Chris and Amber are among the four foreign employees hired by the Bureau of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of Foshan, Guangdong Province. Photo: CFP





When Lucas Karl was politely advised by his Chinese boss to pack up and leave last month, the Swedish man was shocked that his frankness had cost him his job.



The 31-year-old is a newcomer to China and had worked for a Shanghai indoor decoration company for six months.



As one of the few white faces in this privately-owned Chinese enterprise, Karl said he was treated extremely politely and in a friendly manner, which had probably led to his misunderstanding of Chinese office culture. "I came from a culture where people want to hear the truth, including criticism. I should have noticed that the atmosphere is different here. People say what the boss wants to hear and do the right things when the boss is watching," he said.



Bastian Freund (pseudonym), from Germany, drew a similar conclusion based on his nearly five years of work experience in China. "Most of the time in this country, what the bosses say is the law and you need to obey it no matter what it is. Confronting the boss is not easy in Western countries either. But here in China, this culture is particularly strong," said the man, who is planning to leave China partly because of the difficulties in getting accustomed to some local corporate management practices. "When you want to express a different opinion, you need to be very careful when you say it and how you say it."



With more than 200,000 foreigners staying in China on working visas, integrating into corporate cultures with Chinese features has become more important than ever. Coming from different systems, these foreigners are learning about local mechanisms and local "unwritten rules." On the flip side of the equation, when dealing with foreign employees used to more democratic office systems, human resources staff are adjusting their tactics to deal with the differing philosophies.



Curse of guanxi







Freund, a product designer, worked for three employers in Shanghai - one privately-run Chinese company and two divisions of German corporations. However, at all three facilities, the man said he observed an established way of creating an internal hierarchy. He said that while people in Germany earn respect from those who have stayed longer in the office via their capabilities, here it is harder to gain respect unless the boss shows that employee special favor.



"The higher the rank, the longer the person stays in the company, the more snobby they will act or behave towards people who are fresh or younger. It doesn't have anything to do with skill or knowledge or competence. It's about the title, the position or how long somebody has been in companies, or how much the boss likes somebody." It is more about personal guanxi (connections) in China, which is not favored by most foreigners.



Bastian Freund added that as a foreigner, he felt that his role in meetings with companies' Chinese customers was just to be on display. "Bosses were selling the internationality of their German-based agency and German design quality to the customers."



Bao Wei, a human resources manager who has worked in a German agency in Shanghai for eight years, admitted that it was true that her company valued its employees partly based on the length of time they had worked in the industry. "Although things are not as serious as they are in Japan and South Korea, the seniority system does exist here as well."



But she denied that bosses would show obvious personal favor to a particular employee. Bao explained that the misunderstanding, which was quite common, could have been caused because sometimes bosses reject an employee's proposal without giving a specific reason. "But that's probably because the boss knows better the preferences of a particular client, not because he's not fond of a particular employee."



Ted, who refused to reveal his full name, came to China 10 years ago to work for an international logistics company. The American said he felt that foreigners were not treated seriously in the office. "I am looked at more as a temporary necessity rather than a permanent part of the staff. Everybody knows that at some point, I won't be here. The foreigner will go home eventually."



Ted said he was treated very politely in the office, which can be convenient and flattering at times. "But when you want to be treated seriously, you cannot take advantage of this politeness and assume you have any privilege," he said.



Fabio Troisi used to work for a State-owned Chinese ship building company in Zhejiang Province. As the only foreigner in the company back then, the Italian did a great amount of translation and coordination work when the company communicated with its clients in Europe. But when the deal was secured and carried out successfully, he said he got no credit from his boss.



At the banquet celebrating the success of the deal, thanks were only given to some bureau directors and heads of departments. "It was a typical Chinese characteristic. People like us are nobody in such a giant system and it is normal that we are not given the credit that we might deserve. But personally I felt very disappointed."



Management challenges



Troisi might be among the very few foreigners who work for a State-run Chinese company. A growing number of Chinese enterprises that hire foreigners are actually privately run, said Jasmine Zhang, a senior manager at FESCO Adecco, a joint-venture HR services company. A common problem in Chinese companies, according to Zhang, is the paternal management style that can make expats feel uncomfortable.



"Foreigners don't like their bosses to tell them that you should do this and that. They need freedom in terms of space and the way they express their thoughts."



It is a similar case in some foreign companies' divisions in China, which have become localized. Bao said that unlike Chinese employees, foreigners would feel very annoyed if their supervisors closely followed their moves and frequently required updates on the progress of their work. "Honestly, foreigners have a stronger sense of time. They have their own plans during this period of time given. They find it very uncomfortable if someone is reminding them of the deadline all the time."



The HR manager said that out of respect to the foreign employees' habits and given their satisfactory performances, the company has adjusted its work flow. While foreign employees are now given more flexible working hours, they can also directly report to the boss whenever they find it necessary.



Although it might be unfair to Chinese employees, some admitted that there are double standards set for Chinese and foreign employees. Jasmine Zhang said that her company wouldn't usually ask foreigners to work overtime. "The foreign employees grew up and received education in their home countries. Our HR policies need to respect the differences they have from our local employees. Management needs to be flexible enough to handle employees with different backgrounds."



Zhang leads the international sales department at FESCO Adecco and last year her team had nine foreigners, from the UK, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the US, Japan and South Korea. "But we would let them know that many of their Chinese co-workers work overtime, which is inevitable given the fast pace of work here. But if they still choose not to work overtime, I respect their decision," Zhang added.



Adapting to local culture



It is commonly acknowledged among many foreign employees in China that real integration into the Chinese corporate atmosphere is extremely difficult. Bastian Freund blamed poor management for the detachment.



"We spend half of our lives at work. Still, very few Westerners that I know have a deep connection with their Chinese co-workers. There is no real exchange of personal things. It tends to be an issue for management. I find a lot of the time that the Chinese management is not at all close or attached to their Western employees. There is a gap somehow in between."



Jasmine Zhang said she believes that bonding between Chinese and foreign workers outside of work is necessary, as it helps to reduce misunderstandings caused by insufficient communication and guarantees higher efficiency.



She said that when her company introduced its first four foreign employees, the Chinese colleagues would make a detour when they were coming in to the office. "Language is one thing. Different ways of thinking and behaving are another." Zhang said the company later built a "buddy" mechanism, pairing up foreign and Chinese workers, which gradually eased the situation.



Now a regional head in the international logistics company he served, Ted looked at this problem from a different angle. He said the real reason was that most foreigners did not have any familiarity with Chinese culture. "They did not know about Chinese history. They did not care. They were here to make money or they happened to get this opportunity. But they were not particularly interested in why they were here."



Ted said part of the problem was that they didn't speak any Putonghua. Being here after a while without speaking Putonghua can result in a very frustrated feeling, and even foreigners even cannot recognize at the beginning that it's happening. "If you are able to communicate with everybody around you without using English, eventually that would affect your way of thinking."



Ted said that being realistic about the limitations of foreigners working in China, he started to hire competent Chinese to replace foreigners. "I think that is the trend. When I first joined the company, half of the 15 members on the management board were foreigners. Now there are only two."



