As part of the Ministry of Employment, Immigration & Civil Status’ ongoing plan to synchronize the partnership between the Ministry and the private sector, the Minister, Mrs. Myriam Telemaque, carried out fourteen workplace visits throughout the year 2019 in different establishments covering most industries, including manufacturing, retail and wholesale and hospitality, on Mahe, Praslin and La Digue.

During her visits the Minister and her delegation interacted with the workers at their workstations providing them the opportunity to freely express their challenges as well as talk about the good practices being implemented by their place of work and ended with briefing with the management.

In this centerspread we provide a review of all the visits conducted last year and will highlight some good practices achieved as a result.

                                       Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort

Berjaya Beau Vallon has been in existence since 1994, one of the oldest hotel in the country. It employs 201 workers, half of which are non-Seychellois with a good number of Seychellois workers with long years of service. The Minister commended them on their long service record, but encouraged for more to be done to improve on retention of new recruits to be able to reduce their component of non-Seychellois workers.

Hospitality Supplies Ltd –HSL

Situated at Bois de Rose with two different sites of business, the company is in wholesale. It employs 32 staff including 14 non Seychellois workers. Despite that many of the line staff are new, but expressed that they are happy to work for the organization. They raised few challenges such as lack of communication, health and safety concerns that if it could be addressed will make their experience and contribution even better.

Berjaya Praslin Resort

The hotel has staff with long years of service, up to 30 years who are happy to continue to work provided proper processes are put in place so that there are fairer treatments across the board. The hotel agreed to look into the possibility of being more accommodating to staff coming from Mahe so that they can attract others to come work for them, given the scarcity of labour on Praslin.

  Raffles Hotels

In February 2019, Minister Telemaque made a brief visit to Raffles while she was on Praslin to check on the progress made since her last visit in 2017. She was informed by the staff that there have been some positive changes implemented. At the same time they took the opportunity of her visit to discuss some other challenges that they were facing such as cross-training opportunities with sister companies overseas that is rarely available and the localization of post of which the Minister reassured them that it is being closely monitored.

APEX Hotel Supplies Ltd

 ISPC

The Minister visited another two establishments in wholesale/retail business during the year. The first visit was to Apex Hotel Supplies Ltd.  The company employs 94 workers including 12 non-Seychellois.  The second company visited was ISPC with 79 workers including 16 non-Seychellois. 

Being two companies in similar line of business, they had comparable challenges when it comes to management of their human resource. Both companies were encouraged to give some serious thoughts to this matter and consider formalizing this process for the benefit of all concerned.

Eden Bleu, Oceana Fisheries and La Digue Lodge

Eden Bleu and Oceana Fisheries are fairly stable with good percentage of local in employment amongst which quite a few have been in their respective positions for a long time. With both establishments their staff brought out certain concerns that they have including lack of communication, irregular appraisal process and activities to bring staff together in social setting, which management agreed to work on.

  Eden Bleu

A five star transit hotel situated on Eden Island employing 115 workers of which 68% are Seychellois. They have a good commendable recognition system for good performance but unfortunately does not apply to all staff. They are also amongst one of the two sizable hotels that give their staff 2 days off per week.

  Oceana Fisheries

Being a young company with 5 years under new management, they are steadily introducing new employment terms and conditions to attract new potential employees and retain them in employment such as giving their staff who work 6 days a week, one Saturday off per month.

La Digue Lodge

A hotel based on La Digue employing 128 workers of which 37% only are locals. It is the only workplace visited where the workers had no complaints whatsoever, stating that they are very much content with the new management. The hotel is also exemplary with many long service staff topping up to 40 years in service. The Minister commended management for this impressive record, asking that they nurture such talent while at the same time ensure they put in place strategies to be able to attract and retain the youth to train and groom so that they can take over from those retiring in the future. Concerns raised by management is that La Digue itself is a small market with most people either involved in their own business or employed in family business which makes it difficult to get qualified jobseekers.

Bliss Hotel

Situated on the northern shores of the Mahe Island Bliss Boutique Hotel was renamed ‘’Bliss Mahe Seychelles’’ on 01^st November 2018. It employs 43 workers of which 17 are Seychellois. Most of the staff expressed that they are happy with their work condition with a few raising concerns in regards of human resources. Management team gave their commitment to make positive changes in regards to points discussed.

CCCL

Civil Construction Company Limited-CCCL a well-known privatized company in the Seychelles, serving the construction industry since the 1^st November 1998, is one of the major providers of crusher and quarry products in the Seychelles. It currently employs 104 workers. The Minister was pleased to note that staff members were satisfied with their working conditions and that a good number are still there after many years despite the fact that the work environment can sometimes be harsh and uncomfortable. With few raising concerns, one observation that was discussed was the absence of incentives to attract and retain more locals to work in this type of environment. Certain proposals were made by the Minister for management’s consideration such as introduction of flexible working hours.

Coco De Mer Hotel Praslin