People Issues

HONG KONG’S 2022 POLICY ADDRESS: HIGHLIGHTS FOR EMPLOYERS

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee delivered his inaugural Policy Address on 19 October 2022. Tracy Chan puts together some of the key takeaways for HR leaders to note.

Titled ‘Charting a Brighter Tomorrow for Hong Kong’, the Policy Address, which was described as a “Policy Address for Hong Kong citizens”, saw Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee outline his initiatives for the city’s development in the next five years.

Apart from addressing important livelihood issues such as housing and healthcare, according to the Policy Address, the Government is also expecting to implement an array of new initiatives targeted at “competing for enterprises” and “competing for talents” more proactively and aggressively.

Here are some policy highlights that businesses and HR leaders may want to note.

Attracting enterprises, investment, and talent • Establishing the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (OASES), led by the Financial Secretary, for attracting high-potential and representative strategic enterprises from around the globe. • Establishing the Talents Service Unit, led by the Chief Secretary for Administration, for formulating strategies to recruit talent from the Mainland and overseas, and co-ordinating relevant work, as well as providing one-stop support for incoming talent. • Setting aside HK$30bn from the Future Fund to establish the CoInvestment Fund for attracting enterprises to set up operations in Hong Kong and investing in their business. • Setting up dedicated teams for attracting businesses and talent in the Mainland offices and overseas Economic and Trade Offices (ETOs) of the Government.

To trawl the world for talent, the Government will launch the Top Talent Pass Scheme. Eligible talent will include: 1. Individuals whose annual salary reached HK$2.5mn or above in the past year, and individuals who graduated from the world’s top 100 universities with at least three years of work experience over the past five years, will be issued a two-year pass for exploring opportunities in Hong Kong and are not subject to any quota.

2. Individuals who graduated from the world’s top 100 universities in the past five years and have yet to fulfil the work experience requirement will also be eligible, subject to an annual quota of 10,000. The Government will also enhance six existing talent admission schemes: 1. Streamline the General Employment Policy (GEP), and the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals (ASMTP). 2. Suspend the annual quota under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) for a period of two years. 3. Relax the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates (IANG) by extending the limit of stay from one year to two years; and expand the scope of the arrangements to cover those who graduated from the GBA campus of a Hong Kong university on a pilot basis for a period of two years. 4. Enhance the Technology Talent Admission Scheme (TechTAS) by lifting the local employment requirement, extending the quota validity period to two years, and expanding the coverage to more emerging technology areas. 5. Extend the limit of stay of employment visas so that talent admitted under the existing and newly launched talent admission schemes and securing employment may be issued with an employment visa which will be valid for a maximum period of three years. 6. Eligible incoming talent, who have become permanent residents upon residing in Hong Kong for seven years, can apply for a refund of the buyer’s stamp duty and the new residential stamp duty paid for the first residential property purchased which they still own, while the ad valorem stamp duty at Scale 2 rates is still payable.

Grooming local young talent • Publishing the first edition of the Youth Development Blueprint within this year, and introducing a series of initiatives to assist young people in overcoming difficulties in education, career pursuits, entrepreneurship, and home ownership. • Increasing the number of UGC-funded research postgraduate (RPg) places by about 1,600, from some 5,600 at present to 7,200 in the 2024/25 academic year. • Expanding the STEM Internship Scheme, by offering local I&T internship opportunities to university students studying STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programmes overseas or at GBA campuses established by designated local universities. • Increasing the number of industries adopting the Vocational Qualifications Pathway (VQP) under the Qualifications Framework from six to at least 18 in the next five years. • Launching the Youth Participation Initiative, and expanding the Member Self-recommendation Scheme for Youth, to engage more young people in public affairs and encourage them to participate in community development. • Working with all sectors of the community on a variety of activities to help young people broaden their horizons, and acquire a better understanding of the development of the country and the world.

Improving labour rights and safety, promoting D&I • Inviting the Minimum Wage Commission to study how to enhance the review mechanism of the statutory minimum wage, including the review cycle, how to improve efficiency, and balancing a host of factors such as the minimum wage level and sustained economic development, and make proposals to the Government. • Further reviewing the arrangement relating to the employment of nonskilled workers under government outsourced service contracts, including remuneration of workers, as well as relevant monitoring mechanisms. • Enhancing the procedures of the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund, including providing legal services by the Fund to assist employees in filing winding-up or bankruptcy petitions against insolvent employers, so as to expedite the disbursement of ex gratia payment to affected employees. • Inviting the Employees Retraining Board to consider raising the daily rate of the retraining allowance and providing allowances for half-day courses for implementation by the first quarter of 2023 to encourage the public to enrol in training and enter the workforce. • Investigating each and every fatal industrial accident, pursuing responsibilities of those who should be held accountable and putting in place improvement measures. Passage of the relevant bill will be sought under the LegCo as soon as possible to increase the maximum penalties for occupational safety offences, thereby enhancing their deterrent effect. • Increasing funding for activities to promote women development by the Women’s Commission from HK$4mn to HK$10mn per annum in the next three years. A Women Empowerment Fund will be set up to subsidise community projects that support women in balancing job and family commitments. • Recruiting more ethnic minorities for appointment as employment assistants and general assistants in the Labour

Department, and setting up a service centre on a trial basis to provide emotional support and counselling for ethnic minorities to further enhance the support for them.

Providing further support for SMEs • Raising the level of funding support under the Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales (the BUD Fund) and the SME Export Marketing Fund to HK$7mn and HK$1mn respectively. The special measure to expand its funding scope will also be extended to 30 June 2026 to continue to cover exhibitions and online exhibitions targeting the local market, and the eligibility criteria will be relaxed to cover non-SMEs. • Guangdong ETO will set up a dedicated promotion centre to support the development of Hong Kong people and enterprises in the GBA. The HKTDC will also set up more GoGBA Business Support Centres to cover all nine Mainland cities in the GBA, and organise business missions, training, etc, in various Mainland provinces and municipalities. • The Pre-approved Principal Payment Holiday Scheme will be extended for another six months to 31 July 2023, through the Banking Sector SME Lending Coordination Mechanism of the HKMA, and the principal repayment option will be enhanced. • Continuing to reduce 75% of water and sewage charges for non-domestic accounts for eight months from 1 December 2022 to 31 July 2023, subject to a monthly ceiling of HK$20,000 and HK$12,500 respectively per household. • Continuing to provide 75% rental or fee concessions currently applicable to eligible tenants of government premises and eligible short-term tenancies and waivers under the Lands Department for six months from 1 January 2023 to 30 June 2023.