Singapore - By selecting trainers who have once performed hotel duties before, the quality of staff training will naturally be enhanced, says Kenneth Kominski, director of people innovation and education for Pan Pacific Singapore.

The hotel recently embarked on a drive to raise awareness for these educator positions among its current staff, 

The hotel currently has eight educators who rose from their employee ranks within the hotel. In their jobs, they fulfill roles such as conducting on-job-training sessions for departments, Workforce Skills Qualification modules for Front Office and Housekeeping, assessing trainees, teaching basic English, and conducting re-training sessions as and when necessary and evaluate associates’ performances.

Because hotel educators will have a better understanding of the organisation, culture and co-workers dynamics, this translates into a higher quality level teaching. Furthermore, "having internal educators promotes flexibility in cross-exposure for associates, a job enhancement and potential career progression path," he adds.

One such educator is Alice Yeo, who had first joined Pan Pacific as a room attendant 38 years ago to rise to the position of housekeeping supervisor in 1986. She was later seen as a natural choice to be the hotel's educator for the housekeeping department.

Yeo says the combination her experience in the hospitality industry and the passion for passing on knowledge makes teaching a very fulfilling role. "Learning how to be a good trainer represented my personal training journey where I continually sought feedback and learnt new competencies towards teaching others."

She adds, "I enjoy my job because of the continual learning process and the satisfaction  derived from desired training outