An authoritative report points out that most industries in Hong Kong have higher demand for professionals to cope with the sharp increase of workload. The resulting situation of overwork in Hong Kong is the most serious in Asia.

A Hudson Global Resources survey of approximately 6,000 human resource executives in Asia shows that the present situation of overwork in Hong Kong is worse than the previous year. 43% of those executives pointed out that the situation is deteriorating, while the figure was 34% last year. The proportion of Hong Kong employees who face overwork ranks first among the four surveyed regions including Japan, Shanghai and Singapore.

In terms of different industries, legal professionals witness the sharpest deterioration, as 45% of interviewees said they felt more serious overwork. The figure was only 20% twelve months ago. The aggravation is correlated to increase of workload as well as shortage of professionals capable of handling initial public offering and merger and acquisition.

As for the causes of overwork, more than 80% of the surveyed regard sudden increase of workload as the primary one, followed by difficulties in recruiting qualified persons.

(Chinanews.cn April 14, 2006)