More than half of working carers in Hong Kong have never used the family-friendly measures offered by their companies, a study has found, sparking calls from experts to change workplace cultures to prevent carers being stigmatised.
The findings came even as the study, released on Thursday, also showed carers benefited from measures such as flexible working hours and working from home, which led to fewer symptoms of depression and reduced the burden of caregiving.
Bobo Lau Hi-po, a professor at the School of Arts and Humanities of Tung Wah College, who led the study, said some carers inevitably worried how colleagues viewed them when they took leave repeatedly for caregiving matters, pointing to “a certain degree of labelling”.