vii
immediate superiors and friends, a tendency which can occasionally
lead to a whole group quitting at once. Third, the Shanghainese
system (emulated by some other firms, including British) is to
construct an elaborate bonus scheme which rewards long service,
good attendance and draws on symbols of paternalistic responsibi-
lity (New Year handouts, credit and loans to favoured employees,
etc). More concretely, many employers run a form of non-contractual
profit-sharing scheme which again favours longer-term employees.
Fourth, incremental pay scales, gratuities and pension schemes are
the Western mode of encouraging employee stability. These
practices are adopted by many British and American firms, but it is
widely recognised that short-term rises in pay are more effective
than a long-term promise of a pension. Older employees will be
more influenced by this factor, but HK's wage labour force is on
the whole very young. Fifth, opportunities for promotion within a
large company's internal labour market are a most compelling force
for stabilisation in the office/commercial sector (see patterns of
mobility, below). Sixth, training specialised at the firm level,
limiting the trainees' employability elsewhere though it will be
made impossible by Knight's Apprenticeship Ordinance and it was
probably not very significant before. Seventh, hoarding of labour
through recessions the larger firms can do this, aided by the
work-force's willingness to share available work on a reduced time
basis. Employers' acceptance of longer-term responsibility for
workers (the non-contractual element of the wage contract) is a
powerful stimulus to labour commitment, particularly given the
refugee character of HK's workforce. Chinese employers know this
and try to keep on at least a core of experienced workers in bad
times. They are, however, prone to lay off women workers and
casuals.
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The general tendency seems to be towards decasualisation of
the labour market. Even 10 years ago sharp distinctions obtained
between long-term regular workers (Cheung-kung) who had some security
of employment and casual workers, both long-term and short-term
chung-saan-kung and saan-kung) who had virtually none. Now labour
recruitment is more stable and workers have generally greater
security of employment, if they wish to take advantage of it. Apart
from the micro-economic rationality of employers, this tendency has
been fostered by a growing consciousness of the rights of working