By Helen Chernikoff
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The war for talent, once mainly a concern for U.S. companies' hiring at home, has gone global, especially as they scramble to hire in China and India.
U.S. manufacturers are sweetening jobs in those fast-growing emerging markets by hiking salaries and sponsoring cricket clubs as they pursue the efficiencies, business opportunities and security advantages local managers can offer, executives told the Reuters Manufacturing Summit in New York this week.
Perks have become part of the package in part because the supply of university graduates appears larger than it is in both countries, according to consulting firm McKinsey & Co., which turned "war for talent" into a catchphrase in the late 1990s when it forecast a shortage of top U.S. executives.
Only about 10 percent of China's graduates and between 10 percent and 25 percent of India's have the language skills and other qualifications required to work in foreign companies, according to a more recent McKinsey report.
The shortages result in poaching and high turnover, as at Ingersoll-Rand Co. Ltd. (IR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), where 10 percent to 15 percent of Indian and Chinese employees leave annually, Chief Executive Herb Henkel said.
"There is a lot of competition for talent," said Jim Griffith, chief executive of Timken Co. (TKR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a maker of bearings and alloy steel. "You've got to play your best game."
FIND THEM
GE prizes local management for its efficiency, said John Rice, president and CEO of GE Infrastructure. Continued...
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