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David Owens, MD of HR Partners, 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.
Notwithstanding 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.
HR Partners was acquired by Digby Morgan in 2007 and
is headquartered in Sydney with additional offices
in Brisbane and Melbourne. A significant player in
the Australasian HR recruitment scene, the long established
brand employs 20 consultants dedicated entirely to
recruiting HR professionals in the region and - working
increasingly and closely with Digby Morgan’s
international offices - on a global basis.
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