Press Releases 2003

Hong Kong's Best Employer showing corporate social responsibility NWSH and Urban Group jointly organize "1,000 Jobs" Recruitment Month attracts 650 fresh graduates applying for Executive Management Trainees
Date: 01/09/2003

Asia's service conglomerate in service, infrastructure and port NWS Holdings Limited (HKEx No 0659) and its property asset and facility management subsidiary Urban Group have jointly organized the "2003 NWSH - Urban Group '1,000 Jobs' Recruitment Month", providing 1,000 vacancies to the market with an aim to help reduce unemployment and show their corporate social responsibility.

The Launching Ceremony of "2003 NWSH - Urban Group '1,000 Jobs' Recruitment Month' cum The Recruitment Day for the "University Elite" Executive Management Trainees Programme was held on 26th August 2003 at the Jockey Club Auditorium of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The Ceremony attracted 650 fresh graduates from universities in Hong Kong to come for interview thus providing them an opportunity to join the Hong Kong property asset and facility management industry.

Officiating guests of the Ceremony have Mr K L Chan BBS, Chief Executive Officer of NWS Holdings Limited; Legislative Council Member of the HKSAR cum Chairman of Employees Retraining Board The Honourable Tam Yiu Chung GBS JP; Permanent Secretary for Economic Development and Labour (Labour) cum Commissioner for Labour Mr Matthew Cheung Kin Chung JP; Executive Directors of NWS Holdings Limited Mr Andrew Wong and Mr Patrick Lam; and Managing Director Dr Edmond Cheng and Deputy Managing Director Mr P C Lau of Urban Group.

During the Launching Ceremony, Mr K L Chan stated, "As a conglomerate employing over 20,000 employees in Hong Kong, NWS Holdings believes that our competitiveness can only be enhanced through recruiting the best people and providing them with quality training, which can bring in new inspirations for our sustainable business development in the future."

Mr K L Chan said, "Apart from generating profits, we always emphasize our social responsibility. Moreover, as we are founded from the society, we have to shoulder our corporate citizenship. Therefore, NWS Holdings very much expected that through this recruitment exercise, we can assist in reducing unemployment in Hong Kong and create opportunities for fresh graduates to contribute to the society.

Permanent Secretary for Economic Development and Labour (Labour) cum Commissioner for Labour Mr Matthew Cheung Kin Chung JP said in the Ceremony, "Among various industries, there is always a great demand of manpower resources in property management. As there will be a large number of buildings completed in the coming years, the demand for property management personnel is expected to be on the rise. Especially at this post-SARS period, the demand for high quality property management service is very evident. Therefore, property management industry could be said to have high development potential under the current human resources market."

Mr Cheung stated, "Urban Group is a large scale Property Asset and Facility Management Company, which has received numerous awards in the areas of human resources management, occupational safety and environmental protection. The Group enthusiastically supports the Government and participates in the 'Re-employment Programme for the Middle-Aged" of the Labour Department and the Employees Retraining Board to train up and employ people as property management supervisors. We thank Urban for this, and we think that today's recruitment day is very meaningful as the company is seeking for business expansion and providing large number of vacancies for the job seekers."

Whereas Dr Edmond Cheng, Managing Director of Urban Group stressed that "Following the outsourcing of non-core businesses of the Hong Kong Government and other large scale corporations in recent years, the property and facility management industry has been expanding rapidly. According to a recent human resources survey, there are 40 per cent increase in the number of people entering the property and facility management industry over the past few years, reflecting the business can create great employment opportunities under the current economic turmoil and help reduce unemployment in the territory."

"Just like Urban Group, we have been expanding rapidly over the last few years. Our management portfolio has been increasing from 100,000 units in 2000 to 180,000 units up to now, representing an impressive 80 per cent expansion in three years. We are now serving 1 million people in Hong Kong, which means that every 1 in 7 people in the territory is living or working in properties under our management." Dr Edmond Cheng elaborated.

Urban Group launched its "Urban Premier Management™ Model" in 2002 emphasizing "People, Process and Performance". It maintains its leading position in the industry by promoting its pioneering human capital approach to explore, train and develop potential human resources.

Dr Edmond Cheng said, "Through the interviews conducted for the 'University Elite' Executive Management Trainees Programme together with the recruitment exercises in the coming month, we want to recruit suitable employees for Urban as well as for our parent company NWS Holdings to cope with the rapid development of the Hong Kong service industry and to improve the current unfavourable economic situation."

Urban Group is the Largest and Premier Property Asset and Facility Management Company in Hong Kong. After its nomination as the Best Employer of Hong Kong in April this year, Urban Group obtained the 2003 HKMA Quality Award - Overall Winner presented by the Hong Kong Management Association in July, which is the highest honour in quality management in the territory, recognizing its outstanding performance and achievement in implementing total quality management.

Currently, Urban Group manages 320 properties and facilities in the territory comprising 180,000 residential units, more than 20 millions square feet of commercial and industrial premises and over 36,000 car parking spaces, with a total gross floor area of 200 million square feet.

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