Hong Kong People are Suffering from Poor Work-life Balance

by 6D Thomas Cheung

I would like to share my opinions on the working hours and quality of life of Hong Kong people nowadays in an attempt to investigate whether they have an appropriate work-life balance.

In the first place, I think the current workload of Hong Kong people is too heavy to bear. As shown in one newspaper article, notwithstanding the decline in average weekly working hours, our figure is still a distant way from the one suggested by the International Labour Organization . Why is there such a problem? The answer is that in order to stay competitive among businesses, the local firms have successively extended the working hours of Hong Kongers. Meanwhile, the lamentable thing is that local workers do not have enough power to bargain with their employers. As a result, Hong Kong people fall victim to the manipulation of their superiors and can say nothing but just work for long hours.

Apart from the inordinate workload, Hong Kong people also have a poor quality of life. As a matter of fact, the quick living pace has made Hong Kong people unable to eat healthily and regularly, so their health is deteriorating. In addition to their health problems, the work-life imbalance has also brought them another bane - the lack of leisure time. The shortage of time to release their daily stress not only affects their physical and mental health, worse still, it also causes some of them to commit suicide every year.

Over and above that, the social cost of poor work-life balance of Hong Kong people has greatly affected their personal relationship. Working for long hours, they do not spend enough time with their family. Then an invisible barrier can easily grow between them. On the other hand, because of the lack of gatherings with friends, the relationship may become aloof. Hence, those studious employees may feel life lonely and unpleasant.

From the above points, it is obvious that Hong Kong people are overworked and have a poor quality of life. In view of this worrying phenomenon, I am going to give some advice to those people who are still living in predicament.

To commence with, I suggest that they should adopt a daily schedule which they can follow to maintain a regular work-life balance. Practicing this efficiently, they are able to spend some spare time with both their family and friends. This will help them release their stress and recuperate their mental health from a bad state.

Aside from that, I suggest that they exercise more and eat more healthy food. As long as they have a balanced diet and a stout body, it is no way difficult for them to shoulder the burden of work.

All in all, the most effective ways for Hong Kong people to improve their work-life balance are establishing a work-rest balance timetable, exercising regularly and having a balanced diet. I sincerely hope the above suggestions can help Hong Kong people cope with their stressful life.