While some companies operate on the premise that for their monthly pay employees have to provide outstanding services, CLP believes good service is not only about money.
Andy Luk, senior human resources manager, CLP Power, says it is not even about training, although that is also very important – instead, it is about staff engagement.
“CLP Power has transformed its people strategy to enhance customer service. We have a development and engagement programme, we engage staff as well as their families,” Luk says.
The company boasts 99.99 per cent reliability of electricity supply and customer satisfaction of 98 per cent. It now pledges to turn staff “from hikers to rock climbers” via a five-block people-development model.
Freshmen receive three weeks’ basic training that introduces them to company core values, operation units and business objectives, followed by a job orientation, while a more advanced functional base training further develops their technical, operational, IT and language skills.
“The company invests in a service-culture development that includes an internal competition, which drives performance in a fun way,” says Luk. “It also makes performance visible and transparent.”
A new company uniform has also been introduced under the slogan “We look green and energetic”, with a T-shirt whose colour reminds staff members of CLP’s commitment to going green, together with its customers, by adopting a clean-energy vision leading up to 2020.
“Our staff engagement programmes include birthday fever, family outings, seminars inviting external speakers and e-newsletters offering advice and sharing views on parenting, health, and other topics related to quality of life,” Luk says.
An 18-month, three-level development programme is also offered to above-average staff who are keen to enhance their performance, with level one benefiting supervisors, level two middle-level managers, and level three senior managers.
This has earned CLP an employee-satisfaction level well above average, says a 2011 employee satisfaction survey by Tower Watson, plus a gold award from the Hong Kong Association for Customer Service Excellence.
