Rough times are for training

Retrenchments are a bitter pill to swallow, for both companies and their employees. With more than 20 years in human resource (HR), Ms Catherine Ang has seen the best and worst of such exercises.

For instance, she recounts the closure of Hotel Phoenix in 2007 when she was its HR manager. “I cushioned it by organising a job-fair (for our employees); I conducted classes on resume writing.” She brought in counsellors “just in case it hit anyone badly” and everything was capped with a thank-you ceremony for staff.

With a rueful chuckle, the petite 44-year-old, who is now the Director of Human Capital and Development at Pan Pacific Singapore, confesses that she was “a bit shallower” when she started out as an Industrial Relations Officer. “I used to be ‘just retrench, don’t think so much’.”

But getting to know more low-wage employees over the years has given her a more holistic and mature perspective when crafting HR policies.

“You definitely think more for the person, and weigh the options,” she said. “My belief is to add value to the people around us.”

Living that mantra is why Ms Ang is one of the finalists in the Tourism and F&B Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) awards this month. When Pan Pacific Singapore underwent major renovations between April and August last year, she rolled out WSQ modules for staff.

“It was the best time to train them in large volumes” she said. Employees had been temporarily redeployed to sister hotels, while some went on no-pay leave, but “care members” among the staff helped alert and encourage their colleagues to return for training. And so, although the two to three-day courses were not compulsory, they enjoyed 90 per cent attendance.

The WSQ modules, which included lessons on work safety and customer service, have since become part of the company’s orientation programme for all employees.

Memorised THE DICTIONARY

The idea of bettering oneself is not only a function of the job to Ms Ang; it is a conviction deeply rooted in her own life. The fourth of six siblings, she attended Pei Hwa Public School, a Chinese-medium primary school, before going on to Deyi Secondary School.

“Everyone spoke such good English, and I was the odd one out.” But she was not cowed. “Day by day, I would take up the dictionary and memorise it page by page.” It paid off when she passed a class test which “all my other English-educated friends failed!”.

At the National University of Singapore, where she read Economics and Statistics, she struggled to pay the tuition fees. Her mother, who worked with the labour union, helped secure a study loan. “That is how I joined the union later, and why I am where I am now,” said the mother of two who, before bedtime, peruses self-improvement books.

At her previous workplaces, she noticed that where training was scant, employees were less engaged even if they did their jobs adequately; but where the training culture is evident, “many are willing and excited to work”.

“People say, ‘why train (so much) when staff will leave someday anyway?’ If the staff is able to give good service during his tenure, then that’s good for your company. Even if he/she leaves, look at it from a holistic view — it benefits Singapore as a whole,” she said emphatically.

Thanks to her role in the company’s training plans, employees who previously never had time to undertake upgrading have been able to complete “almost six to seven courses”.

Now, clouds are looming over the tourism sector again, with uncertainty in the global economy and the spectre of another potential pandemic.

Ms Ang said that during the 1997 downturn and the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome period, she did not give any employees the boot — choosing, instead, to institute pay-cuts and cross-training staff in the work of other departments.

“If, touch wood, bad times do come again, it is good to keep everyone in the loop,” she said, adding that a rough patch is “the best time to train, because when else can you train them?”

Her bottom line: “Try to keep everyone in your team with you ... not retrenching is best.”