Hong Kong's New World Empire Offers Mental-Health Support for Stressed Workers
Worker happiness in the city has worsened amid a wave of negative economic and political indicators.
New World is planning to start designating mental health first responders on a voluntary basis early this year.
Photographer: Paul Yeung/BloombergA Hong Kong family-run conglomerate is boosting its mental health support for employees, including creating “first responders” in the workplace, setting itself apart from peers in a city that has some of the most stressed out workers in the world, but where discussion around worker wellbeing is still nascent.
New World Development Co., the flagship property arm of the Cheng family’s business empire, is introducing mental health support as a pilot program that initially includes courses focusing on topics such as how to identify colleagues in need and handling mental health for managers and senior executives, head of sustainability Michael Long said. It will then form a longer-term strategy based on survey data collected during the pilot phase.