The percentage of respondents saying “yes” or “no” to standard work hours is close, indicating mixed views on this new labour issue at this point, according to the findings of the Minimum Wage Ordinance (MWO) Survey by the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management (HKIHRM).

The survey finds that 51 out of 95 responding companies (54%) did not think standard work hours should be introduced in Hong Kong, while 44 companies (46%) expressed support.

The major reasons for not preferring standard work hours being legislated include: affecting corporate flexibility and productivity, and overall competitiveness of Hong Kong; putting pressure on businesses already facing labour shortage; and impacting employee relations if the legislation is difficult to comprehend and implement.

In terms of business sector, all responding companies from the business services/professional services sector expressed that no standard work hours should be introduced, followed by restaurant/catering/tourism related (89%) and property development/management (80%).

On the contrary, all responding companies from the media/entertainment sector agreed that standard work hours should be introduced, followed by hi tech/telecommunications (88%) and shipping/terminals/logistics (75%).

Standard Work Hours

Whether there is a need to set a preferred number of standard work hours for different positions, 47 out of 95 responding companies (49%) agreed and proposed the average number of work hours for different positions to be ranging from 42.7 hours to 54 hours per week. 40 out of 94 responding companies (43%) thought that there should be a standard work hours limit per week for office staff.

The concept of standard work hours is still remote for employers and employees as its impact is yet unknown.

"The diligent and responsive workforce in Hong Kong has always been regarded as one of the key factors to our economic success in the past few decades. However, employees have greater concern about the influence of long work hours on work-life balance. This is particularly true amongst the Gen Y,” says Julita Leung, Chairperson of Minimum Wage and Standard Work Hours Taskforce of the HKIHRM.