of Success. Our uniTue corporate culture results in /ee Kum Kee’s
resounding success. The company adheres to the core values in all
of its business operations.
Our business decisions, together with the ways we treat
employees as our valuable assets, are all driven by our core
values. We aim at attaining win-win situation with our stakeholders
and put their interests on top priority.
We stay fi rm to our uniTue management philosophy of ³100-
1 0 ́, which does not tolerate a single mistake in the production and
Tuality management process that might render the best efforts futile.
All these cultural elements pose positive impact on our
business collaborations with our stakeholders, leading to fruitful
business outcomes and remarkable achievements in the food
services industry.
What is being done at Lee Kum Kee to gain meaningful em-
ployee feedback? /ee Kum Kee values employees’ opinions and
provides various channels for two-way communication.
Every year, we organise the Mass Communication sessions
globally. The whole management team, with the chairman and
senior management included, meet with the employees from
different business zones to share business updates and listen to
their feedback.
The sessions help enhance transparency of our business
and allow our global business to go ³local ́, getting to know
the opportunities and challenges that our staff face in different
production bases. We also conduct the Employee Engagement
Survey, which is done by an e[ternal consultant every two years.
It enables us to take a snapshot of how we perform in various
areas. Through this process, we receive open feedback from our
employees as the Survey is conducted anonymously.
Follow up sessions were conducted to turn their feedback
into actions. We really appreciate the honest feedback collected,
helping us to move forward by having a better understanding of our
employees and come up with ways that work better for both our
staff and the company as a whole.
High transparency of the company, together with a mechanism
for our staff to voice out their opinions all result in their greater
sense of belonging. The performance appraisals for our staff,
together with the talent reviews for the employees at managerial
levels allow our staff to have two-way communication with their su-
pervisors, thus making sure that we can elicit employee feedback.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE & VIEWS
How did you get to where you are and what are the aspects
of HR that interest you? My interest in HR began at my under-
graduate studies with maMors in Human Resources Management
and Marketing Management. I consider the application of both
disciplines interchangeable.
When we talk about 4P (price, place, promotion, and product)
of marketing strategies, without the right people, it is unlikely to
achieve success. Vice versa, people programmes without 4P
cannot be communicated and implemented effectively.
After graduation, I decided to pursue my career at the HR fi eld
in which I would be capable of enhancing my ability to achieve busi-
ness obMectives by applying my knowledge and skills through the
development of leadership, collaboration, communication and staff
engagement. The turning point came when I worked in a global
logistics company in which I led the Hong Kong HR department to
garner the ³Best Employer Award in Hong Kong ́, then I was ad-
vanced to work in that company’s Asia Pacifi c region offi ce covering
people management and development functions in 14 countries.
/ikewise, having the opportunity of working at /ee Kum Kee
and being one of the top team members, I tell myself every day
how lucky I am as I am able to directly engage into the business
and work closely with our chairman, fellow colleagues and our
dedicated HR team members.
What are your key challenges as a C-suite level HR
executive? 1owadays, companies operate in an increasingly
comple[ global environment. Companies are facing keen
competition in the marketplace, digital revolution across sectors
and ]ones, increasingly comple[ regulatory reTuirements, and
shortage of talent – an enduring challenge.
As a multinational corporation in great acceleration, it is
important for us to identify strategic workforce challenges and
create talent supply chain that helps sustain our business growth.
/eadership development can be regarded as a top challenge.
To strengthen our staff’s leadership skills, we provide managerial
leadership programme and supervisory leadership programme for
all the supervisory staff or above.
In the long run, capability building gains greater importance as
our staff need to identify new customer needs, take advantage of
new opportunities, and create new value. It involves more than Must
teaching people how to complete their day-to-day tasks. Instead,
it focuses on a broader set of skills in the business conte[t that
increases talent value to the organisation.Are HR professionals getting their fair share of credit?
Time and time again, some HR practitioners are accused of not
playing the role as a strategic player well. It is true to say that there
are a fair number of HR professionals who struggle to fi nd the
best way to achieve e[cellence in both the HR and the business
aspects, but there are still many HR professionals with e[cellent
business sense who are operating at the top table.
As per my belief, HR professionals should go beyond
partnering with the business. Instead, HR is part of the business
providing talent values to drive business results. HR professionals
should no longer be seen as the ³gatekeeper ́. They are the enabler
within the business indeed.
It is crucial that HR takes the lead in identifying problems and
offering solutions and insights into what the business needs. Another
interesting e[ample I always tell my team is without the letters ³HR ́,
no one can completely write the word ³growtH and pRofi t ́. It helps
demonstrate HR is a function crucial to profi table business growth.What do you do off working-time to relieve stress? As a pas-
sionate volunteer, I have been engaging as a council member and
human resources committee member of a leading 1*O in Hong
Kong since 200 , which provides opportunities for the disabled to
develop their abilities and ensure that they achieve the greatest inde-
pendence possible, as a fully integrated member of the community.
The 1*O advocates eTual rights of persons with disabilities
through education, policy and legislative changes. My volunteering
e[perience gives me a sense of personal achievement and
happiness, with the returns far outweighing the time I invest. To
me, volunteering is even more benefi cial than e[ercising and eating
well to relieve stress.How has travelling and working in a fast moving company
impacted family and your personal or social life? I have been
working in the regional role for over 18 years. Thus, travelling is
part of my life. The more we travel, the more we understand and
appreciate the people differences, together with the local intel-
ligence. These are conducive to my personal growth and reinforce
the importance of ³think global and act local ́ when we design
regional programmes.If there is someone we should name as the HR Personality
of the Year, who would that be? I believe all of our /ee Kum Kee
Sauce *roup staff members defi nitely advocate my recommenda-
tion that our chairman, Mr. Charlie /ee, should be named as the HR
Personality of the Year. 8nder his leadership, we have gained deep
understanding of the corporate culture and importance of people
value in building a successful company.C H R O U N P L U G G E D