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A Far-Reaching Vision: be the "Winner in the 21st Century"
Ricoh Hong Kong Limited
Leading Copier Maker Explores the Enterprise Solution Market
Ricoh Hong Kong Limited is the direct sales and service arm of Ricoh Corporation of Japan. Established in 1963, Ricoh Hong Kong has been serving businesses for over 40 years and has grown to become the Territory's leading supplier of document processing machines and related products. According to the IDC (a top global market intelligence and advisory firm for the information technology and telecommunications industries), the Ricoh copier brand has enjoyed market leader status in Hong Kong since 1999. Stepping into the new millennium, Ricoh continues its quest to be the "Winner of the 21st Century", perfecting its products and services, as well as providing the very best customer satisfaction and corporate responsibility for the community.
Named Best Employer.
Viewing Talent as Pillars of the Company
Ricoh Hong Kong understands the interwoven relationships among employees, customers and business results. That's why the Company seeks to instill pride in its employees and encourages them to be an integral part of the organisation, working together as a team to achieve corporate objectives. "The industry has been gradually shifting its development focus from hardware sales into enterprise solutions. In view of this transition, the roles human resources play are becoming more and more important," says Mr. Aaron Yim, managing director of Ricoh Hong Kong. "We not only emphasise continuous education and development of employees to help upgrade existing standards, but we also recruit high caliber new talent to help guide the development of the Company."
"Ricoh Hong Kong was named 'Best Employer in Hong Kong 2005' by Hewitt Associates. This was a fitting testament and served as great encouragement for our human resource efforts," adds Mr. Yim.
He continues - "Globalisation has led to a general decrease in product prices. To create a competitive edge, enterprises nowadays must focus on productivity, efficient management and adding value. In fact, hardware quality throughout the copier industry is more or less the same, so service has become the crucial factor that has allowed businesses to achieve breakthrough success. Good service that relies on the human touch, so talent are viewed as operational pillars at Ricoh."
To maintain global competitiveness, enhancing service standards and raising staff quality is a critical aim. "There is no doubt that good employees can increase customer satisfaction which, in turn, will create favorable business results," says Mr. Yim. "This idea of creating customer satisfaction is widely considered to be the biggest challenge for enterprises nowadays."
He adds that - "Globalisation has accelerated the speed of information flow and cut short general time requirements. For this reason, companies have to implement new management strategies, new products and even new thinking over shorter periods of time to satisfy ever-changing customer expectations."
Taking care of employees' bodies and minds.
Stimulating potential through cross-departmental co-operation.
Mr. Yim notes that a major role of human resources is to strengthen corporate momentum and increase flexibility. To do this, and to fulfill the needs of business development, Ricoh has designed a series of tailor-made courses for staff, from technical and job-related areas to non-professional courses that focus on bettering employees' lives.
"We understand that living and working are inter-related. If our employees have problems in their lives, their families or even psychological disturbances, this will negatively affect their work," says Ms Irene Lee, senior manager, central services of Ricoh Hong Kong. "Therefore, we emphasise the need to balance work duties and life outside the company. To this end, we have been implementing an employee support plan since last year, with consultants providing professional services to our staff to help them solve their problems. This allows them to work in a more healthy and peaceful environment."
In addition, the Company has set up a cross-departmental task force whose members contribute different skill sets, backgrounds, working styles, etc., to provide better communications and new creative ideas within the organisation.
Ms. Lee also explains that this cross-departmental task force is helping to stimulate leadership potential, which helps employees understand work responsibilities at various levels and fosters co-operation among different departments. "Although employees have to learn and get used to the system, this offers huge efficiency benefits overall."
Building a family culture.
Extending our care even for small things.
Over the years, Ricoh has made continuous progress. Focus on staff training and versatile support lead to a more competitive team, which helps corporate development and nourishes company culture. However, in our fast- changing industry, talent retention has become a major issue for many companies. While offering higher remuneration is a common way to build loyalty, Ricoh Hong Kong has established its own unique methods.
"In addition to competitive remuneration and appropriate reward schemes, we also consider it important to build a strong sense of belonging," says Ms. Lee. "A family culture can be found everywhere at Ricoh with managers and senior staff understanding how to take care of their team members' needs in great detail. Moreover, the Company also encourages staff to view their work as their own business, which helps enhance job devotion."
She says that the average tenure among Ricoh company staff is more than 10 years. "The fact that many talented people choose to develop their careers at Ricoh validates our strong company-wide sense of belonging among employees,"
Globalisation has cast different influences on enterprises and on applicants as well. Mr. Yim says that new applicants should look to broaden their perspectives. "Specialised knowledge can help reduce costs, but enterprises today emphasise more on value creation and the merging of knowledge from different sectors."
"To enhance competitiveness in today globalised markets, applicants should increase their flexibility, learn how to assimilate knowledge from different disciplines, and maintain a global perspective." |
