Local companies were planning to allocate, on average, 4.3 percent of their annual budget towards employee training and development -- the highest percentage since 2019.

That was one of the findings from a survey by the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management which polled 108 companies across 20 industries with over 65,000 full-time employees between March and May this year.

Banking and financial services topped actual spending on employee training at 6.2 percent, followed by the manufacturing sector at 5.8 percent and the hospitality sector at 4.2 percent.

Average annual training hours per employee in 2023 remained similar to 2022 at 17.3 hours, with 76 percent of companies using webinars or virtual classrooms for training and development.

The survey found companies were looking to strengthen employees’ interpersonal and customer service skills.

“From the macro environment, there’s an urgent need to enhance customer service to attract customers, to retain customers because customer service is one of the core committed edge to outperform the competitors,” said the institute's chairman of learning and development committee Chester Tsang.

Regarding artificial intelligence (AI) usage, 77 percent of the surveyed companies allowed the use of AI, with 28 percent of employers providing relevant tools to their employees.

The institute suggested companies implement measures to boost employee satisfaction and reduce turnover rates as the city faced a talent shortage.

These include providing advancement opportunities, identifying and nurturing potential successors, and providing relevant training programmes to employees to bridge skill gaps.