Letters | Will the coronavirus bring full-time ‘slashie’ culture to Hong Kong?

While working from home is the most talked about pandemic office trend, in the last few months, subsets of the Hong Kong workforce are embracing ‘side hustles’ and looking at becoming full-time slashies

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Published: 6:45am, 11 Oct 2020

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The recent “work from home” norm has forced Hongkongers to change their traditional mindset on work, finance and work-life balance. While this has been well documented, the rise of the “slashie” has been equally prominent and is becoming a key culture within the Hong Kong employment sector. A slashie is someone who undertakes multiple jobs, projects or roles instead of choosing one, fixed career path. I myself am a slashie; I just didn’t know it until recently.

Western economies, most of which have robust and dynamic self-employment frameworks, have long had slashies. Start-up culture has only accelerated this trend, as individuals contemplate getting their hands into as many pots as possible.

Historically, financial reasons were the key motivation for having more than one job. With Covid-19, there has been a dramatic shift in this mindset, where people not only want the financial benefits of a portfolio career but also desire the omnific and imaginative benefit of having multiple roles.

In Hong Kong, in the last few months, subsets of the workforce have been embracing these “side hustles” and looking at becoming full-time slashies.

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Companies like Upwork and Freelancer.com have seen a dramatic increase in their user base since May. More significantly, there are more profiles registered as multi-hyphenate than ever before: such as “engineer/blogger/chef/graphic designer and dog walker”.

On the surface, the slashie label and the associated behaviour could be just another fad, but is it actually leading to something more prevalent? Is this new wave of portfolio careers actually the future of employment and of the modern employee?

The financial and social challenges brought about by Covid-19 have caused Hongkongers to rethink their career approach. I see this in my coaching circle, where individuals believe the pursuit of their own business design (ideas that excite them) is more fulfilling in the long term and more realistic to achieve in the short term, given the career status quo that Covid-19 has created.

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As the cost of living still remains high, slashies can’t be faulted for trying every means possible to make ends meet. The fact that many are trying to convert their ideas into scalable business opportunities should be applauded, no matter how crazy they sound initially.

It is clear that the pre-Covid corporate career model will have to evolve in line with new work standards and society’s view of what constitutes success. Could we potentially be seeing the one, long, traditional career model being usurped by the multi-role, diversified employment that the slashies have brought about?

In the short term, the move towards portfolio careers seems inevitable for some, as Hong Kong tries to scale up its digital infrastructure and become a stronger, regional fintech hub.

Rish Tandapany, Tseung Kwan O

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