Escape Singapore – Wherefrom, Hong Kong (produced images and text)
Share magazine – HK Travel Feature (produced images and text)
Luxe Nomad – Song Saa Resort Review (produced images and text)
Coconuts HK – Clockenflap Review (produced images, text and video)
Aspire Magazine – Kowloon Walled City Article (produced images and text)
A selection of shots published by Coconuts HK.
Although it has been a fairly good start to the year for the employment market, not everyone is cooking with gas just yet, as the Hudson Report: Employment Trends for Q1 2013 shows.
The report, which surveyed 5,900 employers from four major industries, found that IT&T (information technology and telecommunications) was the only industry with increased positive hiring intentions. On the other side of the coin, hiring intentions dropped seven percentage points in the consumer-business sector, ten points in manufacturing and industrial, and 0.5 points in banking and financial services (banking and financial-services employers also showed the strongest intentions to decrease headcount).
Tony Pownall, general manager of Hudson Hong Kong, says that the drop in the consumer-business sector reflects the fact that mainland visitors are not buying as much as they used to. Hiring in IT&T, meanwhile, is being driven by demand from businesses to improve both efficiency and profitability via technology.
“Permanent-hiring restrictions among some multinational corporations are resulting in increased demand for vendor services and there is a continuing trend towards the outsourcing of core IT functions,” he says. “Big data and the technology associated with manipulating it to support decision-making and improved customer relationships are also continuing to grow in popularity.”
The outsourcing trend is not just within IT&T. The report also shows that contracting roles are slowly growing in acceptance in Hong Kong, with a third of businesses using contractors more regularly.
Pownall says that part of the reason for this is that workloads are up 41.8 per cent compared to a year ago. This is being driven largely by more projects (according to 75.3 per cent of respondents), which naturally lend themselves to contracting support.
He adds, though, that stable jobs have always been favoured in Hong Kong. “High living costs and cultural-status issues drive a preference for permanent roles, and contracting is still not seen as a lifestyle choice as it is in other markets,” he says. “Sometimes companies switch contract roles to permanent roles in order to improve their chances of finding a good candidate.”
Good candidates with the right skills, however, are rather thin on the ground. Marc Burrage, regional director of Hays in Hong Kong, says that this shortage is triggering companies to use more flexible staffing tactics, such as looking overseas or outsourcing.
“We still have a skills shortage and are seeing more employers willing to hire or sponsor qualified overseas candidates in skill-short areas,” he says. “Many more are now using flexible staffing approaches than in the past 12 months as part of a flexible approach.”
The use of these workers is likely to increase even more over the next year as Hong Kong looks set to continue as a candidate-short market, he adds.
This shortage goes a long way in explaining another of the Hudson report’s findings – that staff retention is the top HR priority for Hong Kong employers, with 28.4 per cent placing it above all other concerns.
“Employers are very aware of the challenges of securing the right talent, which are exacerbated by skills shortages and challenges in securing headcount approvals,” Pownall says.
He adds that employers are conscious of the fact that strong employee engagement is the key to staff retention, and a high staff turnover causes disruption and affects productivity.
“The right people in the right roles are critical to retaining staff, so giving due consideration to behavioural and motivational fit is important, as these are far more effective indicators of high performance than technical skills,” he says.
Pallavi Anand, director of Robert Half Hong Kong, says that she has also observed a fresh emphasis on staff retention recently as a result of companies being at greater risk of losing their best talent to competitors.
“Whether companies are looking to retain or hire new employees, they need to ensure that they are offering more than just an attractive salary,” she says. “Candidates want to clearly understand how a company can help them build their skill sets and develop their career. In such a competitive market, factors such as a clear career path, a commitment to work-life balance, and greater responsibilities and challenges will strongly influence individual career decisions and help firms attract and retain talent.”
Originally published in South China Morning Post, March 23, 2013
View 62 / The Executive Centre at Three Pacific Place –
As one of Hong Kong’s first urban areas, Wan Chai is a busy commercial hub that is home to many small and medium-sized firms, as well as consular offices and shipping companies.
Located midway between the west and east sides of Hong Kong Island, Wan Chai boasts an efficient, convenient and highly accessible transport infrastructure. The district also has numerous office towers, parks, hotels and an international conference and exhibition centre.
All of these make Wan Chai an attractive locale for doing business, with establishments such as the recently opened View 62 and The Executive Centre at Three Pacific Place set up to capitalise on the area’s corporate population.
Occupying what was formerly the R66 restaurant atop the Hopewell Centre, View 62 boasts a stunning panorama and interior design. As the city’s only revolving restaurant, it is ideal for a working lunch, after-work drinks or meeting and greeting clients.
The restaurant was conceptualised by two-star Michelin chef Paco Roncero, who is known for his avant-garde cuisine in Madrid. Thus, amid View 62’s
contemporary interior design, one can savour contemporary dishes such as the creamy omelette in a martini glass or the Chilean sea bass with “Iberico Air” (foam from 60-month-aged Iberico ham).
After lunch, business road warriors hoping to catch up on some work can head to The Executive Centre at Three Pacific Place and choose from 43 offices with customisable sizes. It also has conference and training facilities, including a video-conference room. Tenants at the Grade-A office tower include The Bank of New York, Microsoft Hong Kong and Philips Electronics.
Full virtual-office packages – which come with a business address, phone-answering service, mail and message management, plus 60 hours of workspace use and three hours of meeting room use – start at HK$3,200.
Originally published in South China Morning Post, December 2012
The talented people from Dining Concepts have done it again, with Carnevino being another successful partnership between the budding restaurant group and the New York-based chef Mario Balti.
With the dust has barely settled on the opening of Mario Batali’s Lupa in LHT Tower on Queen’s Road Central, the busy chef-lebrity has just opened his second restaurant in Hong Kong, Carnevino, in the same building one floor above. Although both restaurants are targeted at a similar set of clients, Carnevino is slightly more upscale and formal than Lupa, with the new restaurant actually being part of an award-winning chain from Las Vegas. Continue reading Steak Out – Carnevino
As a place where metallic winged giants once soared meters from the washing lines of people’s tenement apartments, and where an unpoliced mini-city formerly survived outside of society without law or order, the noisy, gritty and captivating Kowloon Bay is a little spot where the Hong Kong of old still lives on.
Gallery here. Continue reading Bay of Distinction
As time is money in hectic Hong Kong, many cannot go to the gym to lose those extra kilograms gained during executive lunches.
If one can’t go to the gym, the gym can come to those who want some exercise – in the comfort of home.
A home gym does not occupy as much space as one might think, and it doesn’t have to contain complex equipment. They are easy to customise, based on individual tastes and a reflection of one’s own needs.
When setting up a home gym, one should think about space, ventilation, comfortable flooring, music systems, mirrors and washrooms.
Some of the most common equipment used in home gyms includes treadmills, a multipurpose bench, squat track, Swiss balls, jump ropes, yoga mats, plus weightlifting equipment such as dumbbells or free weights.
Or in the case of Shelly Chan, who is the director of retail operations at a major international hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, a treadmill will do nicely.
Despite her busy work and social life, Chan wants a balanced life, spreading her time between work, family and leisure. Unfortunately, this means other things in life, such as exercise, are often discarded.
Chan is determined not to let this state of affairs continue. With no time to go to a gym and even less time to go out and exercise, she has set up her own home workout routine which, thanks to a treadmill and advice from a Life Fitness coach, allows her to keep everything in check.
“A home gym has many advantages,” Chan says. “I have two girls in local schools and they have quite a lot of homework. After I come home in the evenings, I need to take care of them and check their homework, so time is quite tight.
“Making use of a home gym helps with this, as it not only allows me to have a workout in the evenings, after helping the girls, it also enables me to talk to them at the same time – or even talk on the phone and do other stuff.”
Chan’s first foray into the fitness world was in the United States several years ago, when she joined a local gym that was a few minutes’ drive from her home. In Hong Kong, gyms are quite different as she found out after joining one for a short while when she moved back here.
“If you average it out, a home gym is cheaper than joining a gym and there are other benefits, too,” she says. “Gyms in Hong Kong are too pushy, especially for women. Staff tend to push hard not only for gym memberships, but also for facials, massage and skincare products as well.
“A home gym is also very handy because I can take a shower whenever I want without having to wait, and there are fewer distractions at home. At a gym, you might run into somebody you know, but at home I have the option to focus on something else while I am working out, or give it my full concentration,” Chan says.
“I just don’t have the time to go to a gym and work out. Visiting a gym at lunch is too rushed as I have to get some food at the same time and, after work, I don’t have the time as I finish quite late and have to come home to the girls and my mind is not relaxed either. Not to mention, traffic in Hong Kong is crazy.”
The onus in a home gym should be on ensuring quality equipment, not quantity.
“The great thing about a home gym is that it is very easy to add to the equipment as you see fit,” Chan says. “I just need to focus on a few areas, so I just have a piece of equipment for my back and a treadmill from Life Fitness.”
She says home gyms are becoming a more popular exercise option among her colleagues and friends.
Chan adds that staying healthy is becoming more important the older she gets. “I’ve seen a lot of colleagues who have become sick and I’d like to keep an eye on my health as much as possible,” she says.
Ash Wayburne, director of T8 Fitness in Hong Kong, says home gyms are flexible. “There are many options when it comes to working out at home. In Hong Kong, flexibility is key, as everybody has busy schedules.
“Being able to do a full body workout at home is a massive benefit. It also means that exercise is always available, and can easily become part of your daily routine.
“We know everybody is busy. We have products that can be used at home, on the road, or even at the office – there are no excuses. We try our best to combine quality and affordability, while taking into account the fact that most people do not have much space in Hong Kong.”
Wayburne has seen the fitness equipment sector in Hong Kong go from strength to strength. “People are looking for alternative options to conventional workouts – whether it be something like Pilates, boot-camp style workouts, or working out at home. Space is still a barrier in Hong Kong, but people are becoming much more aware of their health and, more importantly, are prepared to do something about it.”
Originally published in LuxeHomes South China Morning Post, November 2012
Envisage – if you will – the tourism of the future, and no I don’t mean some Richard Branson utopian form of space tourism, I mean the kind of Star Trek tourism where you could beam yourself into another life for a day, Total Recall style. Imagine if science fiction came true and you could be just like Arnie – you could buy yourself a piece of memory revealing the idyllic escapade of a lifetime. There would be no environmental problems, no harmful detriments on society, not a centimeter of construction or pollution involved, and no greedy conglomerates to steal profit or culture from the locals. Welcome to the future, welcome to ecotourism.
Actually, in all honesty you can just go straight on imagining, because my allegorical metaphor isn’t specifically exact, but ecotourism does mange to alleviate some of these problems. I am sure most people have heard of ecotourism by now and it really is a love or hate concept. You either take the hedonistic ‘live life, screw the environment’ standpoint or stand on the opposing ‘bored of classical tourism, let’s have an authentic experience and save the environment at the same time’ side. I may refer to the latter stance sarcastically, but really whomever ecotourism attracts; the eventuality does more good than harm.
Continue reading Sightseeing with a Conscience – Ecotourism, Kota Kinabalu
Shanghai ifc, 8 Century Avenue, Lujiazui, Pudong 200120 China
Although the impressively groundbreaking Ritz Carlton Hong Kong just opened barely a few months ago another equally impressive milestone from the group has been making a steady stream of waves over in Shanghai city for the past few months as well. Officially opened back at the end of last year, the Ritz Carlton Pudong is a marvel to behold and, like the Ritz Carlton Hong Kong, the fresh new Shanghai property also boasts a large number of breathtaking feats, including Shanghai’s highest al fresco dining and wining venue, awe-inspiring design traces, plus unrivalled hotel-wide views over Shanghai. Developed by Hong Kong locals, Sun Hung Kai Properties, the hotel is a real stunner and it is unmistakably evident that no expenses were spared in the creation of this masterpiece. Set amidst the upper floors of the Cesar Pelli-designed Shanghai ifc, the hotel reaches for design and architectural heights, which it achieves with class. The cloud-touching property is an integral feature of Shanghai ifc and it enters in as the second Ritz Carlton in the city, and seventh in China. The interiors are just as perfect as the exterior, with designs from Singapore-based Richard Farnell and restaurants by Japan’s legendary Super Potato.
The 285 modern Art Deco rooms feature a lush array of textures, materials, furnishings and technology, with Blu-ray players appearing alongside coffee pod machines, beautifully-designed free-standing bathtubs, and more marble than you can shake a stick at. Richard Farnell’s touches also prettify the property throughout, with patches of real Stingray skin decorating some of the public areas, and meeting rooms which feature an Alice-in-Wonderland chic. For business and conferences one could not get much better, with the hotel’s 1,135 metre square ballroom supposedly being the second largest hotel ballroom in Shanghai. There is also over 2,250sqm of conference and meeting space, with plenty of natural light and outdoor spaces as well. The climax of the hotel is the 58th floor lounge and restaurant called Flair, which has a split-level outdoor terrace with views directly across to the big ball of the Pearl Tower – quite possibly the best rooftop bar in the world.
Originally published in South China Morning Post, July 2011
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