"White Collar" workers wait outside Dong Bao Building on Guangzhou's Dongfeng Dong Road for the lift to go to their offices upstairs. (Dayoo.com)

Every weekday between 8:30am to 9:15am "White Collar" workers with grim expressions on their faces queue up for elevators outside office buildings. The long lines sometime reach up to 30 meters.

"White Collars": My name is early bird

Ms. Liu is among the victims of the busy elevators. She sighed, "I have to leave home very early in the morning. It's really a waste of time waiting for the lift before I enter the office. But I have to - my salary will be reduced if I am late for work." Her office is located inside the Dong Bao Building on Guangzhou's Dongfeng Dong Road.

Many other high-end office buildings located in Guangzhou's CBD (central business district) and downtown areas like Tianhe and Yuexiu have not escaped this problem either.

Often, newspapers and magazines are offered free of charge to workers while they stand in line waiting for elevators.

How to solve the problem?

Inefficient elevators trouble many office clerks and company executives. The security departments at some buildings said that the lift problem is always overlooked by building contractors. Highly-efficient lifts or more lifts added around the buildings could solve the problem, they say.

Not all high-end office buildings undergo the same headache. The CITIC Plaza located in Guangzhou's most prosperous area, Tianhe Bei, is a good example.