Employees in Hong Kong have high bonus expectations in spite of the observations about the financial services market.

According to the survey conducted by recruitment consultant Hays on employees’ bonus expectations, 44% said they expected a high bonus, and 23% expected an average one.

Emma Charnock, Regional Director of Hays Accountancy & Finance in Hong Kong, comments that employees are not worried by the speculation that bonuses will not be as high as previous years. “This optimism indicates that candidates are, for the most part, ignoring anxious observations about the financial services market. Perhaps this is because business is booming, investment continues into the local market and development across the border is active.”

According to Hays, employers have also indicated that they will create new positions to enable planned expansions, which will tighten the already existing demand for suitable skills.

“While expectations do sometimes get ahead of reality, employers for the most part are upbeat and so their bonus expectations, particularly for the top 10% of employees, are also expected to be high. For the remainder, while bonuses may not be as great as previous years, this clearly isn’t dampening candidate’s expectation that there will still be high bonuses on offer,” Charnock says.