Building quality talent pool supports Haicang's efforts

Local govt strategy gives priority to attracting and nurturing top flight employees

The government of Haicang district in Fujian province's coastal city of Xiamen is building up a high-quality talent pool to support its efforts to build a world-class bay area.

The initiative echoes the report delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October, which said: "People with talent are a strategic resource for China as it endeavors to achieve national rejuvenation and stay ahead in international competition."

The local government has conducted a strategy that gives priority to attracting and developing top-level staff, highlighting the role of employers and promoting talent system reform. It has gathered a high-level workforce of 180,000 people from around the country, who are involved in businesses including urban construction, education, administrative management and various other industries.

Haicang tops all districts and counties in Fujian in the number of its high-level personnel, and has been listed as a provincial pilot district for attracting trained and skilled employees. It is also the first cluster for biomedicine personnel in the province.

The district unveiled a comprehensive district recruitment drive in 2012, which was later upgraded to become the plan for the city and the province. The plan includes 12 policies concerning the development of the real economy, people's well-being and related services and security.

It has also formed specialized recruitment policies for some industries, including biomedicine, integrated circuits, education, healthcare and cultural sectors.

Since 2012, it has invested nearly 500 million yuan ($75.6 million) to offer support in various forms to innovators, people involved in key industries and social affairs, college graduates and professionals from Taiwan.

To date, the district has attracted 235 top innovators and entrepreneurs, including six academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

In the biomedicine industry, it has attracted 75 top global experts and more than 3,000 high-quality personnel, in addition to more than 18,000 employees in the sector, which altogether has made Haicang the most concentrated biomedicine employment area in the province.

The district has unveiled policies to bring in professionals from Taiwan, using Chang Gung Hospital - the first Taiwan-funded hospital on the Chinese mainland - and the first cross-Straits volunteers alliance as platforms. In addition, it has granted more than 21 million yuan in incentive awards to 270 people.

The government has also reformed its employee evaluation system, highlighting the problems and the role of employers.

It is promoting a multidimensional personnel appraisal system that combines evaluations from employers, industry experts and the market.

A center for the appraisal of professional credentials in the biomidicine industry was set up in Haicang, the first of such kind in the province.

There, innovation achievements and economic benefits are considered during the evaluation of personnel. Various other measures - including interviews and on-site investigations - are used to make the system more practical. Academic papers themselves no longer carry so much weight.

Some 39 professionals in the biomedicine sector took part in the professional credential assessments held in October, using the reformed evaluation system, and 33 of them passed.

More than 40 percent of the evaluation panel members were experts and high-ranking executives from local biomedicine companies.

A PhD club has been founded in the district, which has carried out more than 30 programs for academic exchanges and project cooperation. Eighteen practice and training centers for education professionals have been founded, enrolling 134 trainees from universities nationwide. Competitions were organized to select top-skilled workers, the first in the city.

The professionals attracted to Haicang enjoy convenient living conditions and services. Nearly 480 employees from 200 local companies have received housing allowances totaling more than 28 million yuan.

The local government invested 700 million yuan to build more than 3,000 apartments to attract personnel. More than 100 graduates from leading universities are living in the apartments for free.

The district is now home to a national biomedicine industry center and the province's most intensive biomedicine public service platform. It is also building a high-standard personnel development platform for the integrated circuit industry

zhangzhao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/13/2017 page10)