If reporting levels are any indicator of HR’s contribution as a business partner, China is doing well. More than one-third (37%) of the country’s senior HR leaders report to the highest levels of management, such as the CEO.

However, the global average is far ahead at 63% of senior HR leaders reporting directly to the top management, finds a new report.

One way to explore this relationship more is thought the scope of responsibility of HR leaders.

In China, the scope of responsibilities of HR leaders is defined primarily by talent acquisition (84%), as is the case globally as well (86%).

The next most popular HR task in the nation is talent management (80%), while globally second spot is taken up by employee relations (81%).

“These are clear signs HR has evolved hugely from being chiefly an administrative function, handling the hiring and firing, to one that actively and systematically manages the talent on which the success of the organisation depends,” said Anthony Thompson, regional MD, Michael Page Greater China and South East Asia, in a new report by Michael Page.

That seems like a timely move, given that organisations are gearing up for a new “war for talent”, as nearly half (49%) of HR leaders in China expect their workforce to expand over the next 12 months.

This is reflective of the larger, regional trend as well where 50% of HR managers in APAC expect to see an increase in staffing levels in the next 12 months.

Worldwide, 23% of organisations have increased their budget for recruitment in the recent months, with the most demand led by the technology sector, according to latest the Michael Page HR Barometer.

As a result, talent management is now the most pressing priority for China’s HR leaders (39%), followed by training and development (36%) and recruitment (34%) as the other two most pressing issues.

Diversity and inclusion appears lower down the order, with only 2% of Chinese HR managers listing it as a priority, versus the global average of 4%.

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Globally, larger organisations appear more likely to spend more than 10% of their HR budget on recruitment (36%) compared to smaller organisations (28%) – irrespective of whether they expect to increase, maintain, or decrease their workforce.

Hence, for larger organisations, recruitment expenditure appears to be constantly higher relative to the total HR budget than for smaller organisations.

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