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Hong Kong society
OpinionComment
Ricky Chu Man-kin
Ricky Chu Man-kin

Opinion | How Hong Kong will benefit from a more diverse civil service

  • New measures to tackle the Chinese language barrier include letting departments design job-specific Chinese tests and giving ethnic minority interns Chinese training
  • The government is the city’s largest employer; its moves will have a huge impact, nudging other employers in the same direction

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Civil servants get off work in Admiralty on November 20. Having greater diversity in the civil service makes ethnic minority communities, which have deep roots in Hong Kong, more visible to the general populace. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Ricky Chu Man-kin

As part of our anti-discrimination role, we, at the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), hear of individual experiences and challenges that may not be very apparent to the public.

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Recently, a young, ethnic minority university graduate with excellent academic credentials shared his difficulty in getting a job. As experienced by other Hongkongers from ethnic minority communities, the lack of a certain level of Chinese language proficiency barred him from success, even though, in his case, it was listed as a “preferred skill” in the job advertisement rather than a must-have.
Another experience relates to hijab-wearing jobseekers. We hear of offers conditional on the successful applicant not wearing her hijab at work.

On the language issue, the EOC continues to work on lowering employment barriers with key stakeholders. Some recommendations we make to employers are to review their job requirements to ensure that Chinese language proficiency is included only if genuinely needed. The other is to try and provide on-the-job language learning opportunities and incentives.

It is therefore heartening to see some of these initiatives adopted by government departments, as announced in the policy address last month. The government is Hong Kong’s largest employer and these initiatives have huge potential for social impact by propelling other employers to move in the same direction.
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In particular, government departments are being encouraged to “design their own language tests” that are tailored to the job requirements, so applicants have another way to meet the language proficiency requirements. The Civil Service Bureau will also provide basic workplace Chinese training for its ethnic minority interns.

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