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David Owens, MD of Digby Morgan's Australian businesses, sets the HR scene 'down under' and in the wider Asia Pacific region.
Although not plumbing similar depths to the US or Europe, the Australian economy grew only marginally in late 2008, interest rates have come down with a bump and the Federal Government has thrown open the doors of the federal reserve in an attempt to encourage consumer spending and confidence in the longer term health of the economy.
There is a slowdown in Australia and some jobs are disappearing, though not, I am assured, as quickly and as dramatically as they are overseas. There is a sense that the local employment market has certain robustness to it underpinned by a general sense that there is still only a very small pool of available talent here. That in itself is cause for some optimism but, when you put that together with a sense that Aussie primary industry is performing well (agriculture and resources for example) and the Federal Government is committed to spending huge sums on building new large chunks of infrastructure, you get a feeling that Australia may just navigate the next six to 12 months in a 'not great but not so bad' way.
So, the outlook for the HR profession in the Asia PAC region is fair to good, there remains significant support amongst businesses for quality HR practices and, despite leaner times, I see the overall commitment to HR headcount and HR initiatives being maintained into the medium term. The demand for talent in HR is varied. There are a number of permanent roles for HR generalists particularly in the sub £50K (UK currency) market. The roles most in demand would be those in the senior specialist categories such as in-house recruitment, learning and development, remuneration & benefit, industrial relations and occupational health and safety. The working environment in Australia for example is highly regulated and as we currently have a Labour Government there is increased importance to all matters to do with employee relations. Industries performing well right now are utilities, transport, building, construction and the consulting engineers, not for profit, Federal and some state governments as well as the pharmaceuticals industry. Retail seems to be in reasonable shape in Australia but the investment banking sector, which is relatively small here, has had a very tough six month period.
There will always be opportunities in a region as diverse and geographically disparate as Asia PAC though, at this point I would see 2009 as a year in which opportunities to relocate will be at lower levels than the last five. I see the market generally in consolidation mode and subsequently I think cost factors will mean the encouragement of relocations will remain focussed on the organisations existing talent rather than sourcing talent from other geographies and paying the attendant additional costs.
Overall, I think 2009 will see very modest growth in the Asia PAC region and the relative softness of the recruitment market will mean that there is a greater chance of finding quality talent based more locally and the requirements to relocate talent will be correspondingly lower. Not with standing an environment of very modest growth, there remains an overall shortage of talent - particularly within the ranks of the senior specialists -and as the Asia PAC region gathers momentum and drives forward best HR practice we will experience demand for senior specialists to take up roles in the Asia PAC region and thus drive some relocation activity.
Courtesy of ChangeBoard.com
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