Home > Press Releases > 2020 > ERB newly accredited 116 organisations as “Manpower Developers” and upgraded 69 “Manpower Developers” as “Super MDs” under the “ERB Manpower Developer Award Scheme”

The Employees Retraining Board (ERB) announces today (30 September 2020) the latest list of “Manpower Developers” (“MDs”) under the “ERB Manpower Developer Award Scheme” (“MD Scheme”), with a total of 450 organisations being newly accredited or renewed of their status as MDs.  Among those, 69 MDs holding the MD status for 10 consecutive years are upgraded as “Super MDs”.

To promote and instill a corporate culture advocating the importance of manpower training and development, ERB launched the MD Scheme in December 2009 to recognise organisations which demonstrate outstanding achievements in manpower training and developments as MDs.  An upgrading mechanism was introduced in 2019-20 in which MDs holding the award status for 10 consecutive years will be acknowledged as “Super MDs” and the validity period will be extended from two years to five years with a view to recognising their continuous achievements.

In 2020-21, 116 public and private organisations are newly acknowledged as MDs, including 56 organisations under the “General Enterprises (Non-SMEs)” category, 49 organisations under the “SMEs” category and 11 organisations under the “Government Departments, Public Bodies and NGOs” category, having a combined staff size of over 70,000 employees, offering about 1.8 million training hours during the year, representing an average of 26 training hours for each employee in a year.  Moreover, 334 MDs are renewed of their status, among which 69 of them are upgraded as Super MDs, together with another 98 MDs within the validity period of MD status, making a cumulative total of 548 MDs straddling 31 industries.  

ERB commends MDs for optimising their resources and competitive advantages and tying in with the characteristics and needs of their own business nature to implement innovative and effective training measures, like setting up “Corporate Academy” to strengthen the professional knowledge of their employees and provide a career pathway for those interested to join the industries.  Some organisations deploy artificial intelligence and big data technology to replace traditional classroom training with electronic training system, thus allowing personalised training to better suit the learning needs of individual employees.  In addition, the new SME MDs make good use of external resources to encourage staff members to participate in training courses and seminars organised by different trade associations and chambers of commerce, sparing no efforts in promoting exchange between employees and their counterparts and enhancing the competitiveness of both the company and staff members on a continuous basis.

Moreover, MDs are responsive and supportive to ERB’s employer services and activities, such as offering professional advice to SMEs by participating in the “SME Mentorship Programme”; attending “Workplace Experience Activities for Secondary School Students” to share practical experience and industry prospects, helping students map out their career paths; and joining work experience activities to arrange special social groups to visit workplace and attend job interviews for the purpose of encouraging them to enter the labour market and unleashing the potential workforce.

ERB appoints the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency as the Technical Consultant of the MD Scheme 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, joining hands to cultivate a common social value to attach great importance to manpower training and development, and foster the awareness of the employers and employees of the importance of training and continuous upgrading, and enhancing the quality of human resources in Hong Kong at large.

Lists of Super MDs, Newly Accredited MDs and Renewing MDs for this year are at Annex 1, Annex 2 and Annex 3 respectively and the MD Scheme website www.erb.org/md.