Introduction

On March 26, sailglobal was invited by the Global HR Think Tank to participate in the “China Enterprises Going Global HR Salon – Shanghai Session.” At the event, sailglobal’s CHO and Head of Consulting & Training, Huang Yuanming, provided an in-depth professional analysis of the five major challenges Chinese enterprises face in overseas expansion regarding talent: selection, utilization, management, development, and retention.

As the wave of Chinese enterprises going global accelerates, more organizations are encountering a variety of management challenges. These challenges are particularly evident in how companies recruit, deploy, manage, train, and retain their workforce abroad.

Selection (选): How to identify and recruit the right talent
Utilization (用): Defining clear roles, responsibilities, and value contribution
Management (管): Ensuring performance output and compliance
Development (育): Building employee capabilities
Retention (留): Retaining key talent and core employees

Diverse Recruitment: Ensuring Competitiveness in Overseas Markets

Recruitment is the first step in international expansion and is critical to business success and competitiveness overseas.

sailglobal highlights four key recruitment strategies:

Building an appropriate recruitment framework and support structure
Conducting thorough workforce planning
Leveraging diverse recruitment channels
Adopting targeted hiring practices to secure the right talent

Recruitment can take different forms:

Localized hiring: Offers deeper insights into the local market and culture
Remote hiring from headquarters: Better alignment with Chinese corporate culture and evaluation standards, but limited local knowledge—often requiring collaboration with local partners
Outsourced hiring: Partnering with HR service providers or headhunters to improve efficiency, while keeping cost under control

Workforce planning should focus on cost-benefit analysis. Companies should carefully allocate responsibilities, assigning suitable tasks to local employees while gradually opening critical technical and managerial roles to them, to maintain stability.

Recruitment channels must remain diverse, including internal mobility, campus recruitment, referrals, online job boards, and media platforms. For example, in Southeast Asia, even blue-collar positions can be effectively filled via online postings.

sailglobal also notes the value of China-based recruitment (recruiting foreign nationals who studied or worked in China before returning to their home countries), as such candidates often better understand Chinese culture and can serve as cultural bridges.

Cultural Fit: Assessing Overseas Employees Beyond Skills

When hiring overseas employees, sailglobal emphasizes evaluating cultural values—such as work ethic and willingness to embrace challenges—since cultural attitudes vary widely.

Key considerations include:

Openness to cultural integration, especially Chinese culture, as some regions may hold biases against Chinese enterprises
Professionalism and soft skills, including communication and etiquette, which may differ across countries
Leadership potential, avoiding candidates who are overly exclusionary or litigious, as they may create HR risks

Recruiters must also ensure accurate candidate profiling to prevent misunderstandings and protect the company’s employer brand. Cultural differences—spanning communication styles, value systems, and management approaches—remain one of the greatest barriers to global workforce integration.

For example, salary adjustments in some countries require union approval, and negotiations directly affect the final compensation. Building constructive relationships with unions is therefore crucial.

Compliance-Driven Performance Management

sailglobal stresses the importance of establishing robust compliance systems by forming cross-department compliance teams and building HR teams with strong legal knowledge. Local HR processes should be continuously optimized, supported by a case library of compliance best practices.

Performance management responsibilities typically fall into three categories:

Chinese staff: Act as the bridge between headquarters and local organizations, ensuring policy alignment
Local managers: Mediate communication between Chinese and local employees, and handle local cross-department conflicts
Local employees: Provide professional expertise and execute daily operational processes

To ensure effective performance management:

Clearly define responsibilities in the offer letter and employment contract from the outset
Establish transparent evaluation processes to minimize disputes
Align assessment cycles with local practices, while maintaining consistency and fairness
Motivate employees by not only setting goals but also discussing strategies and pathways to achieve them, with frequent positive feedback

Cultural differences shape performance management expectations. For instance:

Brazilian employees value relationships, flexibility, inclusiveness, and informal recognition
French employees prioritize work-life balance and autonomy, preferring longer-term objectives over frequent evaluations

Compensation structures also vary, combining base salary, performance bonuses, and region-specific benefits. Timely payroll delivery is essential to avoid disputes, while benefits may include mandatory programs and optional perks like dental care or family allowances.

Incentive plans should remain flexible, adjusting according to market entry vs. maturity stages and competitive strategies. Frequency and design of rewards must align with local norms.

Local Leadership: Building a Strong Native Management Team

sailglobal’s CHO Huang Yuanming highlights the importance of instant recognition programs, such as project-based or spot bonuses, which resonate well with local employees. Honorary recognition, career development opportunities, and psychological incentives also drive motivation.

When selecting local managers, companies should prioritize candidates aligned with core corporate values and monitor them closely during critical moments to avoid inconsistent behavior.

Best practices include:

Assigning local managers to lead local teams, especially in client-facing roles
Providing career development and promotion pathways to retain talent
Using dual-role models (e.g., Huawei’s “AB role” system) where local staff lead in client-facing positions while Chinese staff maintain oversight in internal management, ensuring risk control and collaboration

sailglobal’s international compensation consulting team brings extensive experience and case studies in global compensation design. For employee exits, it is recommended to conduct formal farewell processes, as many overseas employees value proper closure, which helps protect employer reputation.

Chinese companies should also pay close attention to termination compliance, including severance pay and local legal procedures, which vary across countries. sailglobal’s team of overseas employment experts can provide tailored, compliant solutions.

Sailglobal: The Five Key Challenges Chinese Companies Face in Global Expansion