The recently published Work-life Balance Cities Ranking 2021 by BPO has revealed that Hong Kong is the world’s most overworked city with 30% of workers putting in more than 48 hours per week. Rival Asia metropolises Singapore and Bangkok rank second and third respectively.
Work-life balance is a relatively new concept in Hong Kong’s working culture, especially in the service sector where the six-day week still dominates, and many white-collar workers work extended hours. Though most contracted hours tend to be 9 am – 6 pm intense societal pressure combined with an overtime culture sees many employees working late or even on weekends.
Previously, the Hong Kong Government made progress towards introducing standardised working hours legislation to better protect employees’ health though such progress has stagnated due to a lack of consensus between labour organisations and the Government. Since 2018, the HKSAR Government instead announced that they would focus on formulating non-binding, sector-specific guidelines on working hours for 11 industries including catering, construction, property management, hotels and tourism, retail and care home services. Supposedly, the guidelines were to be published in 2020 with a review of their effectiveness to come in 2023 yet this has failed to materialise. This means that it is unlikely that legislation on standardised working hours will be enacted in the near future.
Correspondingly, in Mainland China, the PRC Government declared that the notorious 996 work culture — where employees are required to work 12-hour days, six days a week, illegal. The Chinese government commented that workers deserve the right to rest days and holidays and that employers have a statutory obligation to adhere to the country’s standard working hours — eight hours per day and no more than 40 hours per week.
With a shift in Mainland Chinese efforts to protect workers’ rights by cracking down on the 996 cultures, perhaps it is time for the HKSAR Government to standardise working hours and establish an agenda to expedite the enactment of any such legislation. Any such changes would have an impact across the entire labour market, economy, and wider community. The Government would need to find the right balance between employers and employees when safeguarding rights and to ensure the competitiveness of Hong Kong in the long term.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
