Periscope
A busy and multitask job
by Li Ching-luen
A typical working day for administrative officer Heidi Hung Hoi-yi is busy and highly multitasking.
Miss Hung, who is attached to the Centre for Food Safety under the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, has to write briefing papers for her superior and discuss the documents with him to prepare for his attendance at a meeting of the Legislative Council.
The 27-year-old administrative officer is also working on draft amendments to regulations on restaurants' food safety with the Department of Justice and collecting opinions and suggestions from colleagues of her department.
At the same time, she coordinates and prepares information for meetings with various associations, including representatives from the catering industry, the advisory committee of the Department of Justice over the drafting of the regulations.
She has to arrange meetings with mainland Chinese visitors as well.
"The tasks are all ongoing at the same time ceaselessly, and they are only part of the job," Miss Hung said. On top of that, she has to deal with endless phone calls and e-mails.
The administrative officer's job nature, however, is considered by some as routine, bureaucratic and slow in achieving results.
Wong Ming-lok, 30, who worked in the Constitutional Affairs Bureau and the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau from 2001 to 2005, said the working mode would be more or less the same despite posting in different departments and bureaus.
"You do need patience under the rigid system in the government," the former administrative officer said. Since the government has to ensure stability, its staff needs to follow the procedures and steps in work, which in turn slow the pace, she added.
"There are many elites working very hard in the government. But it is common to take like seven or eight years to put a policy into practice," Miss Wong said.
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