This is China! BLOG

Favorite Bosses to Work For in China

I recently had lunch with the charming Chinese manager of a multi-national recruitment firm and with a mutual client of ours, the Chinese General Manager (GM) of an American manufacturer. In fact, the recruiter had actually conducted the search and interviews that resulted in the Client hiring the Chinese fellow across from whom I sat. I’ll call him Ben (not his real name). And I’ll call the recruiter Sally (not her real name). We had a very nice lunch at a Cantonese restaurant at the Hongkong new world tower on Huaihai road in Shanghai.

Over a meal of steamed fish, roast pork buns, stir-fried kale and other tasty dishes we discussed what kinds of companies Chinese people prefer to work for, and why (among other topics).

The Taiwanese Boss
At the extreme bottom of the list, the least favorite kind of company for Chinese people to work for are Taiwanese companies. All of us at the table (and anyone in China whom I’ve met and has a brush-with-death-through-doing-business-with-Taiwanese on the Mainland) agrees: Taiwanese businesspeople are cheap, treat employees like mindless drones, and are arrogant workaholics (when they’re not in the KTV clubs smooching pretty girls and drinking copious amounts of Whiskey mixed with green tea).

Sally the Recruiter told me the story of an American manufacturing client of hers that had hired a Taiwanese as a GM for the company’s China factory. After the contract had been signed by all parties in the hiring transaction, the GM returned to the recruiting company and told them he wanted to increase the salary level of the contract and change the employment terms. After some weeks of trying to negotiate with the GM, who could not be appeased, the recruitment company explained to their client the GM’s requirements were unreasonable and that the recruiter could no longer manage the account to the client’s requirements. “We had to fire the client,” Sally said.

“Americans think all Chinese are the same,” Ben said. “Taiwanese, Hong Kong, Singapore…”

“They all look alike, so they should be the same,” I suggested.

“The Taiwanese believe all Chinese are countryside people, so they look down on Mainlanders,” I said. Ben and Sally nodded assent.

Ben laughed, said something in Shanghainese, to which Sally laughed as well. “Shanghainese call Taiwanese peasants,” Ben translated for me. Ben is from Beijing, raised in Sichuan, and still knows the sentiments of other Chinese about the Taiwanese businessmen.

The Hong Kong Boss
“Hong Kong people are not quite as arrogant as the Taiwanese,” Ben said. Sally agreed. I decided against bringing up the story of a young Chinese woman who’s Hong Kong boss liked to call her at home and invite her to meet him at 10 o’clock at night at a nearby coffee house. At the restaurant at which they worked, he would watch her adoringly, and lend her a hand whenever he saw the opportunity to be near her. The staff was none too impressed by his attentions; and neither was her boyfriend (about whom the Hong Kong manager was well aware, but clearly dismissive).

The Southeast Asian Boss
“I’ve not had any problems with the Singaporeans,” Sally said. “I have heard of some problems with the Malaysian and Indonesian Chinese bosses, though.

“Arrogant to Mainland Chinese,” I proffered.

The Japanese Boss
“The Japanese are a little better than the overseas Chinese in managing Mainlanders,” Sally said, “much better than the Taiwanese.”

“The Japanese, though you may be a lowly employee, do not disprespect you.”

The European Boss
“Chinese people prefer working for the Germans over the French,” Ben said. The Germans tend to be more relaxed than the French.”

Sally said, “The British are pretty good, too, though there aren’t as many British companies as German.”

The American Boss
Top of the list, according to my Chinese counterparts, were American companies. Compared to the Europeans, Americans are a nice lot to work for. American companies in general pay more generously than the others, and tend to care a bit more about the welfare of the staff, as well. American corporate hierarchies tend to be flatter than European ones, too.

Meal finished, China’s HR management situation appropriately sized up, we pushed ourselves away from the table, satisfied. We promised each other we would get together again, after the summer, to talk more about hiring conditions around China.

Bill Dodson
SUZHOU, China