The China Experts: Manfred Steinkellner on Finding the Right People in China
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 21 hours ago
In this episode of The China Experts, Kristina Koehler-Coluccia is joined by Manfred Steinkellner, Managing Director of Steinkellner China Search. Manfred has spent his career on the recruitment side of the China market, and the conversation turns on a problem every foreign investor eventually meets: the plan is only as good as the people you can find to run it.
Who is Manfred Steinkellner?
Manfred Steinkellner is Managing Director of Steinkellner China Search, an executive search practice focused on the Chinese market. He joins The China Experts to talk about his own China journey, the challenges he has run into and the advice he passes on to companies that are just getting started.
What this episode covers
How Manfred came to build a search business focused on China
The challenges he has experienced in the Chinese market and how he worked through them
What foreign companies get wrong when they hire their first person in China
Why the general manager hire sets the tone for everything that follows
His advice for anyone at the start of their China journey
Why you cannot hire in China before the paperwork exists
Search conversations and structure conversations belong together, and they usually are not. In China an employee has to be engaged by a legal entity. There is no version of the arrangement where a person sits in Shanghai on a foreign payroll: the employment contract, the mandatory social insurance and housing fund contributions, and the monthly individual income tax withholding all need a local employer to sit behind them. Companies that try to bridge the gap by paying a strong candidate offshore as a consultant tend to find the arrangement collapses the first time that person needs a work permit, a bank or mortgage letter, or decides to bring a labour claim - and labour arbitration in China moves quickly and leans towards the employee.
The practical answer is not to make a good candidate wait for a business licence. An employer-of-record arrangement puts the person on a compliant local contract straight away and lets you transfer them onto your own entity once registration completes. What you should avoid is the improvised middle ground, because that is where the exposure sits.
Watch the full interview
Thinking about setting up in China?
Woodburn Accountants & Advisors helps foreign companies register and run entities in China and Hong Kong, covering company registration, trademark protection, accounting, payroll, tax and audit, plus recruitment and employer-of-record support for local hires.