9 in 10 finance employees take home extra perks, bonuses for overtime efforts

Crunch time does pay off.

Finance and accounting teams in Hong Kong are working overtime to manage fiscal year end, but their hard work is not going unnoticed. This is according to a survey conducted by Robert Half, the world's first and largest specialised recruitment firm.

The research was based on responses from 150 chief Financial Officers and Finance Directors in Hong Kong. It revealed that the majority of finance teams need to spend an extra 11% -15% of their working hours on overtime work preparing for fiscal year end.

On average, Hong Kong workers spend 47 hours per week at work*, which would mean that the average finance and accounting employee is working between 52 to 54 hours per week during fiscal year end.

The majority of survey respondents (86%), however, said their efforts were not in vain. Half of the respondents were able to take additional annual leave for the overtime that they had worked, and nearly half said they felt their bonus reflected the hard work they had put in.

Overtime pay and team were also cited as ways staff were remunerated for the additional hours worked during fiscal year end. Only 14% of respondents stated that they did not receive additional remuneration.

Interestingly, a higher percentage of women said that they receive addition remuneration for their overtime work. In particular, more women said that they receive additional non-financial benefits for their additional hours.

Ms. Pallavi Anand, Director of Robert Half in Hong Kong, said: “Considered a major financial centre, it is a well-known fact that Hong Kong people work hard. Finance and accounting is one of the lifelines of the city’s economy and it is not a surprise that there are demanding work schedules for this sector.

“It is encouraging that companies and employers are taking steps to reward their employees for hard work through additional monetary and non-financial benefits. We believe that it shows the commitment to their staff and helps retain talent.”