We are reaching the end of the most difficult year for the market research industry ever. Indicatively though, there are signs of recovery. Some of the boutique agencies and certain divisions within the larger firms are reporting growth, for example those in specialist areas such as healthcare, or agencies / divisions that have good, regular clients. Unfortunately for the larger agencies, although some divisions are crying out for new staff, company-wide recruitment freezes are holding them back.

The independent firms have perhaps been some of the more progressive in reacting to the current market conditions, finding their niches, and chasing aggressively the available business with new research solutions. Those companies doing well are not held back in their recruitment in the same way as the larger firms, and this is where we are seeing more activity in the job market.

It is however by geography that we are seeing the most variations. The regional hubs of Singapore and Hong Kong have been affected most severely by the recession. Although the market is improving in Singapore, Hong Kong remains in the doldrums. In Hong Kong, there was a lot of knee jerk reaction among agencies there when the recession first took hold with more focus on immediate cost cutting. We saw a net outflow of staff, partly due to expats losing their jobs. With relatively few research firms in Hong Kong compared to Singapore, there were few other opportunities for them to pursue within the market... (more)

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Since 2003, Rockhopper Research has collaborated with select industry partners to produce the annual Research Industry Trends (RIT) report. Initially focused on data collection issues, the scope of RIT has expanded to include directions in outsourcing, advances in technology, and inter-relationships among research providers/suppliers and clients/buyers. Along with Rockhopper, co-sponsors for RIT 2009 were Pioneer Marketing Research, Greenfield Online, the GreenBook Marketing Research Directory, Qualitative Insights, and the MRGA.

The impact of a severe economic downturn is of course the big story for 2009, but a trend more significant for the future of the industry is the shift fro traditional data collection modes to social media and mobile communications. Rather than reaching “homes” through telephone and surface mail, researchers are increasingly trying to reach individuals wherever they gather through their cells and social network sites.

The Big Story: It’s The Economy

In the last quarter of 2008, when data was collected for RIT 2008, there was apprehension about the economy and a marked decline in confidence from RIT 2007. Researchers still, however, expected demand to increase during 2009. Providers were slightly more optimistic than clients, but two-thirds overall expected growth. In RIT 2008 there was some sentiment that the research industry might be “counter-cyclical” and at least somewhat insulated from the worst impact of a recession – on the theory that companies would use research to seize advantage in a more competitive environment.

For RIT 2009, respondents had a very different attitude. A razor-thin majority of providers, with more confidence coming from those with some operations or data collection outside the US, expected growth for the overall year of 2009. US-only providers were negative, with only 42% expecting a growth year.

Most striking of all, however, was the sharp (>50%) decline in client confidence. Only 31% of clients expected to see growth for the year as a whole. This has been a bad year... (more)

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The recruitment business in Asia has changed considerably in 2009, with the supply of candidates now outstripping demand. However, a new dynamic in the research HR industry has emerged with the rise in demand for Staff Dispatch, otherwise known as ‘temps’ in layman terms.

Two factors are driving this growth and they include – a) people retrenched from full-time employment and are prepared to take temporary employment as a stop-gap measure prior to the recovery; and b) research firms who experience unexpected spikes in business but are reluctant (or who are not allowed through company directives on headcount freezes) to increase their full-time payroll.

To meet this need, Asia Talent recently established its Staff Dispatch arm – otherwise known as the Talent Pool – that operates in conjunction with its main permanent placement recruitment business. Most of the agency’s Talent Pool members comprise senior market researchers with over eight years of experience in the industry and who are able to take on the job easily with their existing skills set.

In boom times, those supplying the staff dispatch business typically include women who had taken maternity leave and are subsequently sometimes reluctant or unable to work full-time. As a result of redundancies, a wider range of personnel is now supplying the staff dispatch business today and this may also include expatriates who have been employed on fixed-term contracts which have not been renewed.

While this kind of stop-gap employment has been viewed traditionally as ‘distress employment’, we find that both male and female personnel enjoy this type of working arrangement. The changing job market has made people rethink the way they work. The Talent Pool, for instance, provides combined benefits of flexibility, independence and job variety for the employee. There is also the appeal of working with a wider range of agencies, clients and project types without being tied to a full-time employment contract with one employer.

Members of the Talent Pool who are contemplating a return to full-time employment could even use this opportunity to help them determine their future employer of choice (ie. assess several potential employers on a contract basis to identify the best fit for them). This arrangement works for the employer too as it allows them to assess the candidate’s skills and attitudes fully; their suitability to their business as well as their overall fit to the company.

