Hotels in Singapore are continuing their efforts to raise productivity as the tight labour market situation persists. Today, nine hotels won the Productivity Idea Award for their productivity initiatives, which have made jobs easier, smarter and safer for their employees and saved man-hours significantly. These hotels were lauded for their efforts at the annual Productivity Seminar cum ‘Employee of the Year’ and ‘Productivity Idea’ awards presentation ceremony jointly organised by the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU), National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), and Singapore Hotel Association (SHA) at the Furama Riverfront Singapore.
Additionally, 57 employees were recognised as ‘Employees of the Year’ for their outstanding work performance and commendable service at their respective organisations. Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, Assistant Secretary-General and Cluster Lead for Hospitality and Consumer Business Cluster, NTUC, was the Guest-of-Honour at the event.
Win-Win Outcomes for Employers, Employees, and Customers
Inaugurated in 2010, the Productivity Idea Award’s objective is to encourage hotels to innovate and implement initiatives that will motivate employees to give ideas and suggestions to raise productivity at the workplace.
By streamlining work processes, re-designing jobs, cross-training employees and leveraging technology, the nine hotels have saved a total of about 32,500 man-hours a year or an average of 3,600 man-hours per hotel annually. These initiatives also involved making jobs easier, smarter and safer for employees, and many have resulted in increased customer satisfaction as employees become better equipped to respond to guests’ requests, and do so with greater efficiency.
Of the nine hotels, Shangri-La Hotel Singapore emerged champion of the Productivity Idea Awards. The hotel was commended for actively engaging its non-management employees from various operating departments in a productivity improvement focus group session. Their feedback helped to ease daily operations and enhance guest experiences. The hotel also has a Productivity Incentive Plan, which rewards employees if their productivity ideas were implemented. A total of 13 new productivity initiatives proposed by the employees were implemented. Collectively, these initiatives will save more than 4,100 man-hours a year for the hotel.
Hard Rock Hotel and Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre were accorded ‘Special Mention’ awards for training their employees to take on multiple roles in both operations as well as guest services. Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort & Spa, Singapore, received the same accolade for making work easier and smarter, by re-designing its in-room dining work processes and work area. (Please refer to Annex A for the respective productivity initiatives of the nine hotels).
In addition to the above, the inaugural Hotel Sector Innovation Award for Workplace Safety & Health (WSH) 2014 is presented to Resorts World Sentosa – Equarius Hotel and Beach Villas for their project “Mobile Pantry”. By converting a buggy to a sheltered “mobile pantry” vehicle, housekeeping staff are now able to transport linen in a faster and safer manner compared to using a traditional trolley. For their innovative solution, this project was submitted to the national WSH Awards 2014 for the WSH Innovation Award category. The Hotel industry is the newest industry to be included in the innovation award category this year. Organised by the WSH Council and supported by the Ministry of Manpower, the annual WSH Awards 2014 will be held on Friday, 18 July at the Marina Bay Sands Grand Ballroom.
Going the Extra Mile for Service
The FDAWU/NTUC/SHA Employee of the Year Award was launched in 1985 with the aim of encouraging hotels to recognise deserving employees for their excellent performance and contributions towards raising productivity at the workplace.
This year, 57 employees – 56 from a different hotel each and one from a food manufacturing company – were recognised for their outstanding work performance and for going the extra mile for service and customer satisfaction. (Please refer to Annex B for full list of award winners).
The awardees included those who made it a point to remember long-stay guests’ meal preferences; one who reunited a mother and daughter pair who had lost each other; and many who accompanied their guests to clinics when they were unwell.
Awardees were also nominated for their initiative and attentiveness. Examples include an employee who arranged for a warm honey lemon drink to be sent to a guest’s room when he found out that the guest was having a sore throat, and another who helped a guest repair his broken headphones, which he had found in the waste bin.
Sharing Productivity Best Practices
In conjunction with the awards presentation ceremony, a productivity seminar was also organised for industry players to share and discuss best practices.
Mr Yeo said, “It is encouraging to know that our hotels are putting in additional efforts to raise productivity as they continue to cope with the manpower crunch. And they are reaping the benefits. In a manpower-intensive industry such as hospitality, it is critical that we make every worker a better worker, and every job a better job, so that we optimise manpower resources while not compromising on customer experience. It is a win-win-win outcome as employers benefit from better-skilled employees; employees benefit from jobs made easier, smarter and safer; and customers enjoy better customer service.”
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