APEX-PAL International is taking advantage of the downturn to increase training hours in preparation for the upturn.
The company, which runs more than 90 Sakae Sushi and Crepes & Cream outlets in 12 cities worldwide, is developing training programmes for its 1,200 service and kitchen staff.
These will include soft skills such as handling difficult situations, delighting customers and body language.
CEO Douglas Foo, 39, says: 'We started our first Sakae Sushi outlet in September 1997 at the start of the Asian financial crisis. Since then, we have been busy expanding. This is an opportunity to take a step back, identify gaps and strengthen our weak areas.'
Each year, Apex-Pal spends about 3 per cent of its payroll on staff training, with each employee spending about nine man-days learning about service and food hygiene. Next year, it will go up to 12 days.
From next month, diner chain Billy Bombers, which used to use external trainers, will send two managers to learn to be in-house trainers at the Workforce Development Agency.
They will develop in-house training programmes in food and beverage entertainment, such as hosting, interaction and striking up conversations with guests.
It will cost $20,000 to kick-start this programme, but director Jessica Soh says it will be money well-spent.
'It is especially during bad times that we have to give better service,' she explains.
Indeed, Prof Chan says slowdowns are the best time to look at improving service processes, streamlining procedures, investing in infrastructure and improving customer service.
Economics professor Michael Gibbs of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business adds: 'This helps keep staff busy, and they are then ready to ramp up production very quickly when the economy improves.'
4 Offer flexible working hours
MANAGEMENT consulting firm Accenture practises what it preaches to clients by offering its own employees flexible time schedules and telecommuting arrangements.
An employee may arrange his schedules in such a way that he completes his weekly hours in fewer than five work days each week to free up time for his family.
When crunch time comes, one way to relieve payroll pressures is to introduce flexible hours or part-time work arrangements. 'In doing so, employers go beyond the pay cheque to meet other needs of their employees too, besides reducing expenditure,' says Mr Leonard Lai, talent and organisation performance senior manager at Accenture.
Working mothers at Hewlett-Packard Singapore - voted the employer with the best retention strategies by human resources magazine HRM Singapore last year - are allowed to work from home one day a week after returning from maternity leave until their child turns one.
Agilent Technologies Singapore, voted best employer in Singapore by Hewitt in 2001, is implementing a holiday shutdown during December or the Chinese New Year.
Employees have been asked to take a minimum of six days' paid leave. The last time this happened was during the 2001/2002 downturn.
Agilent human resources director Charles Chee said: 'A holiday shutdown is one way of reducing our variable cost and a viable alternative to layoffs. By retaining our staff, we are assured that when the upturn comes, we will be ready to meet the business demand.'
Prof Gibbs says employers who work hard to avoid retrenchments will enjoy better loyalty going forward.
'You treated your staff well when times were tough - they may reciprocate later.'
This article was first published in The Straits Times on 22 November 2008.
