Responsible corporations look after their employees

Hong Kong companies often seek to demonstrate their commitment to the community through their corporate social responsibility programmes. But seldom is there attention on the employees' situation until there is a labour strike or protest.

Hong Kong's workforce is praised for being hard-working and efficient. Working overtime and on holidays seems to be the norm here.

But are we missing something in our lives?

Various studies show that employees suffering physical or psychological stresses could severely affect a company's performance and stability. Health issues could be unrelated to a job, of course; however, they could be induced or aggravated by work stress.

Sickness-related absences in the workplace not only add to a company's expenses in terms of leave cost and insurance, but most importantly they affect the morale of the staff. If this in turns leads to higher staff turnover, then the stability of the company will also be affected.

Long working hours and the all-encompassing nature of many jobs leave little or no room for employees to maintain a healthy relationship with their family and other social networks.