HR World: The Full Monte
The staff outing to Monaco that cost £24m, and other HR stories from around the globe
Chinese workers holiday with the boss
Want to incentivise your staff and build loyalty? Forget pay rises, flexible working and on-site gyms – simply take them on an all-expenses-paid luxury holiday to the other side of the world.
It might sound extreme, but that’s exactly what Chinese billionaire Li Jinyuan did earlier this month, according to a report in the Independent. And it’s not just a few of his employees who benefitted, either, but 6,400 of them.
Li, the owner of multinational direct sales company the Tiens Group, paid £24m for the four-day trip to France and Monaco to celebrate the firm’s 20th anniversary. The workers took over 140 hotels in Paris and enjoyed tours of the Louvre and Eiffel Tour, before travelling by train to the Cote d’Azur, where they checked into around 4,670 rooms in four- and five-star hotels in Nice and Monaco. In Nice, 147 buses had been booked to transport the group to the beach.
As well as being a bonus for the workers, the trip has been a coup for the French economy, with the group estimated to have spent €33m during their time in the country.
While the trip was billed as a holiday, the company, which operates in sectors ranging from biotechnology and logistics to finance and property, also leveraged it for maximum PR. At the beach the employees – dressed in blue and white company T-shirts and hats – moved into formation to spell out, “Tiens’ dream is Nice in the Cote D’Azur,” in a successful attempt to break the Guinness world record for the longest man-made sentence visible from space.
And if going on holiday with your boss, being compelled to wear matching clothes and taking part in a massive publicity stunt make an otherwise incredible perk sound somewhat less appealing, it’s worth remembering that old adage, “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch” – or in this case, a free international mini-break.
Kiwi workers want workplaces that inspire
When it comes to office design, it’s a rare employee who would admit to actively liking drab walls, dubious-coloured carpet and creativity-sapping rows of desks. But New Zealand workers have gone one step further, with 81 per cent declaring that their physical working environment has a direct correlation to their happiness and job satisfaction, according to a poll by Spaceworks Design Group, reported by HRM Asia.
The same survey found that more than three-quarters of those questioned would be more likely to remain with their existing employer if their workspace was inspiring, while nearly six in 10 felt office design would be a key factor in their decision to work for a company in the first place.
But it seems that Kiwi companies are not meeting their workers’ expectations in this area: only four in 10 respondents felt their employer was keeping up with trends in workspace design, and only half felt their working environment fuelled innovation and creativity.
Japanese ad firm takes team building to another level… literally
New recruits at Japan’s biggest advertising agency are usually on top of the world after winning a much-coveted place at the firm – or, if not on top of world, then at least on top of the country’s highest mountain.
According to a recent report in AdvertisingAge, all young hires and newly promoted executives at Dentsu Inc., one of the largest ad agencies in the world, are required to climb Mount Fuji, which at 12,388ft is Japan’s tallest.
The ritual, which dates back to 1925 and takes place every July, involves an overnight hike over the volcanic rock and ash landscape to arrive at the summit just in time for sunset. Once there, the employees write and send postcards to clients from the summit’s post office, and pray for the company’s prosperity in front of a traditional Shinto shrine.
If needed, the group can make use of rest huts on the mountain. “There were four executives kind of spooning each other on two tatami mats – it was close quarters,” executive VP Tim Andree, a 6ft 11in American who did the climb a few years ago, told AdvertisingAge.
But while it’s undoubtedly a bonding experience, the climb is also about ambition, says former employee Christopher Demetrakos. “The message is, ‘We are going to conquer the one symbol that represents Japan more than anything else.’ And, ‘once we do that, it will signify that we can do anything.’”
A third of US hiring managers suffer from foot-in-mouth disease
It seems that it’s not only applicants that are capable of making a boo-boo during a job interview. According to a survey by CareerBuilder, one in five US hiring managers have asked a question that they later found out was illegal.
“It’s important for both interviewer and interviewee to understand what employers do and don’t have a legal right to ask in a job interview – for both parties’ protection,” says Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer at CareerBuilder.
“Though their intentions may be harmless, hiring managers could unknowingly be putting themselves at risk for legal action, as a job candidate could argue that certain questions were used to discriminate against him or her.”
Somewhat shockingly, the survey found that at least one in three employers did not know that the following questions were illegal:
- What’s your religious/political affiliation?
- What’s your race, colour or ethnicity?
- How old are you?
- Are you disabled?
- Are you married/pregnant?
- Do you have children or plan to?
- Are you in debt?
- Do you social drink or smoke?
Rather more understandably, the following questions were also a cause of confusion.
- When do you plan to retire? This question is illegal, but you can ask about long-term goals.
- Where do you live? This could be viewed as discriminatory, but it’s OK to ask someone if they’re willing to relocate.
- What was the nature of your military discharge? This is off the table. However, asking about a candidate’s experience in the military is not.
- Are you a US citizen? This is illegal, but it’s fine to ask if someone is legally eligible for employment in the US.
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