In the world of HR it’s easy to live in a Hong Kong of plush offices and gleaming commercial buildings. When looking past the bright lights and glittering facades that make up Hong Kong, however, there exists an underbelly of poverty and despair. Martin Radford, Executive Director, Inner City Ministries Ltd (ICM) is helping to bridge skills gaps among some of the poorest workforce sectors in Hong Kong.
Radford and his team have developed and implemented a professional catering training programme: Taste of Grace, which trains up new immigrants from South East Asian ethnic minorities for employment in the F&B sector.
Poverty cover-up
ICM, founded in 1998, is a Christian not-for-profit organisation which welcomes all members of ethnic minorities through its doors for practical skills training programmes. In reality, 90% of attendees are of Nepalese origin and are related to Gurkhas, or are former Gurkhas themselves. The Gurkhas once thrived in Hong Kong with British Army social status but as Chris Patten sailed out of Victoria Harbour in 1997, many highly-trained Nepalese Gurkhas were forced to accept dramatic drops in salary—mainly taking jobs as security guards. Radford explained, “They never actually recovered from that place. They had moved their families here and did not want to leave as they had made Hong Kong their home. Of the 1.2 million people who live with a monthly income below HKD 4,000—the Nepalese community is one of the poorest.” He added, “Hong Kong hides its poverty very well. This community is very poorly integrated into Hong Kong society; economically and socially, there exists considerable discrimination. They do not expect to get better jobs, and people do not expect them to get a better job.”
What’s a career?
Radford believes that through education, and teaching the value of education to those who have had no experience of what education provides, a lasting transformation can be created. He commented that many children in this sector go to the lowest band schools and sometimes drop out for a variety of reasons including a lack of support at home. He explained, “They do not understand the word ‘career’, only the word ‘job’ and dysfunctional families have often resulted from the region’s severe urban poverty. Nepalese family homes in Hong Kong frequently cannot support children doing
their homework as their living conditions are exceptionally cramped, even by Hong Kong standards, and both parents are likely to work extremely long hours. To help, ICM provides assistance for such children with their homework and teaches them core skills. Radford pointed out that they are not trying to be a tutoring centre, but rather trying to get the children to take ownership of their own lives and future career paths.
Success in gap filling
The organisation has seen some post-training success in the service industry, with both women and men—but mainly
women—being taken on as bar staff or restaurant servers in companies such as Pret A Manger. With the pre-handover stream of British-automatic-visa-travellers—who were happy to take F&B work in Hong Kong—having dried up, and employment prospects for local Hong Kong citizens steadily rising, a skills gap has been created in service industries. This is particularly true for frontline F&B positions—where good English is also often required. More often than not, ethnic minorities are filling these vacancies. Radford expressed, “Local Nepalese tend to fit the service industry very well—they do regard service as an honourable thing.” He added, “Men, however, tend to choose jobs in the construction industry, receiving on average HKD 800 a day—this work is, however, seasonal and ephemeral.” Radford expressed concern that a major threat to the development of young Nepalese workers was the reality that they are generally not very well versed with the employment ordinance and even when offered a job are often exploited by unscrupulous employers.
Cooking pots of transformation
Taste of Grace has been developed since 2007 by ICM, in partnership with Yang Memorial Methodist Social Services and the Employment Retraining Board, into a three-month certified course with more than 138 graduates to date. Radford explained that the organisation can only offer training to refugees, not asylum seekers, due to visa status restrictions. The training goes far beyond Nepalese curries, and the ICM has since secured a food factory license, giving the programme more hope that in the not-so-distant future it may become a self-sustaining social enterprise. Feedback from the catering industry is that ICM’s graduates make good employees who work hard and have pleasant manners. Radford explained, “We’re trying to invest in the people, and this course has empowered participants and allowed them to change their life, both in employment or at home.”
Training challenges
As with any learning and development programme, there have been challenges to face and Radford conceded, “The sheer scope of the need to empower people to see above the basic job level has been a great challenge.” To meet this challenge, ICM does not simply offer the chance to gain the necessary skills to work in a kitchen, but also develops its participants’ knowledge on interview skills, taxation and MPF. Radford added that getting past the prejudice and helping the participants to see a career path is a struggle. He concluded, “There is a huge scope of opportunities available in the hotel industry but education is crucial in giving vision and direction.”
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
