We value our employees and work to improve their health and wellbeing through a wide variety of activities and events held both in and out of the office.
Swire Properties’ Workplace Wellbeing Framework
Based on feedback received from the People's Engagement Survey, Swire Properties developed a new Workplace Wellbeing Framework in 2023. Aligned with our SD 2030 Strategy, which aims to create an environment where our employees thrive and are healthier, happier and more productive, the framework’s purpose is to make wellbeing a tangible, meaningful and fundamental characteristic of the way we work and our employee experience.
Based on the feedback from employees on what would enhance their wellbeing, the Workplace Wellbeing Framework will focus on the following areas:
Built Environment
- Physical Environment & Ergonomics
Ways of Working
- Work Processes
- Resources
- Innovation
Organisational Environment and Frameworks
- Workplace Interactions
- HR Policy & Practice
The framework will be managed within the People Pillar of our SD 2030 Strategy and overseen by the ESG Steering Committee. A new Wellbeing sub-group has been formed within the SD 2030 People Working Group.
The tracking of our employee wellbeing initiative will be done through employee experience metrics, as well as progress made against the specific areas in the framework outlined above.
Hong Kong Employee Wellness Initiatives
To promote and enable health and wellbeing at work, a wide variety of events and activities are offered to employees.
Year-round Focus on Wellness
Swire Properties’ Human Resources Department displayed its concern for the wellbeing of our office and customer-facing staff throughout the year by ensuring that wellness aspects were included in all employee events. These included:
Health Booths
We arranged for Chinese herbalist practitioners to give medical advice to our frontline staff at different offices during the month of April. Staff could discuss their ailments and receive advice from the practitioners at these popular booths.
Wellness Month
On Global Wellness Day, 11 June, we held 18 fun and interactive workshops and webinars. Based on feedback from 2023, we included a broader range of activities and locations. Activities were chosen to maximise the positive impacts on mind, body and spiritual wellbeing and to enable our colleagues to be happy and healthy at work.
"Mini Family Fun Day" Events
Held in August and September, these popular staff events began with a lunch talk on youth internet addiction, followed by a parent-child workshop, where staff and their loved ones spent time together making creative plant pots. The day ended on the topic of safety at home, with a workshop on making pet-/child-friendly cleaning products.
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2023 10K Challenge
We held our annual 10K Challenge in mid-October. To cater for different demographics, there was a 10K, 3K and 1K Family run. We also set up games booths and an ice-cream station to engage participants.
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EAST Hong Kong Wellness Events
Our EAST Hong Kong hotel held several wellness events in the second half of 2023. In August, 11 EAST team members joined an exercise workshop on the Feldenkrais method – a type of exercise therapy designed to promote physical and mental efficiency and wellbeing. A rainbow calligraphy workshop in September helped the 30 participants learn how to create a calm and peaceful state of mind through this stress-reducing activity.
In October, a “DIY Lemon Tea Candle” workshop introduced participants from the hotel’s PUBLIC restaurant to the therapeutic art of candle making; and an “Experiencing Zentangle” activity taught 34 team members a fun and relaxing way to create structured patterns, or “tangles” using combinations of dots, lines, simple curves, s-curves and orbs.
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An Eventful Year-End Annual Dinner
Swire Properties’ 2023 Annual Dinner was held on 17 November at the HKCEC Grand Hall. More than 900 colleagues attended and had a wonderful evening focusing on fun and sustainability. The digital registration process was completely paperless: the event programme, foyer lucky draw, lucky draw, and games all used QR codes and mobile phones instead of printed tickets and programme cards to save paper and administrative work.
A “Most Sustainable Costume Award” recognised and celebrated outfits that excelled in environmentally conscious designs, and we adopted advice from WWF Hong Kong’s Seafood Guide for the dinner buffet menu. Surplus food was donated to Food Angel and staff costumes were donated to Salvation Army after the event.
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Chinese Mainland Employee Wellness Initiatives
People-oriented Design Philosophy for the Taikoo Li Xi’an Office
Work on our Taikoo Li Xi’an project is continuing, with the office taking shape during 2023. Designed from the ground up to create a positive working environment where people can thrive , the office is certified the WELL V2 Platinum by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI).
The design targets achieving excellence in indoor air quality, optimal daylighting, wellness, comfort, nutrition, and mental health through such elements as:
- An air conditioning system with a 30% higher than normal fresh air flow rate and a medium-high efficiency filter.
- An air quality dashboard linked to five monitoring sensors displaying actual and maximum allowable levels of CO2, total volatile organic compounds (“TVOC”), formaldehyde, PM2.5 and PM10.
- An optimal lighting scheme based on WELL standards. Light fittings have associated daylight sensors, timers, manual controls and localised pole lighting in open office areas. These effectively reduce electricity consumption by up to 60%.
- Noise-abatement measures including a quiet air conditioning system, sound-absorbing ceiling, double glass and acoustic folding partitions in various meeting and managers’ rooms.
- A nursery room with environmentally friendly materials and soft colours to create a warm and comfortable atmosphere.
- Many plants throughout the workplace.
- Height-adjustable desks that allow staff to stand or sit.
- Modular furniture sets that can be freely grouped to provide flexible and creative layout options that facilitate communication and collaboration.
- Direct, filtered drinking water to reduce plastic waste.
- Fresh fruits and vegetables provided to staff daily, along with sugar-free beverages and bread products.
- Five bicycles provided for commuting between the office and the construction site to reduce carbon emissions.
- An outdoor garden, providing publicly accessible leisure space that integrates ecological, humanistic, social and other elements to bring staff closer to the natural environment and that allows neighbours and the wider community to interact with the development in different ways.
Taikoo Li Xi’an also prioritised community development in 2023 with several events:
- An open day for 20 shortlisted recruitment candidates. The event showcased the new office and allowed the applicants and current employees to mingle and get to know each other better.
- A Sports and Family Day for our colleagues, work partners and on-site consultants brought together 90 participants for a fun day of sports, including sack races, stone hopping and rope jumping.
- A series of “mind booster” workshops for our staff, consultants and service suppliers, sharing basic wellbeing concepts, and social, cultural, mental, and financial wellness.
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Frontline Office Wellness-focused Renovation at Taikoo Li Chengdu
The renovation of the frontline office at Taikoo Li Chengdu was completed in February 2023. This office primarily caters to the needs of frontline colleagues from the Property Management Team, Technical, and Marketing departments. The renovation project aimed to enhance the overall work experience and workplace satisfaction of the office's 182 colleagues. Enhancements included the installation of nap pods, filtered drinking water facilities, new lockers, and the addition of a separate canteen area.
Based on the results of an employee survey conducted in 2023, employee satisfaction regarding working conditions, specifically in areas such as office indoor air quality, ventilation, temperature, and workspace availability, increased by 26% over 2020.
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Darts Competition at Taikoo Hui Guangzhou
Taikoo Hui Guangzhou attaches significant importance to the physical and mental health of our employees. Part of this commitment is a well-equipped employee activity centre with fitness, leisure and entertainment equipment that encourages staff to enjoy a healthy work-life balance. In August, a fun but competitive darts competition held in the “Switch” employee lounge gathered 120 people in 40 teams to compete and forge closer bonds with each other.
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Elevating Employee Wellness at Swire Hotels
Since 2021, both The Opposite House and EAST Beijing hotels have been organising “LOHAS” activities – lifestyle of health and sustainability – for our team members. These range from the leisurely, such as singing bowl classes, to the active, like dancing. The aim of each is to help team members enjoy activities that suit them while promoting exercise and work-life balance and fostering a culture of wellness and team engagement.
EAST Beijing also enhanced staff living accommodations by relocating the dormitory closer to Beijing's downtown core, upgrading facilities and providing improved on-site management to enhance satisfaction, engagement and recruitment prospects in a convenient downtown location. Our core team members also prepared a Thanksgiving breakfast with healthy food and drink options, symbolising their anticipation for a prosperous New Year.
At The Middle House Shanghai, a traditional Chinese physician was invited to provide pulse checks and consultations during International Housekeeping Week in September, while a healthcare professional discussed breast cancer prevention with female team members.
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