Ministerial Visit to Air Seychelles
'Business as normal' at Air Seychelles
The department of employment will be working in close collaboration with Air Seychelles Ltd to improve on the working conditions of the airline's staff.
This statement was made by the Minister for Employment, Immigration and Civil Status, Myriam Télémaque, after a series of ministerial visits she and her delegation undertook at Air Seychelles on September 21 and 22, 2017.
This forms part of her ministry's plan to conduct visits at different work places so as to interact with employees and better gauge their conditions of employment.
Due to the large scale of Air Seychelles which currently employs over 800 people, the visits spanned over two days and included tours at the company's Victoria sales offices, its Praslin terminal operations as well as operations at and near the international airport.
Minister Télémaque's visit revealed a lot of concerns from Air Seychelles staff, who were more than ready to list down their list of grievances to the minister and her team.
On the subject of redundancies, Air Seychelles confirmed to the ministerial delegation that there are currently no plans to make any employees redundant.
"What we have suggested to the management of Air Seychelles is to at least talk to their employees. Give them a timeframe as to when they will discuss on the issue of redundancy so as to remove doubts that they could lose their jobs," Minister Télémaque stated.
In an interview with the press, Mr Kinnear stated that the speculation on redundancies at Air Seychelles are unfounded.
"This is business as normal. I expect everyone to turn up and do a full day's hard work as I would expect on any day of the week," he said.
As to other speculations that Etihad is not injecting money into Air Seychelles and the latter will soon have to end its merger with the UAE carrier in light of challenges faced by Alitalia and Air Berlin, Mr Kinnear replied: "Etihad remains a fully committed stakeholder. The management contract has been renewed for the second five-year contract period as communicated earlier in the year. What is going on elsewhere in the world, with other European stakeholders does not in any way reflect on the Etihad-Air Seychelles relationship."
Air Berlin and Alitalia, two of Etihad's high profile investments, both filed for insolvency earlier this year.
Concerning salary increase, Mr Kinnear had this to say: "Some staff have had salary increases, some departments have had salary increases. We have got an ongoing range of vacancies going on every week and every month for staff to apply for promotions."
"I'm a big believer in internal promotion. I like to see people apply for a job that is a higher grid, they earn more salaries out of it, take up more responsibilities and develop their skills sets as well," explained Mr Kinnear.
He also stated that staff cannot remain in one job for an infinite period and expect to receive salary increments for the same type of work they have been doing for 10, 20 or even 30 years.
"In that way you are not rewarding for performance or productivity" but rather for longevity, which according to Mr Kinnear is no way to run a business.
Air Seychelles staff therefore have to distinguish themselves among their peers and perform to their utmost capacity to receive performance-related increments.
However, the airline's management will be exploring options for their low-salaried, shift-based employees.
When asked about the way forward now that these issues have been brought to their attention, Mr Kinnear guaranteed his staff that every single item raised during the debriefing session will be reviewed by the company.
"Sometimes comments are misinterpreted, sometimes they are made out of context and sometimes they are very valid. There will be a mix of things that will need addressing and there will be a mix of things that may have been borne out of confusion or misinterpretation. We now have to work with the staff and managers, and communicate to the staff to help understand what actions are to be taken," added Mr Kinnear.
The department of employment is expected to hand over an official report to the management of Air Seychelles and conduct a follow-up visit early next year.
The accompanying photographs show the minister and her team interacting with staff as well as a debriefing session with the airline's chief executive and his managerial team.
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Employment, Immigration and Civil Status Myriam Telemaque led a delegation on a working visit to the Savoy Resort & Spa yesterday.
The objective of the visit was to interact with staff, get to know their views, challenges as well as benefits being offered in their workplace.
Secondly the visit was aimed at ensuring a better understanding of the on ground operations of the workplaces and to see whether they are abiding by employment regulations.
Speaking of the visit, Employment principal secretary Jules Baker said that Savoy being a new hotel of only four years old faces challenges when it comes to staff and human resources management as staff have indicated some deficiencies in the area of communications and a proper management structure for reporting and feedback.
"Savoy is a very nice hotel and the staff are happy to work here but there are HR issues that need to be dealt with in the immediate, medium and long-term as they feel that decisions are being taken without the staff being informed," Mr Baker said.
He explained that this is a common problem in some of the establishments visited and appealed to all workplaces to establish better communication procedures between management, human resources and staff members.
"This will help establish a structure where the employees will feel comfortable to bring forward their difficulties, views, suggestions and recommendations as we have seen in many instances where employees with a lot of work experience do not have the leeway to contribute towards the development of the organisation," Mr Baker said.
Yesterday was Minister Telemaque's third visit for this year which forms part of a series of visits which she started last year after being appointed as minister.
