Family-friendly policies bring home life and work life closer together

Every day, the Hospital Authority’s team of dedicated healthcare workers provide high-quality services to the people of Hong Kong. From doctors and nurses to cleaners and drivers, their professional responsibilities and skills are diverse, and yet they all have one common personal role – that of being a member of a family --fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, husbands, wives. But while colleagues are busy supporting patients and safeguarding health, how can they also ensure the well-being of their loved ones at home?

In the belief that a happy home life produces motivated, hard-working staff, HA hospitals have implemented a series of family-friendly initiatives to ensure colleagues enjoy a good work-life balance. On 19 June, Grantham Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), United Christian Hospital (UCH), the eight hospitals in the Kowloon West Cluster and the entire Hong Kong East Cluster were all given special recognition for their efforts in the past year at the 2013/14 Family-Friendly Employers Awards organised by the Family Council.

UCH has a well-established tradition of working to help parents spend more time with their children. For the past 30 years, a nursery school has operated within the hospital grounds – providing colleagues with the comfort and convenience of having their young children nearby. Along with QEH, UCH has also set up comfortable and safe baby-friendly areas to support breastfeeding mothers who have returned to work.

A number of HK hospitals also have adopted flexible shift-work policies that allow staff to better manage their personal responsibilities without adversely affecting services or manpower needs, and a variety of events are held throughout the year to bring members of colleagues’ two caring families – the one at home and the one at HA – closer together.

Mothers who have returned to work but are still breastfeeding their infants are supported through the provision of comfortable and safe rooms in which they can take care of their baby’s needs.