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Last week, several publications about working conditions in Hong Kong circulated on online websites. The first pointed out that Hong Kong residents love to work and therefore bear the burden of overtime. Some even die from overwork, a problem known as “death from overwork.” Currently, Hong Kong has no legislation to regulate this issue.
According to statistics, a total of 724 people died from work-related injuries or occupational diseases in Hong Kong’s industrial sector in the five years from 2018 to 2022, accounting for about a quarter of the commercial and service sectors. In 2021 and 2022, the number of worker deaths in the safety and construction industries increased.
Another piece of news came from a worker’s experience sharing online. After moving to a new job, she was very satisfied with the working conditions because she could leave work on time. But then he found out that other colleagues had to work overtime and could not leave work until 10 pm. A few days later, the boss called her in because she did not work late, which meant that she was not integrating well.
The employee expressed her confusion in the publication, asking: Why are you still working in the company and working overtime for free after get off work? Many netizens responded to this and expressed their support for the worker. Some of them even suggested that she resign.
The third publication came from a worker. The man said that while he was abroad, he received a work message from his boss during his vacation, but he only read it and did not reply, precisely because he was on vacation. Therefore, when he returned to the company, his boss called him and told him that although he was on vacation, he should reply to the message so that his colleagues could work. The employee said that after checking the text message, it did not seem to be an urgent matter that his colleagues could handle, so he did not reply. Unexpectedly, the boss accused him of incompetence. In the publication, he expressed his opinion-“Does competence mean replying to work messages while on a business trip on vacation?”
The term “burnout” is easy to understand: people who are overly committed to their work will experience physical problems and mental fatigue, which will affect their health.
Why is this phenomenon so common in Hong Kong? Part of the reason may stem from the city’s labor legislation. Although the legislation has been amended many times since its implementation in 1970, the basic principles have not changed. Hong Kong society in the 1970s valued self-sufficiency and the ability to “take care of oneself”, so workers’ benefits were not generous. With the development of the new era, Hong Kong’s working environment as well as people’s lifestyles and needs have also changed. The Hong Kong government hopes to improve employment benefits and has amended the labor law many times. It is not difficult to understand that if workers enjoy more benefits, employers have to pay more, which can easily cause dissatisfaction in the employer community. We are talking about measures such as the mandatory pension fund implemented in 2000 and the early use of the mandatory pension fund to compensate for long-term service costs.
Another reason, which is also a serious problem in Hong Kong society, is the high housing prices. The average salary in Hong Kong is about HK$20,000 per month. Information circulating online shows that Hong Kong people cannot eat or drink after receiving their salary, and can only buy a house after 20 years.
High housing prices and life pressures force people to work hard, and it is not surprising that overwork occurs frequently. Regarding the employee’s question about the company’s lack of overtime pay, Hong Kong’s current common law legal system has clear precedents that overtime means extraordinary contribution to the company and must be compensated. There is pay. Therefore, the payment of overtime pay is not a topic that can be discussed. From a legal perspective, even if the employee works only one minute beyond the prescribed time, he must be compensated for the extra time.
However, in reality, this is indeed difficult to do. Both employers and workers understand that a lot of work cannot be completed within working hours, and short-term overtime is inevitable.
Some companies have tried to address the overtime issue by stipulating that the first hour after an employee completes their normal working hours is not considered overtime. While this standard is more realistic, employees are paid for this extra time. If workers disagree, this rule is difficult to enforce. At the same time, this approach can also be controversial.
As for the work messages mentioned in the third point, there is currently no appropriate law in Hong Kong to stipulate whether workers should respond to messages from their bosses outside of working hours. In the previous column of this column, we studied whether there should be legislation to regulate this issue. If readers are interested, they can re-read the previous article, and we will not repeat the content.
Overall, these three publications reflect the working conditions in Hong Kong to a certain extent. Overwork is never positive for employees or employers. The issues of overtime and replying to messages outside working hours can be resolved through negotiation to a certain extent. Only when these issues are properly resolved can the labor conditions in Hong Kong be improved and employees and employers can gain more benefits.
Legal Advisor of Macau Jazz Promotion Association
Associate Professor, Faculty of Management Science, Macau Polytechnic University
Blog: http://blog.xuite.net/legalpublications/hkblog
Email: legalpublicationsreaders@yahoo.com.hk
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