Club earns double honour for its HR achievements

12/11/2010

The Hong Kong Jockey Club's long-standing commitment to top-quality staff training and development has earned professional recognition with the winning of two prestigious honours in the Hong Kong HRM Awards 2010 announced yesterday (11 November).

The Best Employer Branding Award recognises the Club’s outstanding branding policies and strategies, which have established the Club as one of the employers of choice for which its staff feel proud to work.

The Best HR Team Award acknowledges its achievement in building a thriving business by maximising the strengths of both the organisation and its individual staff through various Club-wide human resources initiatives.

Taking into account the Club’s countless contributions to Hong Kong in the past 125 years, both economically and socially, these two prestigious honours also acknowledge the Club as a socially responsible corporation that has become an integral part of the city's development, having stood by Hong Kong people in both good times and bad.

As one of the largest employers in Hong Kong with more than 26,000 full- and part-time staff, the Club cherishes its employees as valuable assets and adopts a comprehensive holistic staff development and wellness policy under a Wholesome Human Resources Strategy.

The annual Hong Kong HRM Awards, organised by leading global multimedia publisher Key Media International Limited, honour companies with notable accomplishments in various aspects of human resources management.  The Club was deemed to stand out from the other finalists after undergoing initial nomination, then assessment by the judging panel according to a list of set criteria for each award.

Expressing his delight with the results, the Club’s Executive Director of Corporate Affairs Kim Mak stressed that effective human resources strategies and policies were integral to sustaining the Club’s businesses.  "Amid rapid social and economic development as well as market changes, we are committed to enhancing our services through a customer-centric approach," he explained.  "Our HR team has played a leading role in making the Club more customer-centric and connecting our sporting businesses and charitable operations more closely with the community we serve.”

Dr Felix Yip, President of the Hong Kong People Management Association and a member of the judging panel, acclaimed the Club’s Human Resources team for its distinguished achievements.  "The Club’s investment in human resources and management is deemed to be among the best in Hong Kong.  I am particularly impressed by some of its proactive human resources initiatives such as the earning of accreditation for its racing training programmes from Hong Kong Council of Academic Accreditation and Vocational Qualifications," he said.  "In fact the Club, being a not-for-profit organisation, performs no less than and even far exceeds some of the listed companies in terms of its excellent management system."

Dr Susanna Lo, Assistant Professor of the Department of Management at Hong Kong Baptist University, commented that the Club had been in the forefront of Hong Kong organisations in valuing its human capital.  "While other companies have made improvement in caring for their employees, few have made the overall wellness of their staff a top priority," she said.  "In fact, I know of no other organisation that has such a wide range of facilities to support the goals of overall wellness for its staff.”

"HKJC deserves to be recognised as the best employer in Hong Kong," Dr Lo added.  “It has created a great place for employees to work.  It is a caring environment which enables the employees to achieve both their professional and personal goals.  With the Best Employer Branding Award, HKJC will be able to showcase its commitment to employee wellness, and challenge other Hong Kong companies to follow this example."

The Club's integrated approach to staff development is exemplified in initiatives such as the Corporate Wellness Programme, which has been in place since 1999 and offers regular health talks and programmes for staff, as well as a number of award-winning training programmes that have helped staff uplift their service quality, thus helping the Club to retain its competitiveness.

The Club set up its own employee volunteer team, CARE@hkjc, in 2005, providing a regular platform through which staff could contribute their spare time to support community services across the city. 

As a further means of supporting the community, the Club has tried to set an example for other organisations by maintaining a stable workforce and uplifting the overall quality of human resources in Hong Kong.  For instance, the Club established a new Telebet Centre in Tin Shui Wai and created over 2,500 jobs there during 2009, at a time of severe economic challenge.

"This initiative was the result of a conscious decision to bring jobs to a location that would most benefit the community," Mak noted.  "The Club’s brand as a prestigious, respected and responsible employer is implicit in each and every aspect of our business strategy.  Coupled with our investment in staff training and wellness, this has made the Club one of the employers of choice in Hong Kong."

The Hong Kong Jockey Club

Founded in 1884, The Hong Kong Jockey Club has become one of Hong Kong's best known and respected organisations, providing the public with world-class sporting entertainment as well as being the city's major non-Government community benefactor, now donating more than HK$1 billion a year to charitable and community projects.  It has been a part of Hong Kong through good times and bad, sharing the city's growth and development with its people, and is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for future generations.