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Opinion | In Hong Kong, some job-hoppers are more equal than others
- Job-hopping is a coping strategy which can help workers secure their future in a competitive economic climate, whether they work in an office or the home
- Requiring employment agencies to issue refunds to employers for prematurely terminated contracts removes any pressure to create a better working environment
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A significant proportion of Hong Kong’s workforce are job-hoppers. According to a 2015 Ipsos survey, 71 per cent of professionals in the city were either planning to or considering changing jobs within the year.
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A 2020 survey of Hong Kong workers found almost a third of the respondents had actually switched jobs, driven by salary dissatisfaction and hopes of increasing their income. For some young people, repeatedly switching jobs might even be necessary to secure more senior roles and career opportunities.
Recent discussions about job-hopping have focused on a specific segment of Hong Kong’s working population: foreign domestic workers. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the limited pool of these workers in the city and travel restrictions meant demand for them increased.
As a consequence, employers were willing to pay more for domestic work, so bargaining power for salaries went up. Many foreign domestic workers moved to better employment situations as job elasticity increased, leaving some employers unhappy.
The government adopted new policies on job-hopping that appease disgruntled employers, applying pressure on employment agencies to ensure foreign domestic workers do not change jobs within the two-year contract period and penalising those who do by rejecting future visa applications.
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Pressure on agencies will be passed along to workers, who are pushed to stay in jobs regardless of working conditions. The consequence of this is likely to be increased cases of prolonged abuse.
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