Chinese companies bring succor to job seekers in Europe

Though Johan Cheval has never been to China, he rarely begins a day without checking on the latest developments there including job announcements made by Chinese companies expanding in Europe.

Sitting in his office at Brussels International Airport in Belgium, Cheval, a key account manager for Hainan Airlines, says the growing number of Chinese companies in Europe are creating more opportunities for local job seekers, as grim economic prospects have virtually put a brake on new hiring and strained retention prospects for existing employees.

Cheval began his career with Belgian carrier Sabena (now Brussels Airlines), then worked for Scandinavian Airlines for 10 years until September 2012, when poor economic conditions led to him being laid off.

Luckily for Cheval, he did not have to wait long. His exit from Scandinavian Airlines coincided with a move by Hainan Airlines to expand its operations in Brussels.

"I was one of the eight people recruited locally by the Chinese carrier," he says.

Hainan Airlines is just one of several Chinese companies that are creating new jobs in Europe to not only offer sustenance, but also help fuel the outbound push by Chinese enterprises.

Sporting a Hainan Airlines badge on his lapel, Cheval says that he has begun contacting other agencies in Belgium to expand business for the Chinese carrier. Professionals like Cheval can play a big role in developing business for Chinese companies as they have advantages like professional training, rich working experience and market contacts.

"Getting used to the flow of work, however, is not as quick or fluent as it would be in a European airline. I would say that it is quite a normal and logical process as attitudes, character and culture are different in Europe and China. It is a challenging challenge," he says.

Cheval goes on to add that with American Airlines announcing a further scale-back in operations and a possible exit from Brussels, there may be more opportunities for Chinese companies to play the role of a white knight in Europe.

"I am confident that Chinese companies will stay in the market," he says.

Nurturing jobs

Unlike their peers from the US or Japan, Chinese companies have been rather late entrants in Europe. In fact, most of them arrived after 2008, a time when the debt crisis was raging across the continent.

Despite their late entry, they have more than caught up with competition and are now among the major job creators on the continent now. Not only have Chinese companies created new jobs, they have also played a vital role in saving ailing factories and existing jobs.

However, there are also several challenges that Chinese companies need to overcome to fully get into the thick of things in Europe, experts say.

Chen Mingqiong, general manager of Hainan Airlines Brussels office and Cheval's supervisor, says: "European employees are now learning to adapt to Chinese corporate culture, while Chinese companies are trying hard to understand the local culture."

Chen says his role is more or less that of an "in-between", through whom Cheval communicates with the company headquarters in China.

"It is important for Chinese companies to be more open and flexible in their views if they want to reduce the cultural gap in Europe," Chen says.

Realizing the importance of the cultural gap problem, many Chinese companies are now conducting frequent "cultural training" programs to keep their European and Chinese employees on the same wavelength.

Chen says Hainan Airlines frequently conducts such programs at its headquarters in Haikou, Hainan province. "There is a special program for foreign staff in Haikou that I will be attending soon. It will be my first visit to China," Cheval says with anticipation. "China is such a huge country with a lot of inhabitants and a very rich historical and cultural background."

The Chinese carrier has teamed up with Brussels Airlines for expansion in Belgium and also set up offices in Berlin and Zurich to further its European plans, which include adding more local employees.

The recent purchase of a 48 percent stake in the France-based Rhine Airlines will see the airline further expand in Europe and thereby add more jobs.

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HNA Group, the parent company of Hainan Airlines, has already made a big splash in Europe by vertically expanding into other business segments like hotels.

It owns three hotels in Belgium which have been enjoying good occupancy rates thanks to a steady stream of business travelers from China.

"We have 75 employees working in our hotels," says Zhang Jinsong, chief representative for Belgium & Europe at Hainan Airlines (HNA) Group. "Of these only two are Chinese employees."

Earlier this year, HNA Group also announced a revamp plan for its five-star hotel Sode in Brussels, with an initial investment of about 50 million euros.

The aim of the cross-continental plan is to create a Chinese luxury hotel chain throughout the world.

"Sode is scheduled to welcome its first guest in two years," says Zhang, adding that more than 120 people will be hired by 2014, with 90 percent being local.

While creation of new jobs is a sure-fire way of reaching out in Europe, Chinese companies also play a vital role in sustaining the local economy by protecting existing jobs that are likely to face the axe. The white knight role played by Geely during its takeover of the Volvo brand in Sweden is a case in point.

Most Volvo production facilities are in Gent, a northwestern city in Belgium, where 4,926 blue collar (average age: 37 years) and 510 white collars (average age: 42 years) work to keep the production lines humming, says Mark De Mey, PR & Communication manager of Volvo Cars in Gent. De Mey says that Belgian and European nations at the units account for 98.3 percent and 1.4 percent respectively.