New life in HK!

Street Vendor Blues

By Dianhua Fan, Ronnie Koo, Hyongki Park (in alphabetical order)

Hong Kong – Oct. 15 – JMSC – Small food vendors on Tong Chong Street in Quarry Bay are facing new and tougher competition, not from each other but from mega discount chains such as 7-Eleven.

Stalls such as Yeung Kong are already feeling the heat. Their sales are down, and they are losing customers.

They have no option but to “innovate” or “work much harder” to stay alive.

Please click here or on the photo for more stories about HK street food vendors singing the blues. (Reminder: Please click “caption” before playing the Soundslides. Thank you)

A Scholar’s Work & Life Balance: 10-year interview, 400-day creation and 4-hour global launch

The description of photos is available. (Tips: to see the description – make the slideshow full screen; click “options” and select “always show title and description”; click the photo)

Hong Kong – Sept 18 – JMSC – Lung Ying-tai, current professor of Hong Kong University, delivered a lecture on the global launch of her new book – Big River, Big Sea: Untold Stories of 1949 – in Hong Kong University.

During the 3-hour lecture,  many details and videos were exposed to public for the first time.

It took Lung more than 400 days to complete the book under the situation of staying up late till 2-3 am every day and  locking herself at home without any recreation for a long period.

PEOPLE ARE BASICALLY SATISFIED WITH WORK & LIFE BALANCE IN HONG KONG

Hong Kong – Sep 8 - People questioned at random on campus of Hong Kong University say that they feel basically satisfied with the work and life balance in Hong Kong. All of them go back home before 8 pm every day. According to the random interviews, the balance condition is not so bad as imagined.

Four people were asked the question “when do you get back home from work or study every day”. Their answers are as following.

Click here to listen to what they said.

Jack Kong, 36, engineer – “almost eight.”

Steven Kei Kit Lung, 21, undergraduate student – “4 pm to 6 pm.”

Laura Hui, accountant – “I get home very early actually. I get home by six.”

Andrew Ward, 23, postgraduate student – “Maybe six or seven?”

One more question was then raised: “Are you satisfied with your work and life balance? How does it go?” Five people answered this time, which, interestingly, are  intensely opposed.

Click to hear their attitudes.

Jack Kong, 36, engineer – “No, not at all. It’s (referring to Hong Kong) a good place to make money, but it’s not a good place to live.”

Dang Li, 26, PhD - “I am statisfied with my time balance.”

Steven Kei Kit Lung, 21, undergraduate student – “I hope I can be with them (referring to his parents) more frequently.”

Laura Hui, accoundant - “yeah,yeah,yeah…etc. You basically have an agreement with your employer and not all company wants you to work to nine or ten.”

Andrew Ward, 23, postgraduate student – “Yes, so far. I mean, so far I think it’s going well.”

topic:  Do we really have so many things to do during worktime in HK?

After researching the information on websites and blogs, I found an interesting phenomenon: almost all the surveys focused on the work duration, while few concerned what they really did during the worktime. Actually, the work efficiency is not as high as imagined and people often stay in office till night just because their boss has not left!

story angle 1: people who leave the office on time will be considered as heterogeneousness.

• “The strangest thing about my experience in working in Hong Kong is when I do leave on-time, people who see me leaving ask: “Leaving so early?”  I’m smirking at this time and responding “No, I always leave at this time.””

             See the article: Work, Life, Balance and More Work? 

• “How to complete a full workday by noon? Sounds impossible, right? But on many days, by 12 o’clock, I have completed work that should normally take eight hours. And I don’t wake up at 4 a.m. to achieve this.”

             anther angle to observe the effectiveness during the worktime, see The 4 Hour Workday

Story angle 2: oral history: a typical day in HK

I suppose I can interview a married woman working in the Bank, for whom the work and life balance issue becomes more crucial, to see whether she feels  full or helpless.

• “Apparently this is an unhealthy way to live your working life in Hong Kong. So every second counts as shown on brisk walking citizens who read newspapers while walking or in the MTR / buses.”

             see Live to Work vs Work to Live: HK’s Work – Life Balance 

*opional angle: oral: compare the condition of work & life balance with that in Europe.

• “I’ve just moved to HK a month ago after living the last 4 years in holland, and i must say, those Europeans have got it GOOD. The pace of life is slower, more enjoyable, they know how to relax and have a good time, even at work, it’s not life or death if you dont complete something, they shut off their computers at 4:45pm, etc.”

              see the coments of  Live to Work vs Work to Live: HK’s Work – Life Balance

Story 3: what do the bosses think about the problem? Or do they consider it as “a problem”?

Choose this angle to balance the viewpoint. I plan to interview the managers from a small  business/major company or search the online information.

• See the video: CSR Asia Director – Stephen Frost in Money Magazine

              or click it to see the video inside the blog:

 Other referenced materials:

• A manager from HSBC talked about the balance issue (in Chinese, Ming Bao)
• Work-Life Balance – A Business Issue? (guidebook, pdf)
• A survey of work and life balance in HK (2008, by HKU)

Ms Diane asks us to upload the pics to test if we have mastered this skill. It is more relaxed in this class, you know. I like the feeling!

 I can manage the task, of course, right?

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