Hotel Employees' Perception of the Statutory Minimum Wage Policy in Hong Kong

Abstract

Employee compensation is one of the largest expenses for businesses. Given the labor-intensive nature of the hotel industry, hotel employees' perceptions of the statutory minimum wage (SMW) policy have become a major concern for hotel operators since the introduction of the policy in Hong Kong. This exploratory study examines these perceptions, together with hotel employees' job and compensation satisfaction and intention to leave, since the introduction of the SMW policy. A survey of 161 hotel employees in Hong Kong was carried out. Respondents demonstrated high awareness of the SMW policy but viewed its effect on the hotel industry as limited. The largest gap between the perceived importance of, and satisfaction with, a factor related to job satisfaction was found for the benefits package. As well as making a contribution to the academic literature, this study provides practical implications of the SMW policy for the hotel industry in Hong Kong and other countries considering adopting a similar measure.

Key words:

• statutory minimum wage
• hotel employees
• perceived impact
• compensation satisfaction
• Hong Kong

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on improving an early version of this paper. This project is partly supported by a research grant funded by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.