:      2:00 -2:15 pm:                Registration & payment -drink

                2:15 -3:30 pm:                Part I -- BASF YPC training and development by Cheng Min and Q&A

                3:30 -3:35 pm:                Break ??drinks and snacks

                3:35 -4:00 pm:                Part II ??Presentations by participants and Discussions

Venue:   To get more detailed information, visit the European Chamber website www.euccc.com.cn and see" contact Us"

Please feel free to call us (025.8681.1888) or the hotel reception (025.8335.8888).  

Fee:        Members                    40 RMB

Non Members            100 RMB

Fees will be collected at the entrance (cash).

 Thank you for confirming your participation to at nanjing@euccc.com.cn or enroll online. If you have any question, please don't hesitate to contact Bingbing Wu by call (025 8681 1888) or by email (sbwu@euccc.com.cn).Please be kindly reminded to cancel your participation when you cannot come, preferably by phone if you cancel the day of the meeting. This will help our organization. Thank you for your understanding.   

Best regards

 

Bingbing Wu

Business Manager

Tel: 025.8681.1888

email : sbwu@euccc.com.cn  

Event review

Human Resources Working Group - Minutes
 
Thursday, 10th November 2005, 9am
European Chamber, Shanghai
Author: Paul Amilhat

Participants

Company	Name	Member
Aspecto Asia	Fabien Guerin	X
Barco	Rita Hui	X
Celemi Consulting	Barbro Andersson	X
Celemi Consulting	Eva Zhou	X
Deloitte	Stephen Green	X
EU Chamber	Maurizio Andreano
EU Chamber	Paul Amilhat
Fermax	Cherry Zhao	X
Hewitt Associates	Stella Hou	X
MRI	Adele Yu	X
Profiles China – Hireright	Nicolas Desprets	X
Saint-Gobain	Cecile Cavoizy	X
SKF Investment	Jayda Chen	X
Stora Enso Asia Pacific	Ivy Lin	X

Agenda

1.       Update on the HR Vendors Expo – The 1st EU Chamber HR Conference

2.       Tax Issues for local employees (Stephen Green, Deloitte)

Following up on last month’s HR WG and notably the conceptualisation of a HR Vendors Expo, this subsequent meeting started with a detailed update by the EU Chamber on related developments and preparations.

The new Business Manager Maurizio Andreano mentioned the need for more mutual content transparency between Beijing and Shanghai WGs. In this way, EU Chamber political and commercial moves will gain in balance. Moreover, the increasing support of the European Commission in terms of representation renders government bodies more approachable, and consequently more attentive to the voices of our members. The critical aspect of Position Paper knowledge by all group members as an imperative basis from which to advance was also pointed out.

1.)     Update on the HR Vendors Expo – The 1st EU Chamber HR Conference

-       The last HR WG meeting on 20th October saw the presentation of a memo concerning the upcoming HR Vendors Expo. Now that the date, venue and other details of the event are settled, this meeting was also seen by the EU Chamber as an opportunity to update everyone on the progress made. Approximately one month away now, members were informed about the agenda, the Member/Non-Member entry fee range, that there were still opportunities to buy booth slots, and that free tickets would only be distributed to sponsoring companies. On the promotional side, the Chamber stressed that it would try to add this important date to events listings in monthly published reviews. However, at the same time it was pointed out that such a move would be costly. Overall, the HR Vendors Expo seems to be on the right track, and it is an event all appear to be looking forward to.

-       Everyone was also reminded of the ‘Mastering in cross-cultural communication’ training day, happening on the 22nd of November. This event was co-organised with The Works Partnership.

2.)     Tax Issues for local employees (Stephen Green, Deloitte)

-       Whereas the hot topics of HR in Beijing are associated to the notions of training, pension plans and hiring foreigners, Shanghai current concerns lie around localisation issues. Mr. Stephen Green, Chairman of the HR WG in Shanghai and head of the Deloitte International Assignment Service team for the Eastern PRC region gave a presentation on ‘Tax Issues for local employees’.  

-       Attendees were firstly given a brief insight of the current tax regime in China, and then introduced to a fairly substantial and personalised content on tax planning ideas.

-     For Chinese Nationals, wherever they live and work, their worldwide income is subject to Chinese tax, therefore many scenarios are worth considering. It is up to the company to pick the one which proves to be the most advantageous in terms of tax savings. Tax rate differentials vary from a few percentages up to 40%.

-       Accordingly organisations may influence tax processes rendering them more bearable when opting, for instance, for beneficial tax treatments such as ‘severance pay’. Savings can also be made in the context of overseas meetings with a reasonable mixture of work and leisure.

-       Although rather complex, dividend payments to executives are also an option. You would need to establish an overseas entity in which the executive holds shares, and subsequently reroute some compensation as dividends.

-       Further tax planning ideas included spouse allowances (flattening salary ceilings), directorship (more useful to companies with a large board of directors and many expats on a high pay), further education for employees, the advantages of working on an individual tax basis or even introducing high interest accounts. Here an executive would loan to the employer a lump sum, and the employer pays interest at a high rate on this investment.

-      After a few years of service, giving the employee the choice of either buying stock at a low rate or being taxed, providing him/her with long service award gifts are two more ways of increasing corporate identification whilst softening tax concerns.

Conclusion

Stephen Green finished his presentation on an advisory note. He put forward the fact that organisations should never be too ambitious in their approach to tax planning for their employees. Instead they should assure some transparency in their planning, make sure that their employees are always aware of their position.

Participants also agreed on the fact that the current state of affairs in HR is not so much about understanding what type of employee one or the other company would be looking for, but more about in-company talent development strategies which need to be thought of. In order for companies to deal with high rates of employee turnover (average of 2-3 years), they need to show some response and start by giving every single employee some importance.  

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