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PART TWO
LABOUR ADMINISTRATION IN HONG KONG

Report of the Commissioner for Labour 2000

Chapter 5 : The Labour Department

Vision, Mission and Values
5.1 Our Vision
To be a leading labour administrator in the region. Our aim is to enhance the well-being of our workforce progressively and promote the safety and health of those at work.

5.2 Our Mission
* To improve the utilisation of human resources by providing a range of employment services to meet changes and needs in the labour market;

* To ensure that risks to people's safety and health at work are properly managed by legislation, education and promotion;

* To foster harmonious labour relations through promotion of good employment practices and resolution of labour disputes; and

* To improve and safeguard employees' rights and benefits in an equitable manner.

5.3 Our Values
We believe in :
* Professional excellence
* Pro-activeness
* Premier customer service
* Partnership
* Participation Functions

5.4 The department is the principal agency in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government responsible for the execution and co-ordination of major labour administration functions. It has four key areas of work, namely, Labour Relations, Safety and Health at Work, Employment Services, and Employee Rights and Benefits. The objectives of these areas are given below:

Labour Relations
To provide conciliation service to employers and employees in the non-government sector to help settle employment claims and labour disputes, to promote harmonious labour relations, to adjudicate minor employment claims, and to register and regulate trade unions with a view to encouraging responsible trade unionism.

Safety and Health at Work
To foster safe and healthy work environment.

Employment Services
To provide free employment services and careers guidance.

Employee Rights and Benefits
To safeguard the rights and benefits of employees under labour laws.

Organisation
5.5 As at 31 December 2000, the department had an establishment of 1 867 staff in 28 divisions. The staff of the department consisted of 921 departmental grade officers comprising 296 in the Labour Officer grade, 392 in the Occupational Safety Officer grade, 206 in the Labour Inspectorate grade and 27 in the Occupational Hygienist grade. In addition, there were also 946 officers in the General and other grades. The organisation structure of the department in 2000 is at Appendix IV.

Expenditure
5.6 The total estimated expenditure of the department for 2000/2001 was $752.1 million, which is equivalent to about 0.38 per cent of the total estimated general government expenditure during the same period.

Departmental Committees and Working Groups
5.7 Within the department, there are 34 internal committees and working groups concerned with various aspects of work, such as staff training and development, staff welfare and consultation, work simplification, application of information technology, departmental occupational safety and health, departmental publications, departmental administration and resources management, and use of Chinese. These committees and groups aim to achieve the goal of improving efficiency and communication within the department.

Advisory Boards and Committees
5.8 There are some 22 advisory boards and committees that are related to the labour administration function in Hong Kong. The majority of these bodies provide expert advice on specific areas, such as labour administration, occupational safety and health, employees' compensation and manpower development, and serve as a forum for consultation by the department on labour related issues.

5.9 Among these advisory bodies, the most important one is the Labour Advisory Board (LAB) which is set up to advise the Commissioner for Labour on labour matters including labour legislation and the application of international labour Conventions. Under the LAB, five committees, each dealing with a special area, namely, labour relations, employment services, occupational safety and health, employees' compensation and implementation of international labour standards, have been established to provide expert advice. The terms of reference and composition of the LAB and its membership as at 31 December 2000 are in Appendix V.

Performance Pledges
5.10 In line with the Civil Service commitment to provide quality service to the public, the department's performance pledges were further extended in January 2000 to cover a few new service areas. Performance standards and targets were laid down for a wide range of services covering conciliation of labour disputes, promotion of labour relations, promotion of workplace consultation, adjudication of minor employment claims, employee compensation, employment service, licensing of employment agencies, careers guidance to young people, attestation of contracts for employment outside Hong Kong, protection of wages on insolvency, administration of the importation of labour schemes, occupational safety and health, registration of pressure equipment, registration of trade unions and the Telephone Enquiry Service. Achievement of the set targets on average was 99 per cent.

5.11 A Customer Liaison Group with members coming from users of various pledged services has been formed to collect customers' feedback on the performance pledges. The group met twice in 2000, and members expressed satisfaction over the performance of the services covered by the pledges and provided useful suggestions for further improvement.

Human Resources Initiatives
5.12 Three working groups, which were formed in late 1997 under the supervision of the Departmental Human Resources Management Strategic Plan Steering Group, have commenced organising a range of activities to implement the three identified driver programmes, namely, Vision, Mission and Values, Resources Management and Performance Management of the Human Resources Management Plan.

5.13 Under the Vision, Mission and Values Programme, promotional activities including display of vision statement and mission statements, and values statements promotional items design competition were organised.

5.14 For resources management, a project on the development of Process Improvement Skills Training Programme and establishment of Quality Improvement Teams for inculcating a quality service/ customer focused culture in the department was completed. Debriefing meetings were organised to further promote quality improvement in the department.

5.15 Under the Performance Management Programme, core competencies models for the Labour Officer and Occupational Hygienist Grades have been developed separately. Staff appraisal forms based on the core competency models were revised.

Work Simplification
5.16 The department launched the Work Simplification Scheme in September 1990 to simplify work procedures and improve efficiency. In 2000, 130 items of work simplification have been implemented. The main areas covered included the simplification of statistics, standard forms, reports and work procedures, and the improvement of work flow.

Application of Information Technology
5.17 During the year, the department continued to apply information technology to improve and streamline operation procedures. New microcomputers were added to our computing resources for use. Divisions such as the Careers Advisory Service had made use of new information technology to enhance their services.

5.18 To further improve the services offered by the Employment Services Division, the operations of the division have been fully computerised since April 1998. Employment services have been substantially enhanced through sharing of updated vacancies, faster job matching, easier record retrieval and more comprehensive data analysis.

5.19 The Employment Services Division launched an Interactive Employment Service in March 1999 to offer employment and recruitment services to job-seekers and employers on the web. It built on the huge database of job vacancies and job-seekers registered with the division and allowed users to conduct job-search and candidate-search. The contents and functions were significantly enhanced in 2000. An on-line registration service for job-seekers was introduced.

5.20 The Occupational Safety and Health Branch continued to improve the electronic databank which contained information on occupational safety and health accidents, safety and health legislation, legal advice and reference materials on occupational safety and health. A total of 11 local area mini-networks was installed at the Headquarters and regional offices. These networks facilitated communication and shared use of information resources within the branch and its field offices.

5.21 The Occupational Safety and Health Branch is planning to implement an Occupational Safety and Health Management Information System, which will enhance the safety and health standard in workplaces. The system will provide important occupational safety and health information for problem identification, strategic planning, policy formulation and to enable the management deploy resources most efficiently. The tender exercise for the system began in late 2000. We expect that the whole project will be completed by mid 2002.

Environmental Report
5.22 During this year, the department made a conscientious effort in promoting a green office environment. With the co-operation and awareness of our colleagues, we have made progress in waste minimisation, paper and energy conservation. The second Environmental Report, which covers the environmental performance of the department in 2000, is at Appendix VI.