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Government employees can take a three-day childcare leave per year for each child aged under three, and leave work up to two hours earlier on three of five festivals or their eves.
Starting from April 2025, the HKSAR Government will provide a three-day childcare leave for government employees with children aged under three. About 12,000 civil servants are expected to benefit from the measure.
The Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung attended the policy briefing-cum-meeting of the Panel on Public Service of the Legislative Council on Monday (21 October 2024) to elaborate on the Chief Executive’s 2024 Policy Address.
She said the provision of childcare leave for eligible government employees is “a new family-friendly employment measure to support families with newborns and create an environment conducive to childcare, so as to further exemplify the Government’s commitment as a caring employer and dovetail with the Government’s policy of encouraging childbirth.”
This follows the introduction of marriage leave and compassionate leave for government employees in April 2024.
On the other hand, the Government will enhance the special work arrangements on specific festivals or their eves starting from January 2025.
By then, government employees can leave work early by up to two hours on a maximum of three out of five festivals or their eves.
This move is expected to help staff in taking care of their family needs during working days on specific festivals.
The five festivals or their eves where government employees can leave work up to two hours earlier are:
- Lunar New Year’s Eve
- Mid-Autumn Festival
- Winter Solstice Day
- Christmas Eve
- New Year’s Eve on 31 December
Currently, depending on the operational arrangements and on the premise of not affecting public service delivery, government departments may allow government employees to leave work early by up to two hours on up to two of the first four mentioned-above festivals or their eves.
Yeung added that the Civil Service Bureau is working out the relevant details and implementation arrangements, which will then help to put the measure in place after consultation with the staff side.
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