Eliminate Barriers to Imported Talent

Eliminate Barriers to Imported Talent
China Times editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
September 16, 2011

Summary: Globalization and technological innovation have had a long term impact on the global economy and the labor market. Markets have expanded. Talented individuals with special expertise who are well versed in managing the global market have become targets for international recruitment. Salaries have risen. In this ever-intensifying global battle for talent, those nations able to attract international talent will be the winners. Those nations unable to attract international talent will be the losers.

Full Text below:

Globalization and technological innovation have had a long term impact on the global economy and the labor market. Markets have expanded. Talented individuals with special expertise who are well versed in managing the global market have become targets for international recruitment. Salaries have risen. In this ever-intensifying global battle for talent, those nations able to attract international talent will be the winners. Those nations unable to attract international talent will be the losers.

Taiwan's brain drain has grown into a crisis. Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey and a dozen or so community leaders recently published a research paper entitled "Declaration on Talent." They called on the government to address the brain drain. How serious is the brain drain? What policy myths hinder the introduction of international talent? This newspaper published a series of reports entitled "Brain Drain, Save Our Nation." In recent years Taiwan has suffered a serious high-tech brain drain. Eighty percent have moved to the Chinese mainland. The Chinese mainland is offering executives over four times what they can make on Taiwan. Talented individuals within the financial sector, the medical community, and the academic world have all been lured away by the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The situation is already very serious.

Talented individuals on Taiwan have become targets of recruitment by neighboring countries. This ought to be a matter of pride. But competition for talent is coming at us from all directions. Domestic businesses and academia lament the lack of talented individuals. They lament even more their inability to retain talented individuals. Tsai Ching-yen of the Industrial Technology Research Institute directly named the Executive Yuan's "anti-fat cat provision" as a "stumbling block for recruiters." This provision limits the Industrial Technology Research Institute's ability to recruit international talent. Salaries are capped at the vice ministerial level -- 160,000 NT per month. This does not accord with international realities. Since it went into effect in March, the ITRI has been unable to recruit any skilled employees. Over the same period, many researchers were hired away to the Chinese mainland at high salaries.

To the mind of a populist, talented individuals are "fat cats." And this is how some officials within the government see things. These officials evince the mentality of "frogs contemplating the sky from the bottom of the well." They completely ignore the fact that transnational competition for talent has long been in full swing. Can the Executive Yuan's "anti-fat cat provision" prevent "fat cat" patronage? That remains to be seen, But its most serious side effect has been to hinder public foundations such as the ITRI and the National Health Research Institutes from recruiting international talent. Taiwan suffers from a serious talent deficit. This provision merely binds ourselves hand and foot. It must be reevaluated.

Under globalization, individuals with special expertise are in heavy demand. Are all those who receive high salaries necessarily "fat cats?" In the United States and Europe the term "fat cat" applies primarily to executives of financial institutions. During the financial tsunami, governments used taxpayer money to bail out large financial institutions. Executives within these financial institutions demanded and received huge pay increases and bonuses. They were justly villified as "fat cats." The public on Taiwan understandably has no desire to see retired high government officials become beneficiaries of political patronage. But the "anti-fat cat provision" must not hinder the introduction of international talent. One cannot apply the label "fat cat" to anyone receiving a high salary.

This is the era of the Internet. Borders are disappearing. Talented individuals enjoy increased mobility. Multinational corporations offer the highest salaries, best benefits, and most amenable work environments in their effort to attract top talent, Talented individuals are their most important resource. Face book founder Mark Zuckerberg asked rhetorically, "If you are building a company, would you prefer one standout person over one hundred pretty good people?" South Korea's Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee said, "One genius can feed a million people," That is why the Samsung Group never scrimps on talent. Google has long offered generous employee benefits. It allows employees to use part of their working hours to do whatever they wish to do, Late last year Google announced a 10% pay increase and a US$1000 cash bonus. They are generous to their employees because they want to defeat their competitors.

Taiwan is poor in natural resources. Today's prosperity and achievements are mainly the result of talented individuals. But neighboring countries are now offering salaries several times higher. They are offering vastly more generous benefits in their effort to poach talent from every business sector on Taiwan. Domestic R&D and academic institutions, hampered by legal restrictions on the introduction of top international players, are unable to retain talented employees, High-level talent is leaving faster than it is arriving, This serious brain drain will stifle our international competitiveness.

The nation is suffering from a talent deficit. The Academia Sinica's "Declaration on Talent" offers a number of suggestions. In the short term, the government must eliminate barriers to the introduction of international talent. For example, it must review the "anti-fat cat provisions," Salaries for government-owned corporations should be handled by an Executive Yuan "Remuneration Committee." In the long term, systemic and legal reforms must be carried out, Can our talent deficit crisis be resolved? That depends upon the Ma administration's determination and courage.

破除進口障礙 引進頂尖人才
2011-09-16 中國時報

全球化與科技創新的影響下，全球經濟與勞動市場結構產生了長遠的變化；由於市場版圖擴大了，擁有特殊專長或全球市場管理長才者，成為各國爭相挖角的對象，薪水也水漲船高。在這場空前激烈的全球人才爭奪戰之下，有能力吸引國際頂尖人才進駐的國家，成為當然的贏家；無力留住本國人才又無法吸引國際頂尖人才的國家，註定成為輸家。

近年來台灣的人才外流危機日益嚴重，中央研究院院長翁啟惠與十多位橫跨產學研媒各界領袖日前發表《人才宣言》，呼籲政府重視人才失衡的危機。台灣人才外流危機有多嚴重？那些政策迷思阻礙了國際頂尖人才的引進？本報在「人才流失、搶救國力」系列報導中指出，近年台灣高科技人才流失嚴重，八成去了大陸，對岸開出相當於四倍以上的薪資挖角台灣中高階主管。此外，金融界、醫界、學術界人才遭大陸、香港、新加坡等挖角的情形亦非常驚人。

台灣的優秀人才成為鄰近國家爭相挖角的對象，原本值得國人驕傲，但面對來自四面八方的人才爭奪戰，國內企業界與學術界卻大嘆找不到足夠的人才，更糟的是沒有足夠的籌碼留住優秀人才。工業技術研究院院長蔡清彥直言「行政院『反肥貓』條款，已成為求才絆腳石。」這項規定限制工研院挖角國際人才時，薪資不得超過次長一個月十六萬多元的行情，如此不符合國際趨勢與現實的規定自三月生效後，工研院迄今未聘用高階人才，但這段期間卻有多位研究人員已遭大陸高薪挖角。

在民粹思維下，政府錯把國際頂尖人才視為「肥貓」，顯示部分人士坐井觀天的心態，完全無視於跨國人才爭奪戰早已如火如荼開打。行政院這項「反肥貓」條款是否能夠有效阻止那些酬庸的「肥貓」仍有待檢驗，但最大後遺症是阻礙了公股財團法人如工研院、國衛院等聘用國際頂尖人才的路，這項規定對於「人才赤字」嚴重的台灣無異「自縛手腳」，有必要重新檢討。

在全球化效應下，擁有特殊專長的國際頂尖人才炙手可熱，領取高薪的人都是「肥貓」嗎？其實，歐美各國所謂的「肥貓」主要指金融海嘯期間，政府動用納稅人的錢為大型金融機構紓困，這些金融界執行長、高階主管在風暴過後率先為自己加薪且領取巨額紅利，被各界痛批為無恥的「肥貓」。反觀台灣，國人當然不希望看到大批退休高官被政治酬庸為「肥貓」，但「反肥貓」條款也不能阻礙了國際頂尖人才的引進，尤其不能把「肥貓」現象無限上綱至所有領取高薪者。

在國界逐漸消失的網路科技時代，人才的流動更加頻繁。各大跨國企業無不以最優的薪資、福利與工作環境吸引最頂尖人才，因為人才是最重要的資源。臉書創辦人馬克．祖克伯指出，「一個領域中的頂尖人才，比其他優秀人才好一百倍。」韓國三星集團總裁李健熙曾說「一個天才可以養活一百萬人」，因此三星集團培養人才絕對不省錢。向來最重視員工福利的谷歌，允許員工利用一部分上班時間做自己想做的事，去年底宣布為員工加薪一成並加發一千美元現金紅利，如此大手筆寵愛員工就是要把競爭對手比下去。

天然資源貧乏的台灣，能有今日的發展與成就，主要靠的就是充沛的人才優勢。不過，眼看著鄰近國家以數倍高薪、超優福利積極挖角台灣各界優秀人才，相對地，國內科技研發與學術機構卻因相關法令限制無法引進國際頂尖好手，也無法留住優秀人才，在高階人才輸出大於輸入的情況下，嚴重的人才外流將扼殺國家的競爭力。

針對國內的人才赤字危機，中研院在《人才宣言》中提出多項建言，短期內必須把引進國際人才的相關障礙排除，例如適時檢討「反肥貓」條款，政府所屬法人主管之待遇由行政院成立「薪酬委員會」來負責；長期而言，則必須進行制度、法令等結構性的改革。台灣的人才赤字危機能否化解，就看馬政府的決心與魄力了。