We propose three building blocks of sustainability regarding human resource management: attracting employees managing their needs encouraging the workforce to put forth effort by creating motivating incentives. These fundamental aspects of sustainability are examined in the context of a German multinational corporation that has established an operating facility in the People’s Republic of China. Based upon a questionnaire, we find that information on the importance of work-related goals individual preferences for particular management styles performance-reward rankings may be usefully employed to organise these building blocks of sustainability considering the different institutional frameworks.