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Interface News Reporter | Liu Sunan

Interface News Editor | Peng Peng

"Imagine what kind of sparks will appear when the ancient factor of productivity - labor collides with the unprecedented digital torrent?" On August 9, 2024, at the labor and employment session of the first session of the "Big Names Talk about Business" series of seminars, Li Huaping, deputy director of the Labor and Social Security Professional Committee of the Shanghai Lawyers Association and director of Shanghai Qifang Law Firm, raised this question.

The "Big Names Talking About Business" series of seminars was guided by the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission and hosted by Jiemian News. It brought together 17 domestic cutting-edge experts in various fields to discuss nine aspects, including law, finance, human resources, land reserves, urban construction, environmental protection, electricity, water affairs, and communications. The first seminar also set up four special sessions on obtaining business premises, employment, financial services, and public infrastructure.

In the process of creating a good business environment, the most important issue that cannot be ignored is labor and employment. In the World Bank's latest B-Ready business environment assessment system, labor indicators have been transformed from previous observation indicators to formal indicators, and a large number of assessment contents have been added, thus highlighting the importance of labor indicators in the business environment assessment system.

"As the wave of digitalization sweeps in, we are at a turning point in history." Li Huaping pointed out that the new employment model supported by digital economy technology has become an important tool for expanding employment, and accurate and efficient data management has also given wings to human resources. At the same time, how to protect the legitimate rights and interests of workers, how to select and retain people, and how to deal with structural employment contradictions under the new employment model have become new challenges.

He believes that to solve the problems of new employment forms, we must first adjust the issues of flexibility and security. "In the traditional sense, we discuss labor relations as a confrontational issue, but in fact, when we deal with labor relations, it is not contradictory, but dialectical and unified. We must closely combine the high-quality development of workers with the development and growth of enterprises, and form a virtuous cycle in which human resources empower the development of all industries."

He pointed out that it is also necessary to properly handle the relationship between an effective government and an effective market. The market plays a decisive role in the human resource factor, while the government should adjust the contradiction between supply and demand caused by information asymmetry. The two complement each other and should be both flexible and controllable.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the promulgation of the Labor Law. In the field of labor relations, Wu Wenfang, professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Law of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, believes that my country's Constitution, labor laws and regulations, and local legal norms have formed a systematic, sound and complete legal framework.

She pointed out that the Constitution, the Labor Law and the Employment Promotion Law all have relevant provisions on equal employment. The Shanghai Employment Promotion Regulations, which came into effect in March 2023, also have clear provisions that the concept of anti-discrimination should be implemented throughout the entire employment process. In terms of occupational safety, the Constitution strengthens the protection of programmatic norms, the Labor Law also has programmatic legislation, and some special areas with health and safety risks such as mines also have specific occupational safety benchmarks. "It should be said that as long as there is a labor relationship in the work, it is actually covered by the entire system of occupational safety laws and regulations."

Sexual harassment in the workplace has been a hotly debated topic in recent years. Wu Wenfang pointed out that the Personal Rights section of the Civil Code has made principled provisions on anti-sexual harassment and anti-workplace violence, while the Labor Law, the Trade Union Law, the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests, etc. have made specific and clear regulations on anti-sexual harassment and complaint mechanisms.

"Overall, after 30 years of overall improvement of the Labor Law, especially in recent years, our country's overall rule of law construction has reached a new level, and our legal and regulatory system in the areas of equal employment and occupational safety of employees has become more sound and complete," said Wu Wenfang.

Working hours and labor remuneration are also among the most concerned issues in society. Yang Zhe, senior partner and labor union chairman of Shanghai River Delta Law Firm, believes that the core essence of labor relations is the process in which workers obey the management of the employer, provide labor during working hours and exchange for labor remuneration.

He pointed out that in terms of working hours, my country divides workers into two categories: full-time workers and part-time workers, which reflects the harmonious unity of flexibility and rigid legal protection. In terms of labor remuneration, my country's laws and regulations have clear and detailed provisions on overtime pay, holiday pay and minimum wage.

"Overall, these laws and regulations fully reflect the principle of the state and government departments to delegate power, delegate administration and improve services. They require both flexibility and rigid protection and management, striving to provide the best services to employers and employees in order to promote the harmonious and stable development of labor," said Yang Zhe.

In terms of labor dispute resolution, Shanghai has actively promoted the "one-stop labor dispute resolution" reform.

"Maybe we need to break everyone's perception," Yang Zhe said. "Everyone generally thinks that labor lawyers are just there to litigate. In fact, litigation accounts for less than 30% of my work. Thanks to China's unique multi-party dispute resolution mechanism, litigation is only the last hurdle and the lowest guarantee. We will use various forms, such as administrative disposal, mediation, arbitration, etc. to solve the problem, and finally resort to judicial means." He believes that compared with litigation, arbitration, mediation and administrative disposal are shorter in time and more convenient in methods, which can achieve case closure and a balance between reason, emotion and law.

From the perspective of enterprises, Qian Gangfeng, deputy general manager of the marketing management department of Shanghai Overseas Service (Group) Co., Ltd., believes that my country's labor laws and regulations take into account the interests of both workers and enterprises, and advocate the establishment of a balanced, coordinated and stable labor relationship. "As an operator, first of all, we must make full use of the tools and rights granted by the law, but at the same time we must not abuse, distort, or deliberately circumvent or ignore legal requirements."

From an industrial perspective, the human resources service industry is a sunrise industry in the world. In 2014, the human resources service industry was included in the national key development of modern service industries, with Shanghai taking the lead.

In recent years, Shanghai has formulated and issued a series of industry support and incentive policies, including the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Human Resources Service Industry in Shanghai" and the "Shanghai Human Resources Service Industry Innovation and Development Action Plan (2023-2025)", and carried out a series of work such as the "Bo Le" reward plan for human resources services and the selection of trustworthy institutions in the human resources service industry. At the beginning of this year, the first Shanghai Human Resources Service Conference was held to build a platform for communication, display, supply and demand matching in the field of human resources services.

According to Zhu Qingyang, Secretary General of the Shanghai Human Resources Service Industry Association, Shanghai currently has more than 4,000 human resources service agencies of various types, with annual operating income exceeding 530 billion yuan in 2023, and the industry scale remains the leading in the country. "The development of the industry is inseparable from the development of talents. We have opened up the global recruitment business circle and explored a human resources service system that is in line with international standards."