social-staff


MTR's ability to deliver on its customer service pledges is a direct reflection of the high levels of skill, motivation and professionalism amongst our staff. Our philosophy and culture enables us to attract, retain and develop high calibre people at all levels, through offering well-structured remuneration, training and career paths and a stimulating, caring working environment with open communication for employees, consultants and contractors. Our voluntary turnover rate in 2001 is 2.1% (12 month moving average). With continued efforts to enhance productivity, our total workforce has fallen continuously since 1998 from 8,786 to 7,231 in 2001. This has been achieved by organisational restructuring and streamlining, some staff reductions, balanced by the steady development of a multi-skilled workforce emerged through open and transparent communication, staff redeployment and outsourcing. All initiatives have been carried out in a context of mutual cooperation and a recognition that the challenges presented also offer opportunities for career development. During the year, human resources processes were streamlined with the development of a new Human Resources Management Information System. When the new system is fully implemented in 2002, it will further enhance operation efficiency with the introduction of self-service functions and will reduce paper consumption. Training and Development
We are committed to maintaining our excellent service delivery record through ongoing training and development of our staff. Staff competency in running a safe and efficient railway is ensured through: advanced training technologies, such as our e-Learning centre; sophisticated railway training facilities; accelerated development schemes for high potential staff at management and professional levels. In recognition of this, MTR received the 2001 Excellence in Practice Awards from the American Society of Training and Development.
Training on railway operations, technical and safety issues was delivered through 3,253 training courses amounting to 42,740 trainee man days in 2001. In contributing to an environmentally friendly transportation service, a series of environmental management programmes was delivered to 2,307 operations staff.
		Training on managing changes was reinforced during the year by the official launch of our Core Values. The Core Values of Service, Value and Respect towards Customers, Staff and Shareholders will foster a strong culture of continuous improvement and sustain our business objectives.
Over 2001, we increased the training component of our operations staff in line with our 2005 target to ensure that staff spend at least 4% of their time on training. During 2001, staff in Operations Division received an average of 10.2 training days on operations, safety, quality, environmental, technical and IT skills, while staff in other divisions received an average of 2.4 training days. Training expenses were equivalent to 2.6% of the total payroll. This compares favourably to the Hong Kong average for similar corporations of 2%.
Staff Consultation
Labour relations in MTR have remained healthy after the Initial Public Offering in 2000. Staff consultation is via a well-established two tier mechanism established in 1980: the Joint Consultative Committees (JCCs) and the Staff Consultative Council (SCC). The SCC is for discussing matters of company wide interest while JCCs are departmental consultative bodies. About 500 staff are elected by their colleagues to serve on 23 JCCs across MTR.
There are two staff unions, the Staff General Association and the Staff Union. MTR maintains regular dialogue and cordial relations with the unions.
Staff Attitude Survey To gauge staff's attitude and opinions about the Corporation, we conducted our fourth Staff Attitude Survey in 2001. This provided essential input in formulating our future policies and plans and also demonstrated our success in handling the recent changes following the Company's privatisation and in the recent economic downturn. The majority of staff considers MTR to be a progressive company and that our service is highly regarded by customers. Staff also identified training, safety and working conditions, downward communication and employee involvement as areas of strength for MTR. The survey results also reflected the general sentiment in Hong Kong during 2001, namely that the economic downturn had affected staff morale and led to concerns about job security, greater stress and heavier workloads. In response, MTR's Chairman encouraged staff to take a positive view "The economic downturn has affected all companies in Hong Kong. MTR must change if we are to maintain our competitive lead...I urge all of you to adopt a positive attitude in order to face the current and future challenges". In recognition of our outstanding performance in human resources management and significant efforts in maintaining good staff relations, MTR received the Good People Management Award 2001 from the Hong Kong SAR Labour Department. Equality of Opportunity MTR's Code of Conduct formally commits the corporation to the achievement of equality of opportunities for all its employees. All employees are assessed on their ability and suitability to meet their job requirements irrespective of their seniority, gender, race, age or educational background. ' Rewards & Benefits We benchmark the rewards and benefits provided to our staff against other large, reputable Hong Kong companies to attract and retain high caliber people at all levels. Metro Credit Union The Metro Credit Union (MCU) promotes prudent financial planning amongst MTR staff. Its 5,900 members can make monthly saving through payroll deduction and by pooling savings the MCU can provide needy members with low interest loans
Sports and Recreation The Metro Recreation Club (MRC) assists staff to have healthy and balanced lifestyles by providing recreational and sporting facilities for 6,300 MTR staff members and their families.
2002 Targets
To deliver an average of 10.7 training days to Operations Division staff and 2.4 training days to staff in other divisions
To implement the action plan developed from the 4th Staff Attitude Survey

<Code of Conduct> , <Customers> , <Community> <Dialogue with External Stakeholders> , <Health and Safety> , <Human Rights>