The Minister for Employment, Immigration and Civil Status, Miriam Telemaque, visited the Constance Ephelia Hotel and Resorts, as part of her ongoing program to synchronise the partnership between the ministry and the private establishments.

The Minister was accompanied by the Principal Secretary for Employment, Mr. Jules Baker, the Special Advisor for Employment Ms. Veronique Bresson, the Director General for Industrial Relations Mr. Steve Monnaie and other officials from her ministry.

The delegation was lead on a tour of the hotels facilities where they got the chance to interact with the workers in each departments, of which most expressed their general satisfaction with their working conditions. Several issues related to service charge, salary package, and career progression was however raised.

During the debriefing with management, Minister Telemaque commended the establishment for maintaining a status amongst the hotels with more local workers than expatriates and recognized the efforts made to improve the employees work life by providing infrastructures like a kindergarten.

It was recommended that management consider the issues raised by the workers and that they review the remuneration packages that entail different pay grades to better compensate between work experience and education level.  The General Manager, Mr. Stephenne Duchenne, said that it remains the spirit and core values of the Ephelia Group to find different ways and better incentives to retain staffs and create a learning environment to enable both personal development and on the job training.

The meeting closed with the Minister giving the assurance to Mr. Duchene, Mr. Orvilke, and the staffs of Ephelia of her ministry’s support and assurance and to continue the dialogue to find solutions to the challenges raised to improve employee performance and employer relations.