The visits are aimed at establishing better contact between the employment department and the working establishments.
Last year, Minister Telemaque carried out twelve visits to various workplaces across Mahé, Praslin, La Digue and Félicité island such as Casino Liberte, Global Supplies Centre, Seychelles Ports Authority (SPA), Air Seychelles, Ile du Port Handling Services (IPHS), Constance Ephelia Hotel and Resort, Le Domaine de L'Orangeraie and Six Senses-Zil Pasyon Resort Ltd.
Mr Baker added that following such visits, there are follow up visits done by an employment technical team to physically assess what the minister and her delegation have seen and heard and then a written recommendation and deadline to rectify the problems is sent to the organisation.
"The dozen of visits we've undertaken have been very fruitful as we had a structured work plan and a set of recommendations for organisations to follow. So far some have given very good feedback on the recommendations put forward by the department while others are in the process or restructuring. I am 85% happy with the ministerial visits," Mr Baker said.
Members of the ministerial delegation on the visit to Savoy Resort and Spa also included special advisor Veronique Bresson, technical advisor Susan Morel, director general for labour relations Steve Monnaie, director for special employment programme Letimy Dookley and other senior employment officers.
Minister Telemaque identifies active and consistent procedures as an absolute necessity if we want to enhance the implementation of development and localization at organisational levels. This was her firm message during her first visit to a tourism establishment that forms part of the industry, one of the main employments in the country.
The Minister of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status began the year 2018 ministerial visits as she visited the Carana Beach Hotel, along the North Coast Road. The hotel renowned for its luxurious environment retains a higher number of local workers at 63 to non-Seychellois workers at 33 attracting a commendation for the mentioned process put in place to provide ample opportunity for local workers. The hotel also retains a young workforce creating suitable training for young students from professional centres and assisting them develop a career which is in line with the minister's emphasis on the necessity for understudies.
The regular routine of ministerial visits begins with a brief introduction of the ministerial delegation to the administrative staff and the pre-scheduled tour of the premises. This provides the Minister with an opportunity to observe and interact with the workers at their individual work stations. After the tour, the ministerial delegation has a debriefing with the management of the hotel; during this session, the issues raised during the tour are discussed, commendations are made where good practices are observed, best practices are shared and support is provided for the workers and establishments in the form of proposed guidelines and monitoring.
The visit spurred positive feedback in line with the suitable salary scheme, development opportunities and pleasant management, so also did it raise concerns of which some were related to staff meals which the workers felt could be better and a more appropriate means of transportation for the workers that reside far from the hotel. The workers with fixed days off expressed their preference for a rotated off days arrangement. Also the unavailability of rest areas for workers with split shifts presented an inconvenience for the workers while waiting for their next shift to begin and finally the gardeners requested for more suitable and appropriate protective gears.
As a strategy for staff retention, the ministry advised the hotel management to conduct a more frequent tete-a-tete with staff in order to better understand, meet the needs and create job satisfaction among their workers. The ministry also proposed the introduction of a health and safety officer which the hotel is in the process of recruiting as well as more kitchen staff.
After the visit, the Minister expressed appreciation for their hospitality and satisfaction in the working conditions of the hotel.
The Minister of Employment Mrs. Myriam Telemaque reviews the state of affairs of the L'Union Estate on La Digue for a more cooperative and structured working environment.
The estate falls under the country's agricultural industry and it produces a wide range of plants from vegetables to spices as well as livestock. Situated on La Digue, it also presents a tourist attraction for the spacious environment and farm land. The estate employs a number of 82 workers of which 67 are local and 15 are non-Seychellois.
Previously visited on the 2nd of March 2017, the estate had some issues identified prior to that visit of which some were addressed.
The Minister during this visit was accompanied by a delegation on a tour of the estate observing the plant and livestock areas. She discussed with the workers at their work station and visited others at different stations encouraging them to work together and asking pertinent questions in regards to their challenges and opinion of their work. Generally the workers uttered satisfactory comments about the estate and how they enjoyed their jobs though there were crucial concerns raised on a number of topics such as inadequate level of support by management coupled with inequity in treatment of staff and insufficient staff welfare.
The estate employs an encouraging number of long service staff; having worked with the farm for an impressive number of years are that the ministry has pressed should be consolidated.
After the tour of the premises, the Minister held a meeting with the CEO of the estate and the Human Resource Manager during which the concerns raised were discussed emphasising the need for collaborative effort from both the workers and the management. The Human Resource Manager proposed a number of programmes she intends to consider which included a salary structure, team building activities, in-house training and a better staff welfare. This will create provision for a more structured operation, presenting a clearer pathway in the administration, fairness in treatment and a general improvement in job satisfaction.
