[Sallymarie]

Is anyone on a local employment contract?

I have a job interview next week and they will not be offering an expat package for that position. I have suggested HK$25,000 as a starting salary. Do you that is too high / low for an Event Manager?

I live in the UK, but have previously worked in HK and was on an expat package. This time I would share an apartment and spend less!!

Thanks

[freeier]

few ppl have expat contract unless its really the top rug managers these days. in my place we have guys sent from the company's original country placed on local contract, but again their pay is in tune of 100k~200k hkd per month.

[KnowItAll]

>> Do you that is too high / low for an Event Manager?

Seriously depends on the types of events you're managing and the contribution. I'd imagine that the folks who manage the multi-million dollar events thrown around by the likes of Gucci / Prada and the investment banks take in a lot more than $25K.

I'd hope they do ..

[JonnyC]

I'd be surprised if many people came to HK to work for a lower wage than they could get back home, it's not like the standard of living here is particularly high is it?

[PDLM]

Originally Posted by JonnyC

it's not like the standard of living here is particularly high is it?

Depends what you're looking for - for me I would say HK offers a far higher standard of living than, say, London.

[spaceman]

I'm on a local contract, but now that I've finished my "probationary period" of three months, I've asked for and have been granted an expat package. Not sure if that technically makes sense, but essentially that's what's happened. I'm in a totally different field though, so it's somewhat irrelevant, and I think I was a special case..Maybe this is just technically a "raise" where now they take care of my housing.

It really does depend on what events you're doing, but I certainly think 25K-30k is a reasonable amount on a local contract. Mind you, I only only have one benchmark which is a friend doing high end stuff for fashion and the like, and making a bit more than 25k.

Another issue I was confused about: shouldn't a company be more willing to grant such things as housing allowances? That way, they don't have to pay mpf. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[JonnyC]

Somewhere to live bigger than a shoebox (that doesn't involve an hour's commute), and clean air (such that you don't get that sticky feeling every time you go outside) would be two good indicators I'd say. Let's be honest, most people come to HK for the money

[PDLM]

Originally Posted by spaceman

Another issue I was confused about: shouldn't a company be more willing to grant such things as housing allowances? That way, they don't have to pay mpf. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Er, what? MPF is essentially a compulsory pension scheme. What has that got to do with housing allowance?

[spaceman]

Originally Posted by PDLM

Er, what? MPF is essentially a compulsory pension scheme. What has that got to do with housing allowance?

Company has to pay 5% of your monthly income for MPF, max 1,000(based on 20k/month). If you have a housing allowance of say 10k, salary is 15k, they only have to contribute 750 a month and not 1000.

It was my back-butt way of asking if your housing allowance is counted as income, as far as MPF goes...

In any case I suppose it's not a lot of money, and I suppose it's of especially little concern to you people who are well above the 20k mark...

[PDLM]

OK - I see what you are getting at. Yes housing allowance is excluded from the income for the purposes of MPF calculation (http://www.mpfahk.org/english/abt_mp...s_fms_con.html) so this could make a difference. Presumably though the housing allowance would have to meet the same criteria as Inland Revenue's rules for special tax treatment - i.e. that the employer monitors and controls that the entire amount is actually spent on housing; any that isn't gets regarded as normal income. (Otherwise there's a bit of a loophole here in that you could avoid MPF entirely simply by having all of your income defined as "housing allowance".)