SINGAPORE, March 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- For the second year, New York is the lowest risk city in the world for recruiting, employing and relocating employees, according to rankings released today by Aon Hewitt, the global human resources business of Aon plc (NYSE: AON). New York retained its title as the world's lowest risk city due to its world-class educational institutions, training facilities and availability of a large pool of qualified and experienced talent. New York's demographic risk is the second lowest due to its large working age population and high workforce productivity.  

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Aon Hewitt's 2013 People Risk Index measures the risks that organizations face with recruitment, employment and relocation in 138 cities worldwide by analyzing factors as demographics, access to education, talent development, employment practices and government regulations. According to the index, New York, Singapore, Toronto, London and Montreal retained their ranks as the top five lowest risk cities in the world. Conversely, Luanda, Angola; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Sana'a, Yemen; and Damascus, Syria represent the highest risk locations of the 138 cities for employers.

"The way businesses now recognize and manage people risk has changed significantly over the last few years," said Richard Payne, Talent and Rewards practice leader for Aon Hewitt in Asia Pacific. "Driven by a need to do more with less, business leaders have to be more innovative around how they invest; this has had an impact on how they think about talent sourcing and work force planning. Aon Hewitt's People Risk Index enables businesses to make informed decisions – to balance operational requirements with people risks."

The 10 Lowest Risk Cities

The Aon Hewitt 2013 People Risk Index showed minimal differences from the 2012 rankings among the top five cities. Singapore remains the only city outside of Europe and North America that is ranked among the top five, while Hong Kong is among those ranked as the 10 lowest risk cities. Of note, two European cities moved up the ranks to be among the top 10 in 2013 – Copenhagen and Zurich. This can be attributed to the many pro-business employment policies in these two cities, their open door policy towards talent and continued focus on developing and improving the education and talent development infrastructures. Furthermore, the increased risk in the euro zone cities exacerbated by the ongoing debt crisis has reduced the relative risk in European cities outside of the euro zone.

"Pro-business employment policies have a significant impact on people risk," Payne added. "Where government policies support a more flexible approach to talent immigration, employment practices and the provision of social welfare, these cities are able to attract and retain a talent supply critical for businesses."

Trends from the Highest Risk Cities

The top 10 highest risk cities to employers were: Luanda, Angola; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Lagos, Nigeria; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Tripoli, Libya; Karachi, Pakistan; Baghdad, Iraq; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Sana'a, Yemen; and Damascus, Syria.

The lack of a stable and transparent government continues to be an obstacle to implement and enforce business-friendly employment practices in these cities. Furthermore, the lack of government investment in developing and improving the education and talent development infrastructure increases an employer's risk in finding skilled talent, as the current infrastructure is unable to support employers' workforce demands.

"There is a silver lining for these high risk cities - they will continue to experience population growth in the next decade which will increase the size of the labor pool," said Payne. "However, if the education and talent development infrastructure do not improve, these cities will face a surplus of low skilled workers and a shortage of highly educated professional talent."

Despite the challenging business and people environment, organizations are still expressing interest in these high risk locations due to the abundant natural resources and high economic growth potential. "Africa presents many opportunities if employers are able to identify and mitigate the people risk in these cities effectively." Payne added.

To find out more about the 2013 People Risk Index, and to obtain a copy of the 2013 People Risk Index Ratings, please visit http://www.aonpeoplerisk.com

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About Aon Hewitt's People Risk Index
The results of Aon Hewitt's People Risk Index are based on in-depth research conducted over a six-month period by the Aon Hewitt's Regional Talent & Rewards Analytics Center in Singapore. Data from more than 100 statistical sources provide the quantitative basis for the ratings, which were augmented by the assessment of Aon Hewitt's local and regional human resources experts from around the world.  The 138 cities were selected based on population size, rate of population growth, level of business investment and geographic spread among the cities covered.  

Aon Hewitt's People Risk Index assigned ratings relative to risk for 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad areas: Demographics; Education; Government Support; Talent Development; and Employment Practices. Each of the 30 factors has a scale from 1 (minimal risk) to 10 (extreme risk). Employment Practices area has 10 factors that are weighted by 50%. Thus, the overall ratings are from 25 to 250, where 25 is minimal or no risk and 250 is extreme risk.

About Aon Hewitt
Aon Hewitt is the global leader in human resource solutions. The company partners with organizations to solve their most complex benefits, talent and related financial challenges, and improve business performance. Aon Hewitt designs, implements, communicates and administers a wide range of human capital, retirement, investment management, health care, compensation and talent management strategies. With more than 29,000 professionals in 90 countries, Aon Hewitt makes the world a better place to work for clients and their employees. For more information on Aon Hewitt, please visit www.aonhewitt.com.

About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE:AON) is the leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing services. Through its more than 65,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to empower results for clients in over 120 countries via innovative and effective risk and people solutions and through industry-leading global resources and technical expertise. Aon has been named repeatedly as the world's best broker, best insurance intermediary, reinsurance intermediary, captives manager and best employee benefits consulting firm by multiple industry sources. Visit www.aon.com for more information on Aon and www.aon.com/manchesterunited to learn about Aon's global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.

Note to the Editors

Please refer to the tables contained in the document below.

• Table 1:  10 Lowest Risk & 10 Highest Risk Cities Globally.
• Table 2: People Risk Rankings by Area of Risk.
• Aon Hewitt 2013 People Risk® Index; 2013 rankings for 138 cities.

     Table 1:  10 Lowest Risk & 10 Highest Risk Cities Globally 

10 Lowest Risk Cities

10 Highest Risk Cities

^{[1] Out of 138 cities worldwide in People Risk Index 2013
[2] Based on a rating of 30 factors across 5 categories of risk}

Table 2: People Risk Rankings by Area of Risk

Aon Hewitt's People Risk Index assigned ratings relative to risk for 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad areas: Demographics; Education; Government Support; Talent Development; and Employment Practices.

Each of the 30 factors has a scale from 1 (minimal risk) to 10 (extreme risk). Employment Practices area has 10 factors that are weighted by 50%. Thus, the overall ratings are from 25 to 250, where 25 is minimal or no risk and 250 is extreme risk.

Aon Hewitt 2013 People Risk^® Index

For comparisons to the 2012 People Risk Index, please visit www.aonpeoplerisk.com.

Media Contact(s):
Romy Serfaty
+852.9459.0100
Romy.serfaty@aonhewitt.com

Maurissa Kanter
+1.847.442.0952
maurissa.kanter@aonhewitt.com

SOURCE Aon plc