The Macau Special Olympics’ (MSO) job training programme for those with intellectual disabilities, in collaboration with the government’s Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) and The Londoner Macao resort’s Sheraton Grand Macao hotel, added two new types of jobs earlier this year, aiming to enable participants to acquire interpersonal skills, with the graduation ceremony of this year’s programme held yesterday.
The programme was first launched in 2018. This year’s programme is the fourth one since its inception. The training programme had only previously offered places to work as room attendants in the hotel, but this year it offered two new types of jobs, namely bellboys and staff canteen attendants, alongside room attendants. The programme’s extension aims to broaden the occupational skills of those with intellectual disabilities.
Sheraton Grand Macao has recently been rebranded as Londoner Grand.
Yesterday’s graduation ceremony, held at the hotel’s lounge bar, was attended by Cheung Wai, who heads the Labour Affairs Bureau’s Vocational Training Department, Sheraton Grand Macao & St. Regis Macao Multi-Property Vice President Frank Sanders, and Johnny Siu Yu Ning, a board member of the Macau Special Olympics.
In addition to supporting the intellectually disabled to participate in sport, the Macau Special Olympics also provides them with various other types of social services including occupational rehabilitation, as well as providing support for those with special education needs.
According to an MSO statement yesterday, a total of 24 signed up for this year’s programme, 16 of whom were accepted. Seven of them have successfully completed training as bellboys, while five have completed training as staff canteen attendants. Yesterday’s graduation ceremony was held for 12 of the participants.
Yesterday’s statement did not mention how many of them have graduated from the training programme as hotel room attendants.
Those who have completed the job training programme receive a certificate jointly issued by the Labour Affairs Bureau and the Macau Special Olympics.
The 12 participants received their certificates during yesterday’s ceremony.
Delivering a speech during yesterday’s ceremony, Siu said that thanks to the hotel’s professional guidance and support, those with intellectual disabilities have been able to receive high-quality training since the programme’s launch in 2018.
Siu noted that early this year his social service organisation discussed the possibility of extending the training programme with the hotel, after which the programme added the two new jobs for bellboys and staff canteen attendants.
Siu said that after receiving three-month professional training earlier this year, the participants have acquired the necessary skills to work as bellboys or staff canteen attendants.
Yesterday’s MSO statement said that four of the seven who have completed training as bellboys have been employed by hotel resorts including those operated by Sands China.
Speaking to the Post, Siu said that different to hotel room attendants, working as bellboys or staff canteen attendants requires them to possess communication and interpersonal skills, because of which, he said, it is more difficult for the participants to pass the training as bellboys and staff canteen attendants, compared to hotel rooms attendants.
Siu noted that “those working as hotel room attendants just need to follow the SOP (standard operating procedure) as their work primarily involves tackling items, while working as bellboys or staff canteen attendants needs them to interact with people, requiring communication skills and emotional management skills”.
A standard operating procedure (SOP) refers to a set of step-by-step instructions compiled by an organisation to help workers carry out routine operations.
Siu noted that bellboys have two major duties, carrying guests’ luggage to their rooms, and arranging to store their luggage temporarily while they are out and about, adding that both require interpersonal skills.
Siu said that during the training for staff canteen attendants, the participants were required to clean the dining tables, while they also needed to refill the food containers in the canteen in a timely manner, during which they needed to interact with other people, he said.
Cheung Wai (back row, fifth from left), who heads the Labour Affairs Bureau’s Vocational Training Department, Sheraton Grand Macao & St. Regis Macao Multi-Property Vice President Frank Sanders (back row, fifth from right), and Johnny Siu Yu Ning (back row, sixth from left), a board member of the Macau Special Olympics (MSO), as well as hotel staff members, and participants with their certificates, pose during yesterday’s graduation ceremony. – Photo: MSO
