[ad_1]
Businesses desperate for Hong Kong to reopen are offering staff cash, extra holidays and even lottery winnings to get inoculated in the face of widespread vaccine hesitancy.
Some companies are taking an even firmer approach and threatening workers with dismissal if they do not get the jab.
Just 20 per cent of Hong Kong’s residents have had their first shot since the inoculation campaign began in February, compared with 50 per cent in the US and 57 per cent in the UK. Analysts blame vaccine hesitancy on distrust in the government as well as low infection rates.
Demand is so underwhelming that the Hong Kong government is contemplating donating unused vaccines to countries that will use them.
Low vaccine take-up is not peculiar to the city. Across Asia, vaccination rates are low. In India, big companies are paying to inoculate workers.
Other governments are also offering incentives. California announced a $116.5m package of prize money to encourage people to get jabs on Friday, including $1.5m for 10 individuals who will be picked by lottery.
Hong Kong has been forced to defend its reputation as a financial hub after the 2019 anti-government protests and the introduction of a tough national security law a year later. Paul Chan, the city’s financial secretary, has warned that the low rates of vaccination risked undermining the city’s economic recovery.
Hong Tran, an employment partner at Mayer Brown, the law firm, said “some of the drive for vaccination†in Hong Kong has fallen on to businesses.
Cathay Pacific, whose passenger numbers in April fell by 99 per cent compared with the same month in 2019, has signalled that staff who want to keep their jobs will have to be vaccinated.
“It won’t be long before we are unable to sustainably roster unvaccinated crew,†the airline said.
Melco Resorts, the Hong Kong-listed casino company, is offering six employees in Hong Kong and Macau, a separate Chinese territory near the city, the chance to win 1m patacas ($125,117) once an undisclosed percentage of staff are vaccinated.
BlackRock, the global asset manager, has given staff three extra days of holiday when they receive their second jab, while PAG, one of the territory’s largest private equity firms with $40bn under management, is offering workers HK$1,000 ($129) after their inoculation.
Weijian Shan, PAG chair, said: “We encourage our staff to get vaccinated because it is good for themselves, for our firm and for Hong Kong society. So far, 65 per cent of our 221 Hong Kong staff members have received or booked shots.â€
Access to the mainland has been a big advantage for businesses based in the city, while Hong Kong’s role as an international travel hub has been central to its economic vibrancy. But the low vaccination rates mean the city is largely closed to the outside world and mainland China, frustrating international companies.
Tran said employers had asked whether it was legal to force workers to get inoculated.
“One client was considering mandating vaccination for staff after they had their premises subject to a number of mandatory testing orders,†he said, adding that employers may be able to insist on inoculations if there were valid business reasons.
However, Michael Szeto, an employment expert at ONC Lawyers, a Hong Kong-based firm, who has received similar inquiries, said employers needed to be mindful of being taken to a labour tribunal and would advise against compulsory vaccination policies.
Additional reporting by Amy Kazmin in New Delhi and Jamie Smyth in Sydney
[ad_2]
Source link