FROM HONG KONG UNIT, B2 DIV.
05.18.1992 15:21
NO.18 P. 3
4. Another aspect to be borne in mind is motivation and the unique situation (in Home Office terms) that the HONT is in. I do not believe that either of these points can be fully understood unless one has had first-hand experience of living and working in Hong Kong, and certainly there is a feeling amongst those who have served here that the Home Office (whether IND or PMD) is a very distant institution. B2 Division will need to be more supportive than hitherto (particularly when the HEO post goes and the SEO is left more isolated), and the importance of PMD's selection policy cannot be overemphasised. It is essential that HONT personnel are chosen because of their adaptability and ability to get on with people;
with people; being in Hong Kong is very different to the UK and this obvious fact needs always to be kept to the forefront. The balance of the team in gender terms is also vital and we should avoid the kind of situation that has arisen where both male and female officers have periodically felt isolated. There is probably not much that can be done to make the work more interesting, and those being posted to the HONT should be aware that the duties are in reality those which in any other setting would be undertaken by clerical grades. Motivation has not so far been a major difficulty because the first two teams have, frankly, had a fairly comfortable time, but as the pressure increases it will
will be hard to sustain the effort given the repetitive and undemanding requirements of either the registration or the passport work. The personal qualities needed to live and work in Hong Kong are such that I do not see any scope for replacing the EOs with AOs, and the best we can do is to give more of the routine tasks to the Confidential Assistants on secondment to us from the Hong Kong government; this process has already begun, but my successors will want to consider what further scope there is for delegation.
5.
The relative isolation of the HONT often means that comparatively small matters assume a larger importance than is actually warranted and there is occasionally mutual incomprehension (as, for example, with B4 over HKCS or in trying to convey to IND the importance attached by Hong Kong families to status and the expectations that arise accordingly). I doubt whether these barriers can easily be overcome,
it is but it important that the Home
the Home office gets the
the basics right. For example, the apparent inability of Pay Branch sometimes to send pay slips to people here even after they have been in Hong Kong for months or PMD's seeming disinterest cause disproportionate irritation; although
although relatively trivial in themselves, such things do rightly or wrongly appear important when you are thousands of miles away from the Department in a different time Zone!
6. A point that has been made to me by several colleagues in Hong Kong government departments is that a six month posting may be too short. I know that HKID and the Government Secretariat find it unsettling to keep having to start again with new HONT personnel who have to learn the nationality scheme from scratch, let alone the social nuances of an entirely different culture and
RECEIVED FROM 852 824 0968
04.08.1992
67:53
A
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.