Inside Asian Gaming

44 have just come across themost amazing service offering inMa- cau: it is a telephone service by which you can have a sticker placed on your car and if you happen to be blocking the way of others they can call the number and an SMS will be sent to you to move your car. To those who are new to Macau,the conceptualisation of such a thing is unfathomable. Such is the plethora of “unfathomables” in store for those newly arrived to Macau. Call it culture shock, call it bureaucracy shock, call it institutional shock; even for those with high tolerance of difference, excited by new environments and open to new experi- ences,living and working in Macau can test you.Some overseas work- ers choose to engage with the community, some choose to separate and mix only amongst their own and others choose to insulate them- selves from that which they cannot accept and go with the flowwhen they can. Since the opening up of its gaming industry in 2001, Macau has seen a growing number of overseas workers, or expatriates, relocate here. Of recent times they have become much more visible, not just because of their numbers but because of their countries of origin. Non-Asian non-resident workers have more than doubled since 2001 and Hong Kong employees have gone from hardly a blip on the The Expatriate Experience Macau’s gaming boom has led to huge demand for overseas casino staff. HR researcher Leanda Lee explains that if casino operators wish to retain their valued expatriate employees, relocation should be made less of a chore screen in 2001 to 18% of Blue Card holders in 2006. There are more western people and professionals from Hong Kong to be seen walk- ing around the streets: well dressed ladies of the corporate mould, suited gentlemen in groups of 2 or 3 dashing to quick lunches and fair skinned children making their way to schools in Taipa. This is not the whole story, for in addition 26,000 residents were added to the population over the year to September 2006 and only 1,000 of them were born in Macau. Not only is the Macau immigration department having to cope with this influx but employers are quickly having to learn the needs of their expatriate managers and their families. Some do it well, many do not. No support Organisations certainly have a tough time of it. Dare I say it, Macau is not like Hong Kong: the mature support mechanisms for a constant turnover of expatriates are not in place. There are not the sporting and social clubs where families and expatriate workers can quickly access social networks: the pubs and bars of NAPE and Taipa, the Ma- cau International Ladies Club, and networks that inevitably develop around school drop-off and pick-up are the closest that one can find. I BY APPOINTMENT ONLY Avenida da Praia Grande, China Law Building GF, Macau Tel: 331521 spa