Chan Wing-on
Manager for process review of power systems, CLP
Significance
Facing an increasingly demanding and competitive operating environment, future successes of the company depend on the competency and quality of staff. However, given the unique and specialised nature of the power industry, the manpower needed is not often readily or sufficiently available in the market, making people development initiatives even more significant for CLP.
Tools
In 2003, a people development steering committee was set up to formulate a people development policy.
In 2005, a systematic and structured people development programme was set up to provide comprehensive training for engineering staff in management and technical skills. The programme was also designed to help foster a learning culture within the company, one of self-enrichment and continued improvement. The programme is divided into training and practice, as well as assessment and continuous improvement. Trainees can apply what they have learned from their interdepartmental job rotations and projects. Senior managers will be assigned to be their personal coaches. The five key areas of development are management and soft skills, commercial mindedness, language skills, technical competency and attitude.
The training covers an adviser-advisee programme, job shadowing, talks with management, a business elite forum, as well as cultivating oneself and improving business.
Results
Sixty colleagues have taken part in the programme so far. Twenty-seven trainees have completed it and 18 of them have been promoted. We are aiming to increase the number of participants in future.
Martina Chan
Human resources manager, Wellcome
Significance
Each year, we recruit new employees to support our corporate development strategy. Apart from upgrading hardware and facilities, we know it is important to invest in soft-skill training for all employees. In the retail industry, we face many different situations and all kinds of challenges every day. That's why we emphasise the need for comprehensive training programmes, which can also help to reinforce the corporate culture and explain our company's philosophy.
Tools
Our aim is to become the preferred supermarket in Hong Kong and we understand that the key factor in achieving that is good customer service. It is not only important for frontline staff but also for employees in every division. For this reason, we organised a training programme last year which dealt with customer service, and included creative thinking, preparing for change and direct input from our chief executive. Besides that, we also run a six-month programme for our trainee store managers.
This includes classroom teaching and on-the-job experience. The trainees also take part in a sharing session with our senior management team where they can ask questions and learn from the experiences of executives who have gone before them.
Results
All of our roughly 5,000 employees have taken part in the service training programme. They generally praised the course and, in particular, enjoyed the interactive aspects.
It helped to improve our service levels, something the results of our "mysterious shopper" programme confirm.
Also, our staff retention rate increased to 80 per cent last year, up from 70 per cent in 2008.
