New For Expat Workers In China; Air Filters, More Paid Days Out Of Country, More Health Care Costs
EDIT
“We are seeing some companies reverting to 1980s and 1990s hardship packages for executive-level candidates in cities that are hard hit with pollution,” said Angie Eagan, managing director for China at recruitment firm MRIC, in an e-mail. “These packages are shaped around executives leaving their families in their home country and receiving an allowance for frequent home trips.”
Japan’s Panasonic Corp. (6752) is considering increasing a living allowance for overseas workers in China by an undisclosed amount based on environmental factors, including air pollution.
Some companies remain reluctant to add to the 5 percent to 10 percent premium they already pay to foreign employees in China, preferring to compensate them for pollution through perks such as more time off, paid trips to get away or covering the cost of insulating homes from bad air, said Fred Schlomann, managing director at human resources advisory firm AIRINC.
A third of European Union Chamber of Commerce companies in China said air pollution has added to human-resource costs as expats make demands such as better health care, pay or air filters, according to Ioana Kraft, general manager of the chamber’s Shanghai chapter.
EDIT
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-04-07/china-s-smog-splits-families-as-toxic-pollution-extracts-costs
