4-day work week in Hong Kong? Recruitment experts say firms steering clear despite new Singapore guideline, urge incentives
- Singapore authorities have granted workers right to request four-day weeks, more work-from-home days under new flexible employment guideline
- Initiative by city state could open dialogue for employers in Hong Kong to review current work arrangements, experts say
Local and international firms based in Hong Kong are steering clear of adopting four-day work weeks, recruitment and human resources experts have said after Singapore announced its new guideline on flexible employment policies.
But the specialists said the initiative could begin the dialogue for employers to review working arrangements, with a Hong Kong recruitment professional calling for the government and trade associations to offer incentives to help businesses with IT upgrades as companies transitioned to new ways of working.
Singapore authorities on Tuesday last week announced a guideline to allow workers to ask for four-day work weeks, more work-from-home days and staggered hours starting from December 1.
“I think at the moment [a four-day work week] would be seen as a good retention tool [and] recruitment tool. But I think the cost of doing it might be seen as prohibitive,” said Nick Marsh, managing director of Meraki Executive Search & Consulting.
“Everybody is going to be looking at the Singapore model and we will just sit on it for quite a while,” said Marsh, whose firm specialises in helping clients scout talent for leadership roles.
Marsh pointed out that the pandemic had established a hybrid work model which had remained in place for some firms, and that had “taken a bit of pressure off” from employees looking to ask for a four-day work week.