Talent Retention

Our multi-year trainee programmes help develop talent in building surveying, engineering and general management. In one example, Swire Hotels’ 18-month international operations management trainee programme provides wide-ranging exposure to hotel operations in Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland and Miami, U.S.A.

Other learning and development programmes across the Company include:

• On-the-job training;
• Internal job rotations;
• Mentoring opportunities;
• Secondments in other markets where we operate; and
• Management and leadership training programmes.

We have developed a learning evaluation framework, with reference to the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model, to help us analyse and evaluate the impact of our different learning and development programmes.

We are also reviewing selected leadership training programmes such as the Achieving Excellence Programme. This is a two-year leadership programme that aims to help our managers discover their leadership potential through workshops and other interventions focused on developing leadership and communication skills, coaching leadership, strategic thinking, fostering teamwork, and performance management.

We have started to adopt a multidimensional evaluation system including a 360-degree feedback mechanism, among other elements, so that we can gather feedback from individual employees on how our learning and development programmes have helped them in their career development and how these programmes have contributed to employee retention and work efficiency improvements.

In April 2020, we conducted a comprehensive learning and development survey of our office staff to identify and narrow the gaps between our existing training offerings and actual and future training needs. The online survey covered such areas as technical knowledge, individual effectiveness and capabilities, leadership skills, learning approach preferences, and others.

Based on the survey findings, we will formulate a new learning roadmap and curriculum which will provide more engaging learning experiences and improved learning effectiveness. After this, the next step will be to continuously gather feedback from end-users to fine-tune our training offerings according to evolving staff development and business needs.

Embracing the concept that “learning is not limited to the classroom”, our recently launched e-Learning Hub is a digital library that encourages knowledge sharing and promotes a culture of “self-learning” among staff. The hub features:

In August 2020, we conducted a People Engagement Survey involving over 4,000 employees across Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, which received an impressive overall response rate of 97%. The survey questions covered 21 categories including Company core values, communication, sustainable engagement, diversity and inclusion and digital transformation, amongst many others. The results are providing valuable insights that will allow us to understand employees’ needs and ultimately create a better place for them to work.

• Paper book borrowing;
• An e-Learning hub Kindle account;
• Exclusive e-books and videos; and
• Book recommendations from senior managers, fellow colleagues and subject matter experts.

A pilot version of the e-Learning Hub was established in late 2020 in partnership with our Innovation Accelerator and will be officially launched in early 2021.