Learn company creed or else, airlines warn staff

Pilots and flight attendants with Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express have been ordered to memorise a lengthy creed about company values and threatened with punishment if they are unable to recite it in full.

The 10-line creed - described in a memo to staff as an 'apophthegm', meaning a short, pithy and instructive saying - was circulated in English and Chinese a fortnight ago with a warning that random spot checks would be conducted by managers this month to make sure everyone had learned it.

Although apophthegms are by definition brief, the 68-word one circulated to all staff at the sister airlines is three words longer than the Christian Church's Lord's Prayer, and contains some even denser and more archaic phraseology.

Among its tougher-to-memorise lines are 'Perseverance is the rule to sturdy progress', 'Diligence leads research to accession of knowledge', 'Careful recipe is the best medicine to health' and 'Kindliness to youth endows the superior with virtue'.

In an accompanying memo sent to all staff, employees were told to 'study the following apophthegm thoroughly and apply it in daily life'.

'All staff should keep firmly in mind the apophthegm,' it says.

'Human resources department will follow up with the colleagues regarding on the practice of apophthegm after two to three weeks and management will conduct the random spot check after a month ... please note that punishment will be given to those who could not recite the apophthegm.'