Page 34 - HKMA TA2020 Souvenir Programme

Bronze Award

“Training: Preparing for the Un-predictable”
Cordis, Hong Kong

About Cordis, Hong Kong
In June 2019, Hong Kong began to experience social-political upheavals. Many businesses were affected. The hotel industry was especially
hard-hit. Cordis’ room occupancy dropped precipitously. To support the business, Cordis came up with a creative solution for staff to work flexibly –
across departments – wherever the manpower was needed. For example, they would train non-Food & Beverage staff and mobilize them to work in Food
& Beverage (F&B), as needed.
Cordis encourages an open culture and participatory practices. This strategy to mobilize their workforce flexibly, across departments, was jointly
developed between Senior Management and all departments. Before moving forward, they also sought support and input from the general staff.
Training non-F&B colleagues to work in F&B was very complicated. F&B comprises four different functions (restaurant outlets, kitchen, steward, banquet),
each requiring its own unique capabilities. For this initiative, their Training Team came up with four different training programmes very quickly, under
crisis conditions. The commonality among the four programmes was their unwavering focus on the three pillars of effective training: attitude, skills, and
knowledge.
This initiative was a struggle for the survival of Cordis’ business. Management was very open and transparent, and regularly briefed all staff clearly about
the situation. Instead of unilaterally assigning non-F&B staff to various F&B tasks, Management invited colleagues to volunteer. Throughout July to
December 2019, over 50% of our non-F&B colleagues volunteered. They came from all departments: Housekeeping, Front Office, Sales & Marketing, Call
Centre, Finance, HR, Spa, and Engineering.
In addition to leveraging their workforce and maximizing manpower efficiency, this initiative helped colleagues develop deeper understanding of how
other departments operate, leading to better cooperation and efficiency across departments and throughout the Hotel. For example, the Call Centre
colleagues and Kitchen colleagues now work closer together to better serve and delight guests who order room service. The Catering Sales colleagues
and Banquet colleagues also work closer to better serve wedding couples and their guests, to deliver a most memorable and special event.
This initiative has met their target to raise our workforce efficiency and productivity. There are many intangible and sustainable benefits as well.
For example, after this initiative, the following indices all rose significantly: sense of belonging, sense of engagement, pride in Hotel, trust between
management and staff.
This initiative has been a success due to two key factors:
1. Our Hotel Culture is open, non-hierarchical, and collaborative.
Regardless of rank, everyone pitches in to help each other.
2. Our Training Culture emphasizes continuous learning and continuous improvement.
Our colleagues are open to learning new skills and continuously improving themselves.
Comments from Adjudicators
It was a well-coordinated and thought-out programme aimed to reduce causal staff costs through training interventions. The programme concluded with
impressive results qualitatively and quantitatively measured.
The collaborative work culture was admirable with the staff volunteering system to learn and support each other. It created a strong sense of belonging
among employees.
All in all, a creative programme with an agile workforce which has been highly devoted to Cordis, Hong Kong during the challenging times.

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