Bulletin: Recruiting workforce from China, FutuVision Eu-Sino Ltd.
26th June 2008
BULLETIN
June 26th, 2008
Referring to the recent news related to malpractices in recruiting Chinese workers, FutuVision Eu-Sino Ltd. releases this bulletin about its operations and experiences in China.
The general situation in China concerning exporting workforce abroad
In China, exporting workforce abroad started in the 1980s. The number of export workers has increased rapidly and currently about 300,000 Chinese workers are exported every year. The labor exporting has been encouraged by Chinese government.
Many export workers are considered temporary migrants and the labor export services are project based. Such export labor services are mainly provided by some labor exporting organizations, which have permission from the government. The operation model of these organizations is equivalent to the labor leasing companies in Finland: the Chinese labor exporting organization has work contracts with the Chinese workers and it pays salary to the workers. The Chinese labor exporting organization has also contracts with foreign companies, who need the extra workforce. The Chinese workers work in the foreign company based on the agreements. Normally there is a fixed time for the Chinese workers to work abroad. The Chinese labor exporting organization must guarantee that the Chinese workers return back after the contracted working period.
These organizations and other similar companies also provide services for Chinese workers to have direct employment relationships with foreign companies. Currently, there are no clear polices or laws to regulate the services and markets in this respect. The commission fees the companies charge from the Chinese workers are in thousands of euros, often around 10,000 euros. In China, this price has somehow been taken for granted as a standard price for receiving a work opportunity abroad.
The services in helping Chinese workers to be employed by Finnish companies is quite new in China. We have seen some Chinese companies recruiting workers (mainly cleaners) for Finnish companies. They charge the Chinese workers above mentioned sums as commission fees, if the workers are contracted by the Finnish side. In addition, the workers might be charged more for course and other training fees in Finland. Even though the Chinese company charges quite high commission fees without providing more services such as training, the price is considered reasonable in China and it might be also legal in China for the company to charge the fee.
FutuVision Eu-Sino´s operation in China
FutuVision Eu-Sino Ltd., established in 2004, provides versatile training and consultation services to facilitate trade and cultural exchange with China. Key parts in our operation are training programs for Chinese workers and recruiting services for Finnish employers to recruit Chinese workers. We started these operations in 2006 through an EU funded project and to this date we have 22 Chinese workers have been recruited to Finnish metal companies through us. In the coming months about 30 new workers will arrive to metal and cleaning companies.
The service process in relation to recruiting Chinese workers is divided into two different parts that are carried out respectively in both China and in Finland. In China, our daughter company, FutuVision Eu-Sino Beijing, organizes training courses for Chinese workers, who wish to get a job opportunity from Finland or elsewhere from Europe. The 3 month long training is full time based and deals with issues such as Finnish (European) work environment, society, legislation etc. In addition, the participants receive language teaching, where the main focus is on work-related discussions and vocabulary. The teachers of the courses come from Finland and China. We have been able to recruit e.g. the first professional Chinese native Finnish teacher to teach in our courses.
The training is chargeable for the Chinese workers. The fee is 5500 euros. No other fees such as commissions are charged. The chargeable training guarantees that the applicants are motivated and skillful. The price of the training is dependent on the price level in Chinese training markets, where. the price is directly related to quality in the minds of the Chinese workers. If the worker does not find a job from Europe or elsewhere within a year after the training FutuVision Eu-Sino will return the training fee.
We also provide tailor made services for some specialized companies to recruit Chinese workers. We help the companies to find Chinese workers with required special skills, test and interview them together with clients before signing the work contracts. We also give the workers the language and cultural training while they are applying for the work permits (normally it takes around 3 months). In these cases, the companies are encouraged to take part in compensating the training fee for the workers.
In either model, the workers will sign work contracts directly with the employer and FutuVision Eu-Sino does not make any other work contracts with the workers. However, taking part in the training does not bind the workers to leave for Finland or any other country. The purpose of the training is to improve the workers skills to meet the requirements of foreign companies. The workers can e e.g. seek a job in some foreign company operating in China.
In Finland, the client companies in Finland will pay for the recruiting fees, including our services for finding suitable candidates, arranging technical/language testing and job interviews, as well as follow-up assistance services when the Chinese workers come to Finland. The employer can decide whether there is need for any further training in Finland and arrange it as it best sees fit. The employer can utilize the services of our partner, Mänttä Regional Vocational Education Centre (MSKK), to arrange further training through joint purchase education (TE centre funding). MSKK is FutuVision Eu-Sino`s partner in providing testing and training services and they have a strong experience in co-operating with the Chinese workers.
The strength of our company is its strong presence in China. We do not only trust our contact network but we also have our own office and own staff in China. Networks are, however, very important in our operation and we work side by side with e.g. the Chinese embassy in Finland and we also pursue to have co-operation with the public sector in Finland to find a way to support the training in China with other funding.
More information:
www.eu-sino.com
managing director Cai Yuzhuo, 03-4108 9016, (only in English)
marketing manager Johanna Tommila, 03-4108 9015,
