Shanghai, 30 August 2017—Aon, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement, and health solutions, has named fourteen organisations as Best Employers China 2017.

Aon Best Employers is a flagship programme, designed to improve employee engagement, leadership effectiveness, employer brand, and culture to drive high performance. It is the most credible and comprehensive survey of its kind in Asia Pacific, and has been running in China since 2001. The Aon Best Employers programme also runs across thirteen other markets in Asia Pacific and Middle East: Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Middle East, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand.

The Aon Best Employers in China for 2017 are:

In addition, three organisations received special recognition:

AIA Group was also named Regional Best Employer 2017 for Asia Pacific.

Flexible organisational and talent strategies to attract/retain top talent and outperform competitors

The most noticeable trends that emerged in this year’s Best Employers China 2017 research included:

• Globalisation of Chinese companies is at a turning point, yet talent remains the key to success
  In line with the strategy of ‘Invented in China’, Chinese companies have moved beyond the trial period of overseas investment and shifted to become pace setters in the world. For example, Wanhua Chemical Group aspired to become one of the top 10 chemical companies in the world. They effectively attracted, engaged, and retained top talent in R&D by providing them with the platform to grow, receive performance-based incentives, and enjoy a people-oriented culture that respects and cares for scientists.
   
• Management of millennials steps into a new phase
  As millennials make up a majority of the workforce, leading companies endeavour to blaze the trail by creating an attractive workplace for young employees. They did this by communicating with millennials through open and multiple channels, shaping an innovative and caring culture, and listening to their feedback throughout the year.
  
  For example, employees aged between 20 and 30 years made up more than half of all employees at Shanghai Disney Resort. The company listened to and learned about aspirations and needs of young employees, and created a happy working environment for them—who, in turn, spread happiness across the entire resort to create magic for all guests.
  
  Another example is Starbucks China, which was committed to creating a warm and welcoming working place for its partners and extends care programmes to their parents as well. As a result, millennial employees were able to better deliver on the promise of providing superior quality and service for customers.
   
• Localisation is critical, and improving efficiency and effectiveness are the new focus areasThe business and talent landscape in China have become a battlefield, with a nationwide strategy to amplify the implementation of the ‘In China, For China’ strategy.
  
  For example, Becton Dickinson Medical Devices selected local talent and developed them into leaders with global mindset—through programmes offering executive coaching, ensuring that Chinese talent was well-represented in global leadership, and enhancing the diversity of global leadership.
  
  In another example, Baxter China responded to growth slowdown, changing regulatory environment and upgrading customer requirement by getting rid of performance rating and creating a collaborative and innovative culture that favoured frequent feedback.

Peter Zhang, Aon Hewitt Global Partner, Greater China CEO, and Chairman of the China Best Employer Judging Committee, said: “There are four key themes this year—China’s economy is recovering; the economy reaches a turning point; millennials become a majority in the workforce; and Chinese companies are entering a brand-new era of globalisation. Despite the volatile environment and disruption brought by technological advances in mobile Internet, Best Employers proactively shed off rigidness that is characteristic of large companies, break silos, and create a more empowered, autonomous, open, innovative and collaborative culture.”

Peter added: “With operation and labour cost on the rise, Aon Best Employers also make the most of modern media to strengthen communications with employees and enhance employment experience by focusing on employees’ career aspirations, fulfillment of work, and growth opportunities. Therefore, not only do Best Employers gain a stronger momentum in revenue growth and profitability, they have also attracted and retained a winning workforce to achieve strategic goals of 2020.”

About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE: AON) is a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. Our 50,000 colleagues in 120 countries empower results for clients by using proprietary data and analytics to deliver insights that reduce volatility and improve performance.

For further information on our capabilities and to learn how we empower results for clients, please visit https://apac.aonhewitt.com

For further information about the Aon Best Employers programme, visit: apac.aonhewitt.com/bestemployersasia

Media Contact
Tammy Tian
T: +86 21.2306.6778
E: tammy.tian@aonhewitt.com

Jini Pillai
T: +65 8133 8523
E: jini.pillai@aonhewitt.com