Part and parcel of running a successful company is providing a nurturing environment that allows staff to develop and grow. One of the ways to do this is to provide the right opportunities to hone staff at all levels to build a strong and stable workforce that is able to innovate freely and keep the company at the cutting edge of its industry.
No company knows this better than one of Hong Kong’s longest standing firms, HK Electric.
Founded in 1889, the company has been supplying electricity to Hong Kong Island and
Lamma Island continuously since the 19th century, and is one of only two electricity companies in the territory.
Its success down the years can be attributed to its reliability as an electricity provider, but HK Electric has also been an employer of choice. Throughout its history it has helped to build long and illustrious careers that often start with engineers joining its comprehensive Graduate Trainee (GT) programme.
The company utilises this programme to build a strong pipeline of talent and to produce the human resources needed to run this power utility, supplying electricity with reliability among the highest in the world.
“This area of expertise is quite unique and specialised and we need to take time to groom our engineers to be professional,” says Wilson Kwok Wai-shun, Chief Technical Services Engineer for the Transmission and Distribution Division who joined the company as a GT in 1992. Kwok is also a mentor in the GT programme. “In order to ensure the company’s world-class electricity supply reliability, we need to invest, operate and maintain a lot of assets, like power plants and equipment, but human assets are very important and it takes time to invest in them too, so the company really treasures this GT programme, investing lots of valuable resources into it, because we stand to gain in the future.”
The reliability that Kwok speaks of is the fact that the company provides electricity to more than 580,000 customers. It has managed to maintain a reliability of better than 99.999 per cent since 1997 and even beyond 99.9998 per cent over the past 8 years, a quality level above six sigma already, he explains.
Aside from supplying electricity, the company is also keen to contribute to a more sustainable Hong Kong by promoting a green and low carbon lifestyle through electric living. For these reasons, a position within the company is highly sought-after, which has an annual intake of 10 to 20 graduates. The programme is known for providing ample opportunities to trainees with a strong mentorship and hands-on exposures focusing on both hard and soft skill elements that carve out fruitful career paths for the trainees.
“In a two-year GT training programme, I was trained in more than 10 sections or departments,” says Victor So Yuk-ki, who joined the company in 2007 as a GT and who now works in the Transmission and Distribution Division. “The rotation training programme enabled me to understand the operation of the company from frontline work such as the installation of meters in customers’ homes or premises, to even the back-end operations such as how the System Control Centre monitors the whole generation, transmission and distribution network.”
The programme also allows engineers to develop numerous other soft skills important for the job, such as developing ethics and conduct as engineers, sharpening out-of-the-box thinking and people skills, as well as take the opportunity to build up a personal network. “Other than the technical aspect, the personal development is also beneficial to my career path.
I was able to participate in different activities such as joining The Hong Kong Institution of
Engineers Protégés Scheme 2016/17, being a Master of Ceremony at HKIE events, and taking part in external competitions, which meant that I met a lot of experts in engineering from different disciplines that gave me more exposure,” says Polly Wong Po-yu, who joined the company as a
GT in 2015 and is now working in the Projects Division.
The company encourages its engineers to take advantage of overseas opportunities and to take part in competitions as a way to nurture and provide exposure to its staff in hopes of cultivating a culture of innovation.
“In the course of my career, I have had the chance to work on the company’s in-house projects, but also exposure to various overseas and other local projects; this has made my career both challenging and interesting,” Ching Ming-sang, a Senior Electrical Engineer in the Projects Division says.
In this area the company is continuously encouraging its engineers to innovate and to broaden their horizons. As an example, in 2017, Kwok, with the full support and backing of the company, led a team of engineers to join the International Competition on Second Life of Retired Batteries from Electric Vehicles organised by the Environment Bureau of the HKSAR. The team finished second runner-up in the competition.
“We had to find an application for retired batteries from electric vehicles so they don’t simply become chemical waste when the batteries are retired,” Kwok explains. “The company fully supported the innovation project and allowed us to use our office time to do the research.”
Kwok says pursuit of innovation and excellence is one of the many reasons that he joined HK Electric to begin with.
“I joined the company because I wanted to practice engineering and I wanted to contribute to society, and now I can fulfil my wishes,” he said. The innovation project, which will see a practical application of the retired batteries to help ride through voltage dips, is going to be rolled out in one of the company’s distribution substations.
Why Mentorship is important
What makes the Graduate Trainee (GT) programme at HK Electric particularly successful is its emphasis on professional mentorship.
The company believes that, in order to cultivate personal growth, it is important that every engineer who joins the programme has the opportunity to access an experienced engineer to ask questions and be guided on their career path. This allows trainees to better grasp career opportunities that are presented to them.
“My supervisor is a beacon to me,” says Polly Wong Po-yu, who joined the company in
2015. “When I faced various difficulties, I would ask him for advice, no matter whether they are problems relating to technical knowledge or personal development…his advice is precious to me and it has enabled me to have a clear development direction in the company.”
On top of personal growth, a strong mentorship programme can also enhance team growth by removing obstacles that may exist between different departments within a company.
“To make a team grow, team development and relationships are both very important, and you need to build relationships around a team,” says Wilson Kwok Wai-shun, Chief Technical Services Engineer, who is a mentor to GTs. “This can help to break down barriers between the business units and functional units. So if you are working on new projects, we know who to contact, and break up barriers within business units.”
According to Ching Ming-sang, Senior Electrical Engineer at the company, who joined in 1993 as a GT and is now a mentor himself, mentorships are key to helping new joins develop critical thinking skills by offering them different perspectives, and encouraging budding engineers to explore alternative solutions.
“I also often encourage them to find pleasure at work, which is an important thing in striving for excellence,” he added.
