The woman did not want to name the company, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, for fear of jeopardising her job
A move by Beijing to give Hongkongers and Macanese on the mainland equal treatment with their counterparts there has a hit a snag, with a major real estate group telling newly-hired Hongkongers that it would not give them access to China’s housing fund, despite the central government announcing the nationwide policy last week.
A 24-year-old Hong Kong woman, who only wanted to be identified as Amy, said she was given the runaround and a warning when she asked her Shenzhen-based company about the policy.
“The human resources officer said no negative media coverage about this should be allowed,” Amy, a trainee at the company, said.
She did not want to name the firm, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, for fear of jeopardising her job.
In July, the cities of Shenzhen, Foshan, Dongguan and Zhongshan in Guangdong province were told to allow Hongkongers hired by local firms to join the fund, with President Xi Jinping announcing his intention to make it “more convenient” for Hongkongers to “study, work and live on the mainland” and take advantage of growth opportunities.
Previously, the scheme was only available to those working in a handful of cities, such as Guangzhou and Shanghai.
On December 18, the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office revealed that the policy would be implemented nationwide.
It said five central departments had issued a directive instructing local governments across the country to enact the necessary laws and allow Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwanese employees to join the scheme.
This was one of the goodies that Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor secured from state leaders during her maiden duty visit to Beijing last week.
Latest official figures showed there were 82,531 Hongkongers working in mainland China.
As members of the fund, Hongkongers and their mainland employers would make monthly contributions of between five and 12 per cent of the worker’s salary into an account that they could use to apply for low-interest housing loans for property purchases on the mainland, or for rent or renovations.
But some Hongkongers said they could understand why mainland employers might find the policy tough to swallow.
Linda Wong, a Hongkonger who now runs an investment firm in Shanghai, said mainland employees were eligible for the housing fund and other types of social insurance, with the total package costing employers another 47 per cent of the employee’s salary.
