Work-life Balance: Getting started with flexible work arrangements 24 January 2017
Background Hong Kong is facing the challenge of a shrinking labour o force Explore how flexible work arrangements (FWA) could o be widely promoted in the workplace to achieve a win- win situation benefiting employees, employers and society: Helping working persons achieve work-life balance, enhancing their work and life satisfaction, improving their physical and mental health conditions, and facilitating them to fulfil their family and social responsibilities Assisting enterprises in enhancing human capital, attracting and retaining talent, and sustaining competitiveness Unleashing the potential labour force and mitigating the consequences of a shrinking labour force in the long run 2
Objectives Exploring the situation of work-life balance in Hong Kong and identifying factors affecting the balance in Hong Kong Reviewing the inclusion of FWA in the workplace with the analysis of its benefits and resistance Proposing strategies and recommendations to promote FWA and friendly working environment 3
Me Metho hodology dology Documen entar tary analysis ysis Labour Force Structure o Working Patterns and Health o Conditions Penetration of FWA o In-de In depth pth inter ervi view ews and and focu cus group roup meetin ings gs Employers ／ Chambers o Employees ／ Trade Unions o 4
Wh What at is wo work rk-life fe balance? ce? o People can find the pace of life that allows them to discharge their work and life responsibilities 5
Wh What at ar are e flex exibl ible e wo work rk ar arra rang ngements ements? FWA are flexible measures provided by employers to o accommodate employees’ needs, on condition that work efficiency will not be affected Employers adopt an employee-oriented and open-minded o management policy by allowing employees to adjust their work rk locat cations ions, hour urs s and d patter erns s of work with flexibility Wor ork k from m home me Flexti xtime me Job-shar sharing ing 6
Working ing hours rs and press ssure ure NO NOT T the only y Findi dings ngs indic icato ators rs to measur ure e work-lif life e balanc nce o A work-life balance varies from person to person o When we examine work-life balance of working persons, it is of primary importance to understand the roles they play and how their work and life may interfere with each other 7
Groups ps of workin king g persons ons that t have e greater ter Findi dings ngs diffi fficu culti lties es in achie ievi ving ng work-life life balanc nce e Working persons having to work under a tight schedule o and with little flexibility are more difficult in achieving work-life balance e.g. those with family responsibilities and those who are pursuing further studies 8
Th The importa rtanc nce e of flexi xibl ble e work k arrang ngem emen ents ts Findi dings ngs o Work indistinguishable from life FWA enable employees to better coordinate work o and life and employers to retain and attract talent, benefiting both the employees and employers 9
Th The resistan istance ce of flexi xibl ble e work arrang ngeme ments nts Findi dings ngs Mistrust between employers and employees o frustrates the inclusion of FWA 10
Occup upati ation onal l safety ety and health lth shoul uld not Findi dings ngs be overlo rlook oked E mployees suffering from repetitive strain injuries o are our potential concerns, overlooking occupational safety and health will increase social costs 11
Recomme mend ndati ation ons (1) Establishing a ‘Special Committee on Promoting Friendly Employment Culture’ Establishing a ‘Special Committee on Promoting Friendly o Employment Culture (SC)’ under the Labour and Welfare Bureau, which consists of government bureaux / departments, statutory bodies, employers and employees SC promotes cross-sector collaboration among the o Government, the business community and the labour sector to formulate policy directions and promotion and a mechanism to review the progress and provide consultancy services for enterprises / organisations 12
Recomme mend ndati ation ons s (2) (2) Emphasisi asising ng two wo-tier tier positi itioni ning ng - ‘family policy- oriented nted ’ and ‘individual development -orie oriented nted ’ Two- tier positioning, of which both ‘family policy - o oriented’ and ‘individual development - oriented’ are emphasised Both employees and employers could take what they o need: allowing more employees to benefit from FWA, facilitating them to fulfil multiple roles and responsibilities; enterprises thereby maintain a steady workforce 13
Recomme mend ndati ation ons (3) Establi ablishin shing g a checklist of ‘one -st stop op occupati pation onal al health th support services’ and lowe wering ng the thresh eshold old for r prescri scribing bing an occupati pation onal al disease se Government re-engineering the existing emotional and o mental health services in all districts, adopting the community-based approach to involve welfare organisations and family doctors to ensure that needy people can get early intervention services Reviewing the definition of occupational diseases o could help lower the threshold for prescribing a disease as an occupational disease, with a view to enhancing employees’ protection 14
Recommendations (4) Establishing a ‘Friendly Employment Culture Fund’ Establishing a ‘Friendly Employment Culture Fund’ o under SC to facilitate SMEs implementing FWA Enterprises may submit proposals for subsidies to o effectively use innovative ideas to implement friendly employment practices, with a view to mitigating the impacts brought by a shrinking labour force 15
Concluding Remarks Employers and employees are in no way antagonistic to each other. With the Government’s further promotion of FWA, both employers and employees could satisfy their needs Inclusion of FWA does not require a large amount of additional costs; but the returns are substantial and positive Employers by taking into account their own situations and showing employees more care , FWA could be made at whatever scale to suit their own circumstances Aiming at fully cultivating the FWA culture in the workplace, the Government should make continuous effects in areas of manpower supply, talents training and childcare support services to allow those enterprises with manpower shortage to implement the arrangements 16
Concluding Remarks Thank You ‘Work - life Balance: Getting started with flexible work arrangements’ Mini-site: http://wlb.bauhinia.org 17
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