Recognition

During another casual discussion, my friend CB asked, "Do you know why our nurses - and doctors actually - no longer get the perfect attendance award (勤工獎) nowadays?"

For those who are not familiar with our system, the award used to be given regularly to a staff who takes no sick leave during a defined period of time (usually one year). This award used to be very common amongst private companies.

"No idea," I said.

"Is that because the Hospital Authority tries to prevent staff with acute febrile illnesses coming back to work?" KM suggested.

"No, not that brilliant a reason," our consultant smiled, "Just that we are forbidden by the Equal Opportunities Commission to give such an award, because it is considered as a discrimination against those who fell sick."

"How ingenious," KM sounded grim, "But for that we lost a nice way to give some recognition to our hardworking colleagues."

"I believe we should follow the advice of that extraterrestrial commission and not to discriminate," I pursed my lips, "We should give two kinds of award: one for those who do not take any sick leave, and the other for the, say, top three, who take the highest number of sick leaves. Well, we should thank the latter for trying to come back and work occasionally. After all, they need to be recognized!"