XN000022-1995-06-21 — Page 46

(b)

(c)

-

28 -

of the total number of workers trained by the Government under the retraining programme to enter the retail industry; and

whether consideration has been given to providing pre-work counselling to those participating in the retraining programmes?

Reply:

Mr President,

(a)

(b)

(c)

The Employees Retraining Board (ERB) offers both classroom-type retraining courses and On-the-Job Training (OJT) which are designed specifically to equip workers with skills required of jobs in the retail industry. Nine classroom-type retraining courses have been sponsored by the ERB. Most of these courses are on general salesmanship training, covering the basic principles of retailing, sales techniques, customer service techniques, basic communication techniques, telephone skills, social skills, and the use of languages such as English and Putonghua.

As regards the On-the-Job Training Scheme, under this arrangement employers are offered financial incentives to hire employees aged over 40, in the form of reimbursement of up to one-third of the monthly wages of each retrainee for up to the first three months of employment. So far, 137 employers from the wholesale and retail industry have participated in the OJT scheme and the retraining covers areas such as selling techniques and customer servicing.

A total of 930 trainees have participated in courses specifically designed for the retail industry. Of this number, 481 retrainees have attended classroom-type retraining courses offered by the ERB and 449 persons have been placed with employers in the Wholesale and Retail Industry under the OJT scheme.

course

The retraining programmes for the retail industry already provide pre- work counselling for the retrainees which last for 1 or 2 days. For example, in addition to teaching sales techniques, the "Salesmanship Training" also includes sessions on developing positive working attitudes, self-confidence and enhancing communication skills. This sort of counselling is usually provided by social workers employed by the training bodies or the course instructors themselves, who possess considerable experience in career counselling and knowledge of the relevant industry.