When more companies compete for a smaller pie, how should they modify their talent acquisition strategies? At the 2023 Talent Sustainability Forum organized by CommonWealth Learning in September, ASE’s Vice President for Human Resources, PR, and OSH Sunny Li talked about how the company expanded its talent pool. She also explained how up to 100 Filipino high-end professionals choose to relocate to Taiwan instead of going to America.

The speech excerpt is as follows:

I am an HR manager, but I have done many things seemingly unrelated to managing human resources, such as serving as a course evaluator at a local university and consulting at the Ministry of Labor on occupational safety and hygiene. I have participated in these organizations early, as I feel the shortage of talent is a critical issue. Without influencing schools and policy enforcement, our conditions will be more challenging. 

Talent is a common issue. Why do Taiwanese enterprises feel difficult to find great talent? In Taiwan, variable bonuses account for one third of compensation packages, the highest proportion in Asia. Enterprises prefer variable bonuses, as it signifies recognition for hard work. We are educated into this mindset, but it is a root cause for brain drain.

How do companies appeal to talent?

When headhunters for foreign companies present their packages, their annual salaries are often on par with or even lower than current packages (variable bonuses included). However, it is still appealing to many young employees. Individuals seek stability, making fixed salaries preferable, ideally reaching up to 90%.

Many young people now are “poor with sophisticated lifestyles”. A young college graduate can barely survive with NT$30,000 (US$1,000) a month, if he/she only has slices of bread for a few meals. If they want to travel once a year, NT$35,000 salaries a month is the minimum. A young couple with one child need more than NT$100,000 per month.

Which pressures do young people endure? “I have kids, car loan, mortgage, and student debt,” a colleague told me. In Taiwan, while GDP is growing, and CPI is relatively stable, salary increases are however insignificant. Young people have pressures in multiple aspects.

Besides unattractive offers, the talent pool is shrinking. From 2022 to 2028, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) graduates are estimated to reduce by 20%. It sends a strong signal to HR managers.

Quantity aside, quality is also an issue.

It is estimated that by 2028, there will be more college freshmen than high-school graduates in Taiwan. Essentially, all high-school graduates can go to college. The value of college degrees as indicators is diminishing. It’s detrimental to the whole ecosystem. In the past, semiconductor leader TSMC only recruited from a few top universities. When TSMC starts to expand its recruitment campaigns to more campuses, we are forced to follow suit. This is the harsh reality.

However, is lowering our standards a solution? What should we do when more enterprises compete for a smaller pie? How can we enlarge the pie? Since ASE has been employing foreign engineers, is it possible to employ more of them?

Shift recruitment focus overseas

ASE faced challenges in its experiment with foreign engineers. Many semiconductor makers in Taiwan built plants in China more than a decade ago. We trained 500 Chinese engineers, but only a handful of them are still with us today. The vast majority migrated to over 600 testing and packaging companies in China. Essentially, ASE trained their employees for free.

Retention is crucial in international recruitment. With prior mistakes, we are especially aware of affiliated measures when we recruit engineers from the Philippines.

When employees arrive in a new country, companies need to take care of them from workplace, language, to daily life. We provide Chinese lessons, online programs in English, and great dorms. With diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) in mind, we don’t treat them as foreigners. Eventually, we hope they will be eligible for long-term stay programs in Taiwan.

I recently went to the Philippines, and met with a lot of great students. They were on par with Taiwanese students in public universities, and many of them were eager to come to Taiwan. I talked to 150 of them over three days.

If companies are interested in overseas recruitment, I have three suggestions. First, visit those countries, and highlight our Taiwanese origin. Second, recruit and retain foreign talent with DEI principles. Third, recruit with a clear talent structure and strategy in mind.

For example, we need foreign engineers because chipmakers need 24/7 operations. Many young people in Taiwan are unwilling to take night shifts. Young foreign workers are willing to do night shifts, and earn higher salaries to support families back in home countries. This is a good match to both sides.

Lastly, talent strategies take time to cultivate. When in need of talent, all HR professionals should ask themselves, how many college presidents can you reach immediately in your messaging apps? It will be too late to look for talent at the last minute.

Have you read?

• “TSMC needs to focus more on its American employees” – exclusive interview with Thunderbird dean Sanjeev Khagram
• Peter Senge on the meaning of learning in the age of AI – an exclusive interview

Uploaded by Ian Huang