Human
Capital

Management Approach

We do our best to provide a positive, inclusive and collaborative work environment which supports the development of our dedicated staff as effective and innovative members of the MTR team. In building this corporate culture, we actively encourage participative communication, collaboration and agility to change. We also aim to drive effectiveness and innovation by supporting professional and personal development, minding employee well-being and maintaining harmonious staff relations.

Our Code of Conduct, which provides behavioural guidance for all employees, stipulates high standards of ethics and integrity set by ourselves and expected by our stakeholders. These guidelines also assist in ensuring compliance with corporate and regulatory requirements. To enhance internal awareness of these expectations, we have introduced education programmes including regular seminars, mandatory computer-based training programmes and a series of staff awareness programmes.

As our operations span multiple international locations, we have developed a global Human Resources strategy centred around three key pillars to support the human resources needs of our business expansion and growth strategy:

Human Capital Mobility and Development:

We provide employees with overseas opportunities to facilitate knowledge exchange, enabling the transfer and localisation of best practices and expertise across regions. We also have a Global Mobility Policy which guides our human resource support and deployment and provides consistent terms for relocation across our global offices.

Talent Management:

We identify and groom talented employees to build the corporate talent pipeline to meet business and succession needs. Personalised development plans are formulated for talents, including a diverse range of enrichment opportunities such as job rotations, project-based assignments, taking up different roles within MTR, mentoring/ coaching and other development activities.

Corporate Culture Development:

To ensure consistency of the local initiatives and strategies across regions with our global Human Resources strategy, the human resources function organise joint meetings across all hubs to reinforce our corporate culture and align expectations for identifying suitable candidates to join our workforce.

Equal Employment Opportunity

In line with the Corporation’s aim to foster social inclusion, we provide an equal opportunity workplace governed by our non-discrimination policies. We work to promote a safe, open and inclusive workspace, where our employees are free from discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, race, skin colour, national or ethnic origin, family status, religion, political beliefs or any other personal characteristics as protected by law. We also assess candidates and employees solely based on competence, experience, skills, qualifications and performance.

Employment Practices

In order to facilitate a rolling induction of talented individuals into our organisation, we have established multiple recruitment channels and career development paths. We seek individuals who share our organisational values and exhibit characteristics such as the pursuit of excellence and continuous improvements, a proactive approach to resolving challenges, a commitment to caring services for our customers, and a quest for opportunities to learn and develop. Those who join us are provided with the training and development opportunities necessary to support their personal and professional growth.

In Hong Kong, we have implemented various leadership development programmes and training schemes, including graduate development programmes which focus on general management capabilities and programmes focused on professional expertise and technical apprenticeships, to ensure that we are consistently welcoming new waves of young talent to drive our business forward.

Nurturing Corporate Culture

The Corporation has defined its Vision, Purpose and Values to align and build a unified corporate culture. The Vision, Purpose and Values helps our employees understand, observe and adopt the Corporation's outlook for the future of the organisation.

The fast-changing world requires us to remain innovative, agile and flexible. To move the company forward, it is of paramount importance to further strengthen our culture. While upholding MTR's values, we need to put the four “Cultural Focus Areas” into practice:

Staff Consultation and Communication

A platform for open dialogue and feedback is an essential part of our approach to building a constructive, stable, harmonious and inclusive relationship with all our employees. In addition to complying with applicable legal obligations concerning collective bargaining and protection against anti-union discrimination in places where we operate, we engage in proactive and open dialogue with our employees to maintain a committed, passionate and connected workforce.

In Hong Kong, to maintain trust and enhance communication between employees and management, we have a well-established two-tier Staff Consultation Mechanism, comprising the Staff Consultative Council (SCC) at corporate level and 45 Joint Consultative Committees (JCCs) at departmental or sectional level. The SCC is a single consultative body for management and employees to exchange views on corporate-wide matters, such as pay and benefits, organisation and manpower issues, corporate business updates, major policy changes, and safety performance, while the JCCs provide a platform for employees to discuss with management on work-related matters at departmental or sectional level, such as working conditions and facilities, roster arrangement, work safety and efficiency. In addition, regular meetings and communication sessions between management and staff unions are held to keep track of staff sentiments and proactively engage employees’ support for corporate initiatives. An online platform for the “Enhanced Staff Communication Programme” is also in place to facilitate the communication of corporate messages by line managers.

Staff Learning and Development

We encourage our employees to seek learning and development opportunities for the sake of their personal development and career advancements. We also understand that individual employees at different stages of their careers have different learning needs. To this end, we are committed to offering a wide range of learning resources, training programmes and schemes for the personal growth and professional development of our operating and technical staff as well as our management colleagues.

The Operations Training Department offers a training curriculum covering operations and safety training, technical training and IT training to assist staff and contractors in performing their duties efficiently while meeting the operational, safety, technical and maintenance requirements of the Corporation. All the training programmes come with rigorous assessment towards trainees’ safety knowledge and critical skill. Certifications of qualification will be issued to those who successfully passed all relevant assessments. The Department has certified to ISO 9001 Quality Management System for the design, development, implementation and evaluation of training and related consultancy services.

The Learning & Development Department offers a college-based training and development curriculum on topics ranging from leadership, Corporate effectiveness to customer service. Besides traditional classroom training, multiple learning platforms including field coaching and benchmarking visits are also offered to help staff develop new skills, acquire knowledge and improve their performance. To cope with the new normal, many more virtual classes and webinars have been organised for staff to acquire knowledge through the online channels and the newly launched Learning Management System (LMS). Self-learning resources through LMS have been greatly enhanced for self-curation and learning anytime anywhere.

Staff Recognition

To show appreciation for our employees' dedication to excellence and to recognise their accomplishments, we have established a variety of awards and honours in addition to performance-based salary reviews.

Work-life Balance and Family-friendly Practices

Caring for the well-being of our employees extends beyond the workplace and includes providing support to enable them to fulfil their family obligations. We have incorporated work-life balance and family-friendly practices into our employment approach, offering a wide range of supportive benefits including full-paid marriage leave, maternity and paternity leave, compassionate leave, study leave, free travel on MTR and medical benefits for their eligible dependants. Starting 2020, our employees also enjoy an additional well-being leave to allow them to better maintain their work-life balance. Furthermore, a Flexible Benefits On-line Platform is set up for employees to redeem health/ wellness related products and services. Other family-friendly facilities and arrangements, such as lactation rooms and lactation breaks, are also available in the workplace.

We have Corporate Wellness Programmes in place to promote mental, intellectual, social and physical wellness to employees. Various health-related information seminars and activities are organised regularly to educate our employees and we continue to provide them with free seasonal influenza vaccinations annually. As part of our holistic approach, our ICAN Programme focuses on maintaining our employees' mental health through stress management techniques and raises awareness of mental health issues that may affect our workforce. We have developed a dedicated Emotional Wellness One-stop Learning Portal to provide employees with a range of useful resources, including online courses, workshops and seminars relating to stress management and mental resilience in response to the pandemic. Additionally, all MTR Hong Kong employees and their eligible dependents may seek support from a professional counsellor via our dedicated 24-hour counselling service hotline.

To further promote work-life balance, we organise a variety of annual events for employees to enjoy with families and friends. Current and retired Hong Kong employees can also enjoy a wide variety of recreational and sports facilities and activities at the Metro Recreation Club with their families and friends for a nominal fee. Additional family support is provided through a number of scholarships for children of employees who are studying at local schools and educational institutions. To connect with the community, employees, retirees and their families and friends can also participate in volunteering activities under the More Time Reaching Community Scheme.