Hong Kong civil servants to get hourly leave but businesses unlikely to follow

Hong Kong civil servants may soon receive hourly family care leave as part of the government’s initiative to encourage higher birth rates, according to the South China Morning Post. The policy, outlined in the “promote fertility” section of the recent policy address, would allow civil servants to take leave by the hour for family matters such as hospital visits or parent-teacher meetings.

The Civil Service Bureau is currently finalizing the details and plans to consult with government employees on the implementation, which is expected to begin in early 2027. Each civil servant is anticipated to receive between 10 and 12 hours of annual entitlement, according to Tsoi Koon-lung, president of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants’ Association.

He noted that current policy requires civil servants to take at least half a day off for minor family issues, which he believes could waste annual leave and leave the government short-staffed. The hourly system aims to offer more flexible coverage while allowing civil servants to balance work and family responsibilities without excess leave usage.

However, business leaders express concerns that the private sector lacks the incentive to mirror this approach due to manpower and financial constraints, particularly for smaller firms. Ngan Man-him, vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Civil Service Unions, emphasized the need for straightforward application processes to accommodate various emergency situations.

Labour sector lawmaker Lam Chun-sing suggested that such family-friendly measures could motivate younger civil servants to start families, potentially serving as a model for the private sector. Nonetheless, Ngan highlighted the necessity for ongoing evaluation to ensure the policy’s effectiveness. Danny Lau Tat-pong, of the Hong Kong Small and Medium Enterprises Association, acknowledged that while the government could subsidize wages for these leave days, SMEs would still face staffing challenges, making such arrangements impractical for their scale.

Lawmaker Jonathan Lamport suggested that larger corporations, which have more resources, might be more inclined to adopt similar policies, but acknowledged that even they would struggle with operational disruptions caused by short-duration leave.