Firm proposes salary cut due to slowdown in Macau, HK, China

Architectural firm Wong & Ouyang (HK) Ltd is proposing a salary cut of 15 percent for all of its staff, with the exception of those earning less than HKD18,000 per month. The Times was granted access to a May 30 letter signed by a senior director of the firm, which stated that “the volume of work in China, Macau and Hong Kong has substantially decreased.”
“Since 80% of our expenditure is on salary payment and other staff costs, the only effective measure is to immediately lay off redundant staff and to effect a salary cut for all staff at the same time,” reads the letter, which was to all staff and signed by Artur Au-Yeung.
The measure is to be implemented from today and employees have been asked to sign a letter of acceptance of the salary cut.
“Please sign and return a duplicate copy of the attached letter by 5.00 p.m. Friday, 3 June, 2016. If we do not receive your written confirmation by the deadline, we would have to effect other measure in further staff reduction,” the letter states.
According to information disclosed on its website, Wong & Ouyang is an architectural practice “with a staff of 300 professional and supporting personnel in Hong Kong and Shanghai to handle major building projects, from feasibility studies to design, documentation and construction.”
In the letter, Wong & Ouyang states that the situation “has been further aggravated by the completion of our major projects in China and Macau.”
Wong & Ouyang has been involved in many projects in Macau, including Wynn Macau (2006); Encore (2010) and Galaxy Macau’s master layout plan and lot 1 phase 2 development, which was completed in May 2015.
Polytex Corporation Ltd, the company responsible for the troubled Pearl Horizon project, is also listed as a Macau client on Wong & Ouyang’s website.
The Times contacted the firm yesterday evening to assess whether any Macau-based staff members will eventually be affected by the salary cut proposal. No answer was given before press time. PB