roup’s mission of ³Promoting Chinese cuisines worldwide ́, our
vision of ³Where there are people there is /ee Kum Kee ́, as well
as our global business strategies.
With our lobal HR mission which aims at optimising the hu-
man capital through attraction, development, motivation, and reten-
tion of a diverse and talented workforce, and to provide strategic,
fl e[ible, fair and compliant policies and practices that sustain /ee
Kum Kee as the employer of choice, our HR functions are struc-
tured at both the corporate and local levels in an effort to adapt to
business realities and the ever-changing business environment.
At Hong Kong’s HeadTuarters, we set up our lobal HR team
as the centre of e[cellence in strategic areas such as learning
and development, reward management, talent acTuisition and
engagement that initiate global programmes.
This initiative builds our staff’s capabilities, create talent values
and ensure the e[ecution is aligned around the world while the
local HR teams work closely with their local business units for the
e[ecution of people strategies.
Facing an increasing geographically dispersed workforce,
lobal HR functions must be fully aligned with the *roup’s people
strategies to attain success. This means integrating a global
mindset by embracing the idea that there are differences between
the local and global levels, and that these differences should be
acknowledged and leveraged as a strategic business advantage.
In line with /ee Kum Kee’s corporate culture, our HR
professionals need to carry out activities based on fi ve behavioural
guiding principles: (1)respectful, responsive, timely, and
accountable (2)fair, ethical, compliant, and transparent process
and decision ()collaborate with key stakeholders and leverage
resources (4)professional, knowledgeable, informative, and
accurate and ()value continuous improvement.
As a winning HR team, our structure and behavioural standards
are derived from relevant strategies and our corporate culture.
What is being done to promote diversity and inclusion in Lee
Kum Kee? Are these reflected at executive / board level and
in regional roles? With offi ces and operations located in Hong
Kong, Mainland China, Malaysia, Americas, together with Europe,
Lee Kum Kee is truly a multinational enterprise with employees of
different nationalities.
We embrace diversity, with eTual opportunities given to
our staff, no matter which nationalities they are. We are also in
pursuance of gender eTuality, as evidenced by the proportion of
women taking up management roles with immense contributions.
/inguistic use is defi nitely a case in point. We use different
languages to cater for our employees’ diversity. In addition to
using Chinese and English as common language, we also include
Bahasa Malaysia and Spanish in our company-wide, regional
communication in corporate culture promotion, as well as the
employee engagement survey.
How do you think about allocating your staff to other coun-
tries outside Hong Kong? What is being done to promote
employee mobility? We believe having international e[posure is
vital for employee development. We provide plentiful opportunities
for our staff to work outside Hong Kong.
'epending on operation needs or employee performance,
we station some of them in places where we operate or take
up overseas assignments. These are perceived to be valuable
opportunities that help our staff to learn from other cultures, unlock
their potential and in return add value to the company.
In addition, /ee Kum Kee offers clear career development for
the staff members. We provide opportunities for internal promotion
aptly as a means for enhancing employee mobility to recognise
those who have remarkable achievements in their Mob roles.
TALENT MANAGEMENT & ATTRACTING TALENTS
Given the competition for top talents, what measures are be-
ing put in place to ensure Lee Kum Kee remains a top choice
for talents? At /ee Kum Kee, we believe our strong corporate cul-
ture is the foundation that has brought us to where we are. While we
select candidates who are culture fi t, we believe our corporate cul-
ture is a prime factor that makes us stand out from other companies.
When candidates come for an interview, we introduce to them
how our corporate culture e[erts positive effects in our workplace.
With the core value Si /i Ji Ren (considering others’ interests),
our staff are encouraged to care about others’ feelings and dem-
onstrate a ³helicopter ́ view (think from a broad perspective) when
collaborating with others. Such core values simply help create a
workplace fi lled with care, thus helping to attract and retain our staff.
We also promote the ³Tri-balance ́ concept to encourage our
employees to have a balanced life among ³Health ́, ³Family ́ and
³Career ́. Employee well-being is promoted via various recreation
activities, health talks, sports teams, free shuttle bus services,
together with free lunch served at the staff canteen with a specially
designed weekly menu that promotes a balanced diet.
Fundamentally, our aims are to attract talents through our core
values, workplace with care, as well as a balanced life for our staff,
who are the key asset of /ee Kum Kee. We also believe that being
a reputable global brand that offers trustworthy products gives us
an edge in talent acTuisition. The talent growth in /ee Kum Kee
in turn drives company growth. Such multiplier effect attracts our
talents to stay with us.It can be challenging to attract young talents in the employ-
ment market. How is Lee Kum Kee addressing this issue?
We launched the Management Trainee (MT) Programme a few
years ago in Hong Kong and Mainland China with intensive and
comprehensive training to attract young talents.
The MTs and graduates from the programme are currently
working on different functions such as Sales and Marketing, HR,
Corporate Affairs, as well as operations such as Plant Management
and Engineering with plenty of training opportunities offered.
Senior management or zone heads are assigned as
mentors for these MTs, offering constructive advice on the latter’s
professional development.
We also offer great e[posure for our young staff. Knowing that
young people nowadays like to voice out their views, /ee Kum Kee
offered valuable opportunities for them to e[press their opinions
in due course such as through the participation of Employee
Engagement Survey and other engagement initiatives.
8niTue corporate culture and caring about employees’ well-
being attract candidates to apply for our Mob posts. Together with
our sound employer branding and effective HR strategies, we are
confi dent that we will continue to attract young talents.Lee Kum Kee has consistently been named as among the
best companies to work for. What does this mean to the Com-
pany? Is this making recruitment and retention easier? Is
there a significant co-relation? As a Hong Kong based company
approaching our 10th anniversary in 2018, /ee Kum Kee believes
that it is important to have a talented and engaged workforce to
support our business growth. Being named as among the best
companies to work for is a true motivation for us to continue on
what we have been doing right.
Recently, we have received a few awards recognising /ee
Kum Kee as an outstanding employer brand in Hong Kong and
Mainland China, in which some were awarded along with
other multinational corporations (M1Cs).
This is an evidence signalling that /ee Kum Kee is in the right
direction for the people-oriented HR initiatives.EMPLOYEE RELATIONS & CORPORATE CULTURE
As a century-old corporate, what is Lee Kum Kee's corporate
culture like? How are these values/culture impacting busi-
ness performance? /ee Kum Kee’s core values include Pragma-
tism, Integrity, Constant Entrepreneurship, Si /i Ji Ren (considering
others’ interests), Benefi tting the Community and Sharing the Fruits