HR Corner Empowerment as cornerstone of HR policy by Kirque Leung Local network provider encourages staff to manage themselves As a leading local network provider, China Mobile Peoples Telephone Company Limited (Peoples) has continued to make tremendous strides over the last few years. It was publicly listed in 2004 and acquired by China Mobile earlier this year. It is now the wholly-owned subsidiary of China Mobile (Hong Kong) Limited, which was recently ranked as the world's largest network provider in terms of asset value and total number of subscribers. A well-established foundation in Hong Kong and the support of the parent company in mainland China have translated into the ability to provide customers with access to advanced equipment, comprehensive support systems, and services which are always competitive on price. In January 1997, Peoples became the first PCS operator to launch a service in Hong Kong and, according to chief executive officer Charles Henshaw, the company's ongoing success can be attributed to two main factors — its financial strength and the performance of staff. "Employees are, so to speak, the fundamentals of a company," Mr Henshaw says. "Realising that they spend almost 10 hours a day in the workplace, it has to be somewhere that offers excitement, flexibility and ultimately, satisfaction. All our staff need to feel great about their work and their colleagues." All our staff need to feel great about their work and their colleagues To achieve this, the company makes sure to acknowledge and reward hard work and ideas. The objective is to give staff the feeling they belong, regardless of their rank or job responsibilities, and to allow them to feel secure about their careers. "We want to create a place where every single word, from junior or senior staff, positive or negative, will be heard and valued," Mr Henshaw adds. "The door of my office is always open and no appointment is needed for anyone to see or talk to me." Besides this, it is company policy to put extra effort into recruiting the right candidates for every position, so there is no subsequent need to contemplate dismissing them. "I also strongly encourage job rotations," Mr Henshaw says. He explains that, if staff have the chance to work in different departments, it allows them to extend their range of skills and gain additional experience by taking on new challenges. "On the one hand, it gives staff trust in the company; on the other, it is an effective way of uncovering their hidden abilities," he notes. As CEO, he believes an essential part of his own role is to create a corporate vision and inspire others to understand and follow it. In addition, he emphasises the need for clear corporate values and promoting positive change. Currently, Peoples has around 700 staff and, in HR terms, the primary task for Mr Henshaw is to train individuals and to empower teams to manage themselves. "As the company grows, each team should be able to make decisions and put forward innovative ideas," he says. "We celebrate every single suggestion and do not want an autocratic style of management." Exemplifying this approach, all staff in the administrative office and the 47 outlets are expected to take full responsibility for decisions relating to their own scope of work. They must also be committed to the company's "we care" service pledge, by putting customers first and making sure to cater to specific needs in the shortest possible time. The company's financial position is consistently improving and Mr Henshaw anticipates future possibilities to leverage China Mobile's strong presence in the mainland market. He is also intent on boosting competitiveness and continuing to deliver outstanding services. Salient Points - Competitive success is based on retaining a motivated, creative and empowered workforce - Companies should pay more attention to recruiting the best employees and never think of any member of the workforce as "disposable" - Healthy and improving financial position helps to meet the need for job security - Empowerment and "self-managed" teams are an important part of the company's growth strategy Taken from Career Times 8 December 2006, p. A22 Your comments are welcome at [email protected]