Family Futures

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dvancing

ocial

ntegration

and

ntergenerational

olidarity

information. It seeks to promote family core values and

introduce family education and support services, with a view

to better addressing the multifarious needs of families and

enhancing the role of the family as a main driver for social

harmony. Since its launch in May 2010, the Happy Family

Info Hub has been very well received. The average monthly

hit rate is around 700,000.

A further role of the Council is to promote work-family

balance. The Government is dedicated to encouraging

employers to adopt good employee-oriented management

measures and to implement family-friendly employment

practices (FFEP) with a view to helping employees balance

their roles and responsibilities in work and family. While

the Employment Ordinance already provides for various

kinds of leave so that employees can cater for their personal

and family needs, employers are encouraged to grant their

employees benefits that exceed the statutory requirements

and provide them with flexible and varied work arrange-

ments and support. For example, employers can take

measures such as implementing a five-day week, flexitime,

home office or remote work and job sharing; granting

compassionate leave and special casual leave; and provid-

ing childcare services and counselling services on stress or

emotional management to employees.

To echo the Government’s endeavour in advocating the

wider adoption of FFEP in the community, the Council plays

an active role on the promotional front. In 2011, it launched

the first territory-wide Family-Friendly Employers Award

Scheme under which businesses were awarded for the family-

friendly measures they implemented. Some 1,000 companies

were awarded. Many award-winning companies have put in

place diversified and flexible FFEP, including ‘parent-day’

leave

, paternity leave, flexi-working place and family care

leave. This demonstrates the business sector’s increasing

recognition of the importance of FFEP.

In view of its success, the Council relaunched the Award

Scheme in September 2013 and expanded its scope to cover

organizations outside the business sector, including non-

governmental organizations and social enterprises. Following

the close of applications in January 2014 with 1,814 enrol-

ments, the Council will conduct the adjudication process with

a view to announcing the results and staging a prize presenta-

tion ceremony in the second quarter of 2014.

In addition to the Council, the Labour Department has

been acting as a facilitator in encouraging employers to

adopt FFEP and disseminating relevant information to the

community through a wide range of publicity channels and

various promotional activities. These include publications,

large-scale seminars, thematic exhibitions, educational

DVDs, newspaper supplements and feature articles, as well

as regular meetings and exchanges with business executives

and human resources managers. Employers are encouraged

to adopt different types of FFEP with regard to their size,

resources and culture, to serve the best interests of their

organizations and employees.

Recognizing that members of different generations and

genders can contribute to harmonious family relationships,

it would benefit society if family members put their strengths

and wisdom collaboratively to good use. The collaborative act

of sharing could only be sustainable if underpinned by mutual

care and a strong sense of filial piety, a powerful cultural value

governing the function of family. In 2012/13, the Council

joined hands with the Commission on Youth

, the Elderly

Commission

and the Women’s Commission

to launch

the Love and Respect Thy Elders (LARTE) Campaign. The

LARTE Campaign aimed at encouraging and mobilizing every

member of the family to respect their elders by putting ‘Love’,

‘Concern’, ‘Respect’ and ‘Care’ into practice. Large-scale,

territory-wide publicity programmes, including musicals

performed by young students, workshops and various compe-

titions with filial piety as the theme, were organized. Through

these publicity efforts, the message of intergenerational soli-

darity has successfully cascaded to different sectors of the

community. The Council will continue to collaborate with

relevant stakeholders to foster intergenerational solidarity.

With a view to strengthening family core values and

better utilizing the Happy Family Info Hub, the Council

has stepped up its work on family education through

the introduction of a series of family education packages

including ‘18 Handy Tips for Parents’ and ‘Family Therapy’

packages in 2011, and ‘Marital Relationship’ in 2012. All

these family education packages have been uploaded onto

the Happy Family Info Hub, and have met with a very posi-

tive response with accumulative hits of around 200,000.

The ‘18 Handy Tips for Parents’ and ‘Marital Relationship’

education packages are broadcast at 67 Integrated Family

Service Centres under the Social Welfare Department as

well as 31 Maternal and Child Health Centres under the

Department of Health throughout the territory. New family

education packages are planned to be launched in the third

The successful Family-Friendly Employers Award Scheme has been expanded

to include businesses, non-governmental organizations and social enterprises

Image: Family Council of Hong Kong