From the employers’ point of view, one of the challenges of hiring temporary staff is ensuring a separation between clients and the temp. Usually research agencies would not want a temp to liaise with clients directly in the event of a client relationship forming that is lost when the temp moves on or where the temp could potentially poach a relationship. This can be an issue with freelance group moderators where some client contact is inevitable.

From the recruitment consultant’s point of view, the challenge of staff dispatch is that it switches the administrative HR onus from the employer to the recruitment consultant. This includes ensuring employment laws are complied with (eg. where foreigners are employed); payment of salaries and mandatory contributions are made; as well as the fuzzy issue of performance guarantees of the temporary staff.

Asia Talent launched three days before the start of the recession. As the old marketing maxim goes – Launch First! Some say this, paradoxically, is one of the best times to establish a business since new, and by virtue normally smaller, companies are able to adapt to changed market conditions far better and more quickly than more established firms. One of these changes is the demand for staff dispatch - Talent Pool. It is possible this business will develop even more rapidly in the recovery, in particular for what almost all agencies are looking for – good moderators. Applicants are always welcome!

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It’s an even tougher time for the recruitment business. Many companies are on recruitment freezes, and we are also seeing policies implemented by companies that give preference to internal transfers over external hires.

Interestingly though, many companies are still on the look-out for good staff. Clearly there will be a lot of staff churn to come in the industry that will be amplified by those losing their jobs and the potential fall-out from current mergers in the industry. But on top of this there are still the ‘daring’ in the job market. What we have observed at Asia Talent is that the more conservative employees are sitting tight, whereas those more confident and sometimes more talented researchers are taking the recession in their stride and will see opportunities in an industry that is now going through fundamental change.

The main types of vacancies we see currently are for more senior positions, selected geographies, and selected industries such as China and the FMCG sectors. There is also the never ending demand for good qualitative researchers!

Even in a recession, there is still a need to recruit and pay high salaries for senior managers who are able to win the business that is out there in what is now a far more competitive market. Their management skills are also in demand regardless of the economic conditions. We do though see companies recruiting at junior and middle levels through their own means, i.e. by not going through a recruitment consultant, although this is not particularly effective since there is a huge amount of trawling through resumes. Also response rates and quality of applicants coming through vacancies posted on companies’ own website is usually quite poor.

The supply is there, unfortunately many being individuals who have lost their jobs. It is difficult to gauge how many people have lost their jobs in the industry since many of the CVs that we receive do not state that people are looking on account of redundancy. There is a stigma attached to this, although this is not always justified.

For example some people working in the automotive and financial services sector might have lost their jobs which are quite understandable in the current climate. These skills are usually transferable, and often the skills of those working in specialist areas are very valuable in main stream research.

Another characteristic of the current job market is that those in employment and looking to move are doing far more due diligence on the potential employer, again quite understandable in the current economic environment. The key metrics they would use to evaluate the ‘risk’ of joining a new employer would include employer’s client base, financial strength, and size of existing research team. In the latter case candidates’ concerns are directed at the presence of otherwise of some level of support, e.g. I might be offer a very senior role with a focus on immediate performance and the non-existence of a support crew.

Looking ahead, a possible scenario is that the ‘conservative’ who have sat tight in 2009 will be added to the natural churn one sees in the industry next year. Could this mean higher than usual churn in 2010? Should I stay or should I go? There is no magic to this question - the real requirement here is for the individual to do serious due diligence and clearly a need to thoroughly research your next career move. Tough though it is, this should also be the practice of those who have lost their jobs. There’s always a role for research!

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As a market researcher with over 20 years’ experience, I read with interest the results from the Asia Research staff satisfaction survey.

It was interesting to see the differences in staff sentiment between ‘The Big 5’, other MNC / Large Groups, and the International Independent’s. However a big issue for me is how participants to this survey have classified the type of company for whom they work. Clearly there is no ambiguity over ‘The Big 5’ since this was defined, although if we are trying to group ‘Big’ companies in Asia, one might want to also include IPSOS and GfK within this category. Additionally, I wonder how respondents classify those agencies within the region having more than one office in the region.

It is the difference between ‘Large Groups’ and ‘International Independents’ where there might be some ambiguity. Would someone for example working for Acorn with a very extensive network throughout Asia and a high headcount consider themselves to be in a Large Group or an International Independent? Would someone working at Kadence with offices in 5 Asian markets and also in the UK and the US consider themselves to be in a Large Group or an International Independent?

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