Home > Press Releases > 2018 > ERB Manpower Developer Award Scheme (2017-18), 99 organisations newly honoured as “Manpower Developers”

The Employees Retraining Board (ERB) organised the Presentation Ceremony of the “ERB Manpower Developer Award Scheme” 2017-18 (MD Scheme) on 4 May 2018.  The ceremony was officiated by Dr. the Hon. Lam Ching-choi, BBS, JP, Member of the Executive Council, and Mr. Henry Fung Hing-lai, the Political Assistant to Secretary for Labour and Welfare, together with Dr. William Leung Wing-cheung, SBS, JP, the Chairman of ERB, Mr. Yu Pang-chun, SBS, JP, the Vice-chairman of ERB, and Mr. Byron Ng Kwok-keung, BBS, the Executive Director of ERB,.

This year, 99 organisations are newly acknowledged as "Manpower Developers" (MDs), together with 261 renewing MDs, making a cumulative total of 464 MDs from 30 industries.  The 99 new MDs including 51 organisations under the “Non-SME” category, 32 organisations under the “SME” category and 16 organisations under the “Government Department, Public Body and NGO” category, have a combined staff size of over 60,000 employees, offering about 1.6 million training hours during the year, representing an average of 25 training hours for each employee in a year.

In his welcome address, Dr. William Leung pointed out that Hong Kong is facing dual challenges of an ageing population and a shrinking workforce.  To address the challenges and respond to the prevailing environment effectively, ERB has been actively worked in tandem with the Government to implement the Population Policy by providing appropriate and timely training courses and placement services, with a view to uplifting the quality and skills level of our labour force on the one hand; and helping to unleash the latent workforce including homemakers, women, ethnic minorities, young people, new arrivals and mature persons on the other.

Dr. Leung commended MDs for optimising their resources in deploying innovative training measures, like setting up “Corporate Academy”, devising training point earning system and developing professional certification training programmes in collaboration with education institutes; and serving as role models for other enterprises in investing in manpower training.

Dr. Leung expressed his gratitude to MDs for their participation and support to ERB’s services and activities, such as sharing industry best practices with counterparts in ERB seminars, volunteering as mentors in the “SME Mentorship Programme”, participating in “Career Talk for School” and “Work Experience Activity” to help secondary school students chart their career pathways, providing in-house training through the “Enterprise-based Training Scheme”, and joining “Work Experience Day” to arrange special groups to visit workplace and attend interviews.

Dr. Leung revealed that in 2018-19, ERB will adopt a horizontal cum vertical modus operandi under the “T Strategy” to expand the width and optimise the depth of its services, and implement its work under the policy objective of “Promoting Training and Facilitating Employment”.  In particular, ERB will step up collaboration with industry organisations and employers through the provision and enhancement of different employer services, like organising the “Services for SMEs”, “Thematic Seminar for Employers” and “Package Tour for Job Fair”, so as to support their training and recruitment needs, while at the same time, enhance the employment opportunities of ERB trainees.  He called upon the continued support of all MDs with a view to facilitating ERB trainees to enter the employment market and move upward in the society, as well as propelling the economy forward.

The Hong Kong Productivity Council is the Technical Consultant of the MD Scheme, with the responsibility to assess the overall performance of participating organisations in five areas, namely, "Leading a Learning Culture", "Resources Planning", "Training and Development System", "Performance Management", and "Corporate Social Responsibility in Manpower Development".  Prominent figures in the academia as well as the continuing education and human resources sectors are invited as Honorary Advisors of the Scheme to offer advice on the accreditation mechanism.  ERB has also solicited the support of trade associations and professional organisations in promoting the MD Scheme.

Lists of new MDs and Renewing MDs for 2018-20 are as below: