New opportunities amid economic crisis

Layoffs, salary cuts and downsizing have become widespread because of the global financial crisis. But telecommunications firm Wharf T&T has chosen to respond positively to the unfavourable conditions by creating opportunities that engage staff and encourage career development.

'We are not interpreting the economic downturn to mean we have to cut costs,' said Florence Cheung, vice-president of human resources for Wharf T&T.

'We are engaging employees in the downturn to increase morale. We have no intention to downsize.'

This is expressed in policies that transfer skills and diversify roles, promoting career development at a time when technological change is revolutionising services - encouraging staff to expand horizons beyond the dark clouds of the financial crisis. And while such optimism may be a solution in itself, it hasn't been without challenges as it redefines traditional roles.

'We engage staff by equipping them with more advanced skills and knowledge,' Cheung said.

'We are helping them to make the leap from ordinary telecom skills to information and communication technologies, as Wharf T&T not only sells telephone lines but also data centres, hardware and network services. But traditional telephone company staff may only know about telephone fixed lines.'

This swift response to market conditions is also demonstrated by the introduction of products and services that help small and medium enterprises wanting to relocate to cost-effective locations, such as the New Territories, and updating telecommunication hardware in the process.

The move translates into an innovative use of resources that compensates for cost-cutting or downsizing in a paradigm shift that is reshaping the industry. The doubling-up of roles is not being implemented in a way that pressures staff to go in directions they don't want to go.

'We are mixing the teams together as clients may need to do telephone line installations as well as broadband and data services networks,' Cheung said. 'If the staff think it is additional work rather than a learning opportunity, then we will communicate with them to explain that we can equip them with more skills. It is compulsory, but employees see it as a career and a learning opportunity, especially for younger staff.'

The company is preparing staff for corporate change through training. As a Cisco Systems gold partner, Wharf T&T is experienced at adapting the workforce to changing market conditions, helping to nurture expertise for telecoms products such as data centres offering antivirus, antispamming, i-voice mail and i-fax.

The financial crisis has made coaching staff a priority and the company continues to recruit management that can steer change positively and engage a workforce that may feel insecure. This means recruiting staff with the ability to draw from experience to implement changes.

'We are continuing to recruit people of a high calibre,' Cheung said. 'A company can't train management from scratch but today's workforce is capable of dealing with turmoil because it has the gift of hindsight. We are recruiting managers with motivation and personal drive who know how to implement change management in a way that is not dictatorial.

'He or she needs to know how to make the team work, stimulate and create ideas. With restructuring in the economic downturn, the role of some managers has changed already.'

In what is essentially a technical business, Cheung stressed that people skills had proven to be the most challenging in the cross-over.

The technical talent that the company is recruiting needs to have communication as well as problem-solving skills. Those resistant to such change may see the opportunities created by Wharf T&T as daunting, but the company has designed specific training courses to make career moves that turn out to be evolutionary leaps.

'People might want to leave because of the changes,' Cheung said. 'For example, one technical staff member had more communication with customers. He didn't feel right talking to external customers, so we put him in another team.

'We provide alternatives and the skill transfer changes roles gradually. We facilitate this with a three-month transition period but it's a step by step progression overall. I think it's quite challenging for staff as they actually need to do more complex things but it will benefit them in the long-term.'

Role call

Wharf T&T is engaging staff in the economic downturn by creating new employment opportunities

The company offers training that enables staff to take on more than one role and cross over departments

The company is recruiting high-quality staff and managers who can deal with change management'