Remote working in Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, prior to 2019, it was very uncommon for employees to work from home. Geographically, Hong Kong is relatively small and the commute to work for the majority of its employees is less than one hour. However, the protests in Hong Kong and the Coronavirus have changed the way employees work. Even though the third wave has mostly elapsed, people are still worried and this resulted in many employers instructing their employees to work from home although the fourth wave has not arrived yet. Although many workers can fulfil their contractual obligations at home, employers must ensure that they continue to meet their legal requirements and provide adequate support for employees who have moved from working at the office to working at home.
In addition to that, according to the statistics of the Census and Statistics Department, the number of unemployed people increased by around 5,800 from 242,500 in May 2020 to 248,300 in June. Over the same period, the number of underemployed people also increased by around 13,200 from 136,000 to 149,200. It can be seen that the numbers of unemployed people are increasing. This is thought to be largely due to the protests and the Coronavirus. Because of these reasons, for those who are working from the office and, therefore, thinking about quitting their job, we have prepared some suggestions which will help them find new opportunities and enable them to work from home.
1) Do your research, limit the companies known for having a remote workforce:
It is important to find a company that embraces flexible working as its own culture. Many companies, especially the companies in the tech sector, offer remote working opportunities. It is also important to understand what type of remote opportunities companies offer because the teams can be described in two names which are partially and fully distributed, remote teams. In fully distributed remote teams, nobody works in the office. On the other hand, in partially distributed teams, some work fully remotely and some work from the office.
2) Add “remote position” to your keyword section:
If a remote position is important to you, you should include the phrase “remote position” in your keyword list no matter which website you are using. Social media can be a very powerful tool for searching. You can also search the keyword on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. You might not know what kind of interesting ads you will run across.
3) Networking:
Sometimes, companies prefer not to advertise a new job opening and instead, they share new updates or posts via their online channels. You should be on alert in case of any openings. Sometimes, a person can notify only his/her own network about an opening and this person can be someone from your network. Alerting your professional network is always a good idea if you are determined to start as a remote worker.
After all, companies are increasingly expanding their views on which positions can be remote.
Seeking a remote position adds complexity to your job search, but with some strategy, it is doable and can be highly rewarding.
If you have suggestions or want to subscribe to our newsletter, please leave your message here:
This article was published in the Freelancing.HK-News 67.