At Swire, we aim to provide rewarding and fulfilling careers where our people can reach their full potential. We provide competitive remuneration and benefits designed to attract, motivate and retain talent at all levels. We recognise the importance of personal and professional growth and invest in the development and wellbeing of our people.
We offer competitive remuneration and employee benefits, including medical benefits, retirement schemes, and bonuses. The Group provides recreational facilities such as holiday homes and leisure boats.
In 2020, we introduced a new parental leave policy, with 14 weeks leave for the primary caregiver and four weeks leave for the secondary caregiver. It came into effect on 1st January 2021.
Remuneration decisions are based on roles and responsibilities, individual and business performance, and conditions in the employment markets and economies in which we operate. We try to recruit locally, searching locally before searching internationally. Normally, vacancies are open first to our own people, then locally and finally internationally.
In 2020, our new hire rate was 12% and the average staff tenure was 8.4 years. Staff turnover is monitored with a view to identifying and managing problems as they arise, and to retaining talent. The voluntary turnover rate for permanent staff fell from 16% in 2019 to 14% in 2020.
New hires by region in 2020
(%)
New hires by region in 2020
(%)
| Hong Kong & Macau |
Chinese mainland |
Taiwan | USA | Others | |
| New hires (%) | 9 | 13 | 11 | 19 | 5 |
Total voluntary turnover rate of permanent employees
(%)
Total voluntary turnover rate of permanent employees
(%)
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
| Turnover rate (%) | 15 | 19 | 19 | 16 | 14 |
Voluntary turnover by gender for permanent employees
(%)
Voluntary turnover by gender for permanent employees
(%)
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male (%) | 14 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 14 |
| Female (%) | 16 | 21 | 21 | 18 | 14 |
Swire Pacific Offshore’s reduced 2020 retention rate reflects less business and the IPO of Swire Blue Ocean. Cathay Pacific announced a major restructuring of its business in October 2020, which resulted in a reduction in 5,900 jobs.
Swire Properties was named the Most Attractive Employer in the 2020 Randstad Hong Kong Employer Brand Research. This is the fifth consecutive year that Swire Properties ranked in the top three companies, out of 75 of Hong Kong’s largest companies by workforce size. Thousands of locally based employees and job seekers voted. The company was rated positively on corporate financial health, corporate reputation and job security.
Our goal is to enable our employees to flourish, encouraging them to take pride in our culture and to give them an experience which inspires them to do their best for our businesses.
We believe in open and timely communication with our employees on matters affecting them. We communicate with our people through our intranet, social media, newsletters, surveys, informal gatherings and staff forums. By doing so, we tell people what is happening in the Group. We do our best to build constructive and productive relations with employee representatives. In 2020, Swire Properties did an employee engagement survey covering over 4,000 staff in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland. Cathay Pacific did employment engagement surveys in 2020.
HAECO Hong Kong’s GoHAECO app facilitates sharing, entertainment, learning and rewards. Over 1,800 employees have used the app.
Swire Resources’ offers caring calls for frontline and office staff during their first three months of employment. The staff can give feedback and difficulties can be addressed. This has significantly reduced frontline staff resignations during the first month of employment.
The Swire Hong Kong Staff Association organises and sponsors sports and recreational activities, classes for interest groups and community services for our employees.
We develop our people by on-the-job learning, mentoring, coaching, classroom training and online learning. In 2020, the average number of hours of training per employee was 32.3 hours, a 31% decrease from the previous year. Overall, 67% of male staff and 70% of female staff received training in 2020. On average, we spent over HK$6,500 per employee, compared with around HK$2,300 in 2019. This does not include informal and on-the-job learning, where much of our employee training happens.
The Swire Leadership Centre on Lantau Island in Hong Kong is a residential training and development facility for Swire staff development programmes. It is available for use by our operating companies.
Operating companies have their own apprenticeship, traineeship and internship programmes.
Please see the sustainable development reports of our operating companies for more information.
Our in-house leadership development company, Ethos International, designs and delivers learning and development programmes for our management staff. Managers with high potential attend business management and executive programmes at INSEAD and Stanford University. Ethos International’s training programmes emphasise sustainability and aim to develop a strong corporate culture and leadership style that is consistent with our values.
Every year, we recruit high-calibre graduates for long-term careers. Over the next 15 years, graduates are coached, mentored and guided, and the next steps of their careers are planned. Sustainable development and the business opportunities it creates are included in their training.
There are human resources and finance streams within our leadership programme. Future human resources and finance leaders are given different roles as their careers develop. They benefit from targeted training and development opportunities.
