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Vicki Williams

Hong Kong companies view their employees as a factor of production rather than as human capital

A RECENT SURVEY, titled the 'Work-life balance in Hong Kong', has confirmed what  most of us know: people in Hong Kong work long hours.

However, it was not confirmation the survey sought, but insight into the reasons why people here work such long hours.

The results revealed worrying working practices that were out of line with international conventions and general good employment practices, said  Richard Welford, professor of corporate environmental governance at the University of Hong Kong, which co-organised the survey.

'There is a definite imbalance between work and life in Hong Kong and this is because of the belief  among many companies here that long hours equal productivity. But this is not the case,' he said.

The average working week in Hong Kong is 55 hours, but many employees work much more than that.

The main reason  for the overtime, respondents said, was 'having too much work to do', followed by 'supporting co-workers'.

Professor Welford said that 29.4 per cent of the respondents said 'they could not leave before their boss', while 22.9 per cent 'did not want to be the first to leave the office'.

These were not productivity-based reasons but signs that a company viewed its employees as a factor of production rather than as human capital.

'Companies should see employees as something you invest in, not something you use,'  Professor Welford said.

Long hours lead to health problems, stress, lower motivation, high turnover rates and days taken off for sick leave simply to recover from overwork.

There is a solution,  Professor Welford said, but it required a dramatic  shift in corporate  thinking and management style in Hong Kong.

Companies would have to drop  the mindset that equated long hours  with productivity and  instead think along the lines of  corporate social responsibility (CSR).

The  CSR concept holds that a company should be accountable to all of its stakeholders.

Stakeholders are broadly defined as any single person or group that is affected by the company's activities.

These included  clients, shareholders and staff members.

'The work-life balance is an integral and important part of CSR,' Professor Welford said.

'Good employers should recognise that part of their obligation to their workers is to ensure they are not working so hard as to damage their lives outside of work or lead to health problems.'

The first step for a company, he said, was to determine  the size of the problem and  respond appropriately. Measures included ensuring that employees did not work longer than the contracted hours unless absolutely necessary, and that they had  clear guidelines on company expectations and were aware of  remuneration for overtime  and flexitime.

'Study after study shows that employees who have more balance and who work for a company that values its people are more motivated and more productive,' he said.

'In some places where flexitime has been introduced, productivity has increased,'  he said.

Communicating the  message from management that employees were not expected to work long hours was  important, and reduced the fear that some employees had about  leaving the office on time.

'A company should have a  clear message from the top that regular and systematic long hours are a problem,' Professor Welford said.

'Good CSR practices have big HR benefits, which have been proven, including staff retention and decreased absenteeism. There is a strong correlation between happiness and wanting to stay with an employer,' he said.

Getting the message across to companies was not easy overall because  long hours in the office had  become part of the Hong Kong work culture.

Most Hong Kong companies were far  behind Britain and the United States  in terms of healthy employment policies, Professor Welford said, and they were also behind some of their Asian neighbours.

He said the government  should  put pressure on companies to change.

'The government could easily lead the way,' Professor Welford said.

'Government employees are generally happy and government departments have good HR policies and practices. It should play a part in a necessary change.'

The downside

80 per cent regularly work overtime

75 per cent work late into the evening

21 per cent who work unpaid overtime do not work productively

19 per cent felt resentment at working long hours and so do not work as hard as they could

76 per cent suffer from stress as a result of long hours

75 per cent suffer from a lack of exercise due to long hours

45 per cent suffer from exhaustion due to regular long hours

33 per cent suffer from depression

28 per cent said they would consider leaving their jobs in the next 12 months



Staff who work long hours pay a health price