For 10 years, Randstad Hong Kong conducted the Randstad Employer Brand Research to find out the latest key insights to changing talent expectations and job search behaviours. In the same survey, respondents also vote for the most attractive employer that they want to work for in Hong Kong SAR.
In celebration of our 10 years of research excellence in Hong Kong SAR, we interviewed the top 3 most attractive employers in Hong Kong for 2022 to find out what makes them so successful in talent attraction and workforce retention.
In 2022, CLP Power Hong Kong was voted by 3,026 respondents as the third most attractive employer to work for in Hong Kong SAR. CLP Power Hong Kong was inducted in the Randstad Global’s Hall of Fame for winning the Most Attractive Employer title thrice between 2016 and 2019.
In 2022, 74.45% of survey respondents said that they were familiar with CLP Power as a company. From that same group, 58.51% said that they would like to work for the organisation, ranking the company as one of Hong Kong's top most attractive employers.
The company scored exceptionally high for employee value proposition (EVP) factors, particularly in financial health, job security, good corporate reputation as well as giving back to society.
CLP power hong kong talent attraction
We spoke with Priscilla Chau - Human Resources Director at CLP Power Hong Kong to find more about their company’s mission and culture and what makes them an attractive company to work for.
how do you feel about being an attractive employer and are there any advantages because of it?
As a company that is more than 120 years old, it means a lot to us to receive this award. I think it is a recognition of how the public, candidates and employees see our company’s direction, strategy and care for people.
It’s very clear to us that our mission is to decarbonise Hong Kong SAR, China and Asia Pacific and this is a mission that I think both the public and employees identify with, as what we see as having a greener future for our next generation. When our people identify with the company, we create a lot of positive energy in our organisation.
With the employer brand that we’ve established over the years, we are able to attract job seekers to work for us and offer new opportunities to young generations and skilled talent at various stages of their careers.
what are some of the new talent expectations that you’ve observed and how do you address them?
In the last few years, work has changed so much and everyone has different expectations.
We’ve put in policies and practices to care for our people as well. With the COVID pandemic, we have introduced many family-friendly policies, such as flexible work models as well as well-being and part-time leaves to fit into the working patterns and needs of our different colleagues, as well as to provide them more personal time to do something meaningful for themselves and their families.
As one of the major public utility companies, many people are looking at how we respond to COVID. I am very proud to be part of an agile team that adapted so quickly and professionally during challenging times. With the support of IT, we were able to provide equipment network support so that those who work at home can still perform their duties at high levels of efficiency.
what is the company doing to deepen the skills capabilities and agility of your workforce?
Our company’s mission and purpose is to create new opportunities for colleagues who want to stretch their wings and try something in areas of their interest by providing them with career growth opportunities. We offer internal job learning and training opportunities to our colleagues to support their learning and development to gain more agility and flexibility in their careers.
For example, analytical skills are very in-demand in the market and there are many job opportunities in this field. We offer internal training programmes to help our employees acquire these new skills and work on project opportunities to practice what they have learned in a real working environment.
We have also started a design thinking programme two years ago as part of our change journey and people development because we want our colleagues to shift their mindset to think about what our customers need. 3,900 colleagues have joined the programme to learn about design thinking theories and apply them in the workplace through work projects. Employees who completed the programme received internal accreditation as design thinking practitioners, so that they can continue to shift mindsets throughout the organisation.
Another important aspect of skills is leadership, which we are devoted to developing. Our executive development programmes help our young leaders to accelerate their journey in leadership development as well as support seasoned leaders to enhance their leadership skills and professional growth.
how is CLP power viewing the great resignation phenomenon and how does the company reduce the push factors to retain your employees?
Despite having a lower employee attrition rate than the market average, we are determined to improve our employee retention and talent attraction strategy. We are investing more time and effort to listen and engage with our colleagues to boost our employee engagement. We have informal meetings over tea and a joint consultative committee to help us understand our colleagues’ concerns and expectations from CLP Power as their employer.
We collect feedback regularly so that we can adjust our HR approach and create a positive culture and an environment that people are happy to work in.
how important is the generation z talent to clp power in terms of skills and workforce development, and what are some of your initiatives to attract them to work for the company?
I would say that all generations are very important to us because we need people who are committed so that we can deliver stable and reliable energy supply to Hong Kong. This is why we invest efforts to create an inclusive environment where colleagues from different generations can get along well.
Nonetheless, we are always looking for new blood. It’s important to create bonds and foster meaningful relationships with the younger communities through social activities. We have introduced both e-sports and physical sports activities like dragon boating to engage with the younger generations of workers.
social media has a huge role in the job search process these days, what are some of the best practices in digital talent engagement strategies that you can share?
Social media is an important channel for us to attract and engage with workers, because these virtual spaces are very accessible to our employees and job seekers.
We have updated our job portals to include short form videos featuring employees from different job functions, ages and backgrounds. This will improve the candidate experience and job seekers will not just be reading about our company and culture, but they will also get to see, sense and feel the vibe and environment at CLP Power.
But at the same time, we still need traditional channels like career talks with universities to recruit graduate interns or trainees, as well as job advertisements and recruiters to attract new talent.
how do you think CLP power’s employer branding efforts would change in the next 10 years in the face of changing employer-employee relationships and an ageing workforce?
In today's competitive job market, we need to act fast to adapt to the changing environment and the key elements are “diversity and inclusion”. We adapt and accommodate our strategy for different generations.
We host office visits so that kindergarteners and secondary school students can get to know CLP as a potential employer in the future. Through these activities, we also hope that more people will aspire to work in the energy industry as they grow up. We also regularly reach out to mid-career professionals through different channels and networks to increase our employer brand awareness.
The transcript has been paraphrased from the video production for reading clarity.
about the randstad employer brand award
The Randstad Employer Brand Awards is a reflection of employer attractiveness for Hong Kong’s 75 largest commercial employers known by at least 10% of the population. The results of the Randstad Employer Brand Awards are based on public perception and focus on two main areas:
- overall brand or company awareness
- absolute employer attractiveness
The awards are not open to nominations and the results are solely based on the opinions of the local workforce – making it the only award that truly represents ‘the people’s choice’.
The respondents were asked to identify companies whose names they recognise and indicate how much they wanted to work for them. This was then followed up with an evaluation of employee value proposition drivers, such as salary and employee benefits, work atmosphere, job content and more, for each of the commercial companies surveyed.
Curious to find out how the other 2022 Employer Brand Awards winners have strengthened their employer brand to attract new talent and retain their valued workforce? Read our interview with The Hong Kong Jockey Club or watch the video interview with Swire Properties.
A strong employer brand is important in every business in order to attract and retain key talents. Connect with us to learn more about employer branding, industry insights, hiring outlook and latest talent trends. To hire your future talent with a competitive edge, get in touch with our specialised recruiters and learn more about our bespoke HR solutions.