Shanghai Daily news

Close to 50 percent of businesses were forced to replace senior staff members after the Spring Festival, a survey said.

Market-expert, a local consulting company, surveyed human resource managers at 478 companies in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou about attitudes toward the job-hopping season.

More than 43 percent of companies surveyed said they were in an "embarrassing situation" as a resignation letter was provided by senior managers at the beginning of the new year.

"The first several months of a year is when companies draft new plans. Human resource changes - especially at the senior level - will certainly disrupt things," said Qian Qing, an analyst at Market-expert.

The lunar New Year holiday provided enough time for employees to make career plans. More than 60 percent of employees said they were likely to change jobs in the new year.

However, most admitted they would not make changes unless a better opportunity was available.

"It is for either higher wages or a more promising career prospect that I changed my job," said Wang Yajun, an office worker. "What the company will be like is almost none of my business."

Contract termination would put employers at risk. Senior level professionals were feared to reveal company secrets and possibly take an entire team to competitors.

"That could collapse the whole company structure," said Zhang Zheng, human resource manager at a local US-invested pharmaceutical company.

More than 48 percent of employers surveyed said they would talk with employees who resigned and try to persuade them to stay.

But less than 15 percent of employers would be willing to raise salaries or give promotions.

"Most people leave for personal reasons or bad chemistry with colleagues," Zhang said.