Corporations in dire need of professionals

Corporations in dire need of professionals

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's largest companies are in such dire
need of managers and other professionals that they often just
take them from other corporations, an executive said.

Chief Executive of the Bakrie Group Tanri Abeng said after
meeting with President Soeharto yesterday that the increasing
need for professionals is due to rapid corporate growth.

"Our problem is too many opportunities," said Tanri, who
accompanied the group's chairman, Aburizal Bakrie, at the meeting
with the President.

"To manage the opportunities, conglomerate owners often take a
short cut by importing professionals or hijacking them from other
companies," Tanri said.

Tanri said that Aburizal, on his way back from a recent
business tour to Uzbekistan, brought with him business contracts
worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

"As an entrepreneur, he has an instinct, He grabs those
opportunities first and puts possible managerial problems
second," Tanri said.

"So you see, the demand for managers is growing very rapidly,
while the supply from the domestic market is very low," he
continued.

Such short-cut practices have made local professionals more
expensive to hire.

In the region, top Indonesian managers rank third after those
from Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore in terms of their hiring
rates, Tanri said.

"Based on purchasing power parity, for the level of general
managers Indonesians are the most expensive," Tanri said, adding
that their rates often reach US$30,000 a month.

He said the managers from India, the Philippines and Pakistan
earn about one-third less than Indonesian managers.

Tanri, himself one of the most expensive managers in the
country, noted that the high hiring rate for local professionals
is counter-productive for the country's economy and has resulted
in the hiring of foreign professionals, especially from India and
the Philippines.

"President Soeharto also has observed this trend. And the
facts show that there are many expatriate professionals,
especially in large companies," Tanri said.

Permits

According to the Ministry of Manpower, the government issued
57,159 official work permits to foreigners last year,
representing a 38 percent increase over the previous year's total
of 41,422.

Permits issued to Koreans totaled 11,668, or 20.4 percent of
the 1995 figure and double the 1994 total of 5,539 permits for
Koreans. The second biggest contingent of workers here is
Japanese, with 9,442, followed by 5,694 Taiwanese, 4,121 Indians,
3,537 Americans and 3,049 Australians.

Based on tax returns, each of the 13,624 expatriate managers
receives an average salary of $6,250 a month; 11,874
professionals are paid $5,000 per month; 8,254 supervisors get a
monthly salary of $2,150 and 23,407 have a monthly salary of
$1,600.

Their total monthly wage bill comes to $199,717,300, or an
annual sum of nearly $2.4 billion.

To become less dependent on expatriate managers and other
professionals, Aburizal said his group will establish a
management development program for Indonesia's junior as well as
senior managers and other professionals.

He explained that he would cooperate with other conglomerate
owners as well as local and foreign universities to develop the
program. (rid)