If, like me, you haven’t been to Seoul Garden in a while, boy, are you in for a treat! Seoul Garden even serves sashimi now, apart from the upgraded buffet selection. And after partnering with e2i (the Employment and Employability Institute), various initiatives have made Seoul Garden not just a better company for workers but also one which offers a lot more to customers as well.
(In the foreground of this picture, you see Mr Gilbert Tan, CEO of e2i, in white, and Mr Garry Lam, GM of Seoul Garden, in the black polo shirt. And at the back are (in black) Mr Andrew Lee, CEO of Seoul Garden, and Mr Gary Goh, DyCEO of e2i.)
I had the opportunity to meet the GM, Garry Lam, who shared his truly remarkable story of coming back from Hong Kong, landing an entry-level job at Seoul Garden and then quickly proving his worth to achieve rapid promotions.
Garry has undergone the Place-and-Train programme by Seoul Garden, with support from e2i. Joining the company as a trainee in September 2017, Garry quickly rose through the ranks to become the Operations Manager, then Head of Operations, and now, he is GM of the company. It is testimony to the success of e2i’s Place-and-Train initiative. Garry, age 50, had initially returned from Hong Kong to help out in his mother’s restaurant business here but times were really bad, and the business had to be sold. He then joined Seoul Garden and spent some six months serving diners, and he admitted that this required him to ‘lower his ego’.
Where e2i is concerned, there are three kinds of skillsets. The first would be Employability Skills. For instance, Garry had to have the right mindset when doing his mid-career switch and be willing to join the rank and file employees at Seoul Garden. Then, there are Vocational Skills, which would be the skills F&B staff need to have in the restaurant business. Finally, there’s the Workplace Skills, which Garry had to demonstrate his competency in, when handling equipment and the various processes. In Garry’s own words, being GM means you are “in charge of everything except finance”.
As Mr Gilbert Tan, CEO of e2i, rightly puts it, workers these days need to be attracted and retained. Businesses need to look at offering “a more exciting package”. Remuneration packages have to be reviewed to reflect the profile of our workforce. Workers doing mid-career switches like Garry need to be given the opportunities to reskill and upskill, and also make full use of their past experience and expertise to benefit their current company. Meanwhile, workers also have to be able to ‘value add’ to the company, such as going beyond just compiling reports to being able to analyse data.
One of the Place-and-Train Programmes in Seoul Garden is a 6-month compressed training programme which equips local workers with the necessary skills for roles such as Assistant Restaurant Manager. Getting upskilled has many benefits, such as a wage increment.
The company is also constantly improving the workplace for their employees and also, their customers.
Under the WorkPro Job Redesign initiative, Seoul Garden has implemented the Smokeless Grill System with non-stick grilling plates. This greatly reduces the frequency of having to change the grilling plates for customers, washing is made less tedious, and customers get to enjoy the buffet without the smoke. Likewise, when getting the raw food from the buffet selection, you’ll realize that there are no longer any ice shavings on the ice bed as Seoul Garden now has a new chiller and buffet system. This proprietary temperature control system allows for workers to place more food, compared to the amounts previously, and they do not have to constant add ice shavings to the ice bed.
Other hiring initiatives by Seoul Garden include the offering of more career opportunities for mature workers and those with partial disabilities. The company does this by creating a better work environment for these workers who could have, for instance, autism, and may be in their 40s, 50s or even 60s!
When you next step into a Seoul Garden restaurant, I’m sure you’ll be amazed at the transformation. Even the iced water served is no longer simply iced water. It might be a ‘Sugar-free infused detox drink”…
