About half of all Hong Kong employees worked overtime, a recent survey done by the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) revealed.

The university’s department of psychology and the Hong Kong Psychological Society (HKPS) surveyed 500 individuals in early 2005 to study the situation of overtime work in Hong Kong. The university announced the result Friday.

About 18 percent of those surveyed worked 10 to 20 hours overtime per week and another 6 percent worked an extra 20 hours or more. Over 60 percent did not get paid for overtime.

However, 73 percent of the surveyed took the initiative to work overtime, partly because they felt it was their responsibility to finish the job.

“Workers in general have a strong sense of responsibility and a sense of achievement,” said William Ng, chair-elect of the industrial-organization psychology division of the HKPS. “This was particularly obvious among those who worked overtime for about 10 hours a week (high overtime group). A lot of them were professionals and managers who felt that they could not be replaced.”

One in three of the surveyed said they did not mind having to work overtime without extra pay, showing that money was not the main motivation for longer working hours.

Despite this, employees with extra hours of work did feel overwhelmed. More than half of those in the high overtime group thought they did not have enough time to finish their tasks and felt overloaded. One in four in the same group intended to quit their jobs in the coming two years.

“It is rather contradictory but the truth is, finding overtime acceptable is one thing but really wanting to work overtime is another,” said Ng.

Although the survey indicated that the average working time was 50 hours a week, almost all those polled wish to work fewer hours and the expected working time per week was 44 hours.

According to figures of the International Labor Office, the average working time per week in Hong Kong (from 1995 to 2004) was 46.2 hours, compared with 41 in the United States and 48 for the Chinese mainland.

(Shenzhen Daily/Agencies November 7, 2005)