Differences in the workplace

This is probably going to turn out as more of a rant than the well constructed argument that I would like it to be but I can at least try. This is not so much a pros and cons discussion of working in Hong Kong itself but more a critique on working WITH people in HK and the ways in which I find that enjoyable or frustrating.

1. People here work really, really long and hard hours.

This is actually in many ways NOT A GOOD THING. Usually this is expounded as the main things that people (especially middle managers) like about this city, and about a lot of Asia in general. I could make the same point about Japan and it would not be too far off.

However people here work way past what I would call their productive point. The point at which you are so tired or overloaded with information that you are unable to work well anymore. In my office I have people who no matter what I say to them continue to work till 9 or 10pm when they still have well over an hours commute home. They also do not stop to take a break to get some dinner if they are going to do so.

If you are tired and hungry your work will suffer. Most of the stuff I get from them that gets sent after about 8pm I find has some very basic mistakes that would easily be picked up if they were rested and on their game.

The reason behind this is not that they have so much work that they have to work these long hours, it is in fact my second point.

2. People here do not work smart

The obvious example of this that springs to mind with me is that the girl who works receiving and dispatch for our company. About 6 months ago she was staying very late on doing her work when we weren't particularly busy. The reason behind this was that she was typing out all the commercial invoices by hand in excel... There is a copy and paste function in our order system that can export this automatically! Apparently she hadn't thought to ask FOR THE LAST YEAR if there was anything to make this easier or tried to work something out herself.

When things take a long time to do over here people just stay late and do them the slow way they were doing before. Why not try and figure out a way to make it go quicker. Hell ask me it might take me 30mins to write a macro that formats orderforms or spreadsheets correctly for you and that might save you well over 30mins each day!

3. Lack of job loyalty

I have seen people over here switch jobs from a company that had treated them very well and where they get on well with people and had a definite career path going to another job at a completely different country for a raise of as little as 5%.

This to me is really very strange and to me looks completely awful on your CV. As a manager I look at new employees job applications and if I see that they have changed jobs on average around the 18month mark or even less then I won't hire them. I don't care how good you are at your job I don't want to hire you get you into the job position and then your are gone 12months later and I have to find someone to pick up all the shit that you were handling.

I can completely accept it if someone gives me a reasoning behind changing jobs all the time (like getting canned). However if you are every year or so going straight from 1 job into another this looks very dodgy and it has no doubt pissed off your former employer and you will no doubt do the same to me and piss me off.

4. People out here are very helpful and friendly

It is strange and welcome to find a complete lack of office politics. There are no real cliques here that can cause problems and you have to take account of when working with people. Everybody is quite happy to work with everybody else. They are also very understanding and patient when it comes to helping train new staff and nobody resents having to basically hold them by the hand until they get up and running.

5. They don't get enough respect

I am in a minority of foreign managers in my particular field. In fact I only know of 2 others and they work for 2 extremely large multinationals in comparison to ours. Mostly all of my peers in competitors and trade partners are local. Here is a summary of their opinion of their workforces.

Local (HK)

"They are lazy, you have to watch them all the time or they will not work"

"I can't trust most of them, that's why I have my husband and brother work with me... They would try to take information to other companies"

"I work till 9pm every day and I expect them to also"

Chinese mainland

"They are always trying to screw you"

"They drink and smoke too much"

"They are so more stupid than [my workers] in HK, but that is not saying much about my HK workers"

I put a lot of the above down to the distinct lack of social progression in Hong Kong. They assume that if you are born into a poor or lower class family then all you are good for is low level work. So you don't get paid that well. So therefore you might try and steal so they have to watch you all the time.

This is complete and utter bullshit. We have one person in my office currently who started off at the very bottom job in the office. She is now the 3rd most senior person in the company and has earned all that she has got.

I understand that the above may not apply to a lot of people if they work for a multinational company which has progressive minded managers. However for the majority of HKers the above is pretty typical.

I often wonder what the hell the people who made those quotes above would think if they ever came and saw how work is conducted and the kind of pay people expect back in the UK.