Electricity firm relies on people power

The city's largest electricity supplier, CLP Power, has established a series of people development initiatives. They are tailored to train employees through a structured and systematic approach to boost professional knowledge and technical skills in the electricity and energy industry.

The company believes that internal training is the best way to maintain a highly qualified and professional workforce.

'Many companies adopt the 'buy' strategy for maintaining their workforce, but CLP adopts the 'make' strategy for talent development,' said Daniel Chu, human resources manager of the power systems business group. 'Our people development initiatives help us develop a pool of young talent to meet succession requirements.'

The people development initiatives established by CLP include cross-business groups or department job rotations, management seminars and training, development projects, an adviser/advisee programme, job shadowing and external exchange programmes.

'The job rotation programme helps move employees out of their comfort zone,' Chu said. 'When they widen their scope and broaden their network, they will realise their different abilities, thus their confidence will increase.' The management seminars and training programme include the CLP Business Elite Forum launched in 2007. This forum invites large corporations to share their keys to success, which helps enhance employees' ability to work in a competitive environment.

'Employees learn how to leverage on competition and risks so that they can equip themselves with a competitive advantage,' Chu said. 'They are able to learn how to align different business groups, how to motivate each other and how to leverage creativity and new practices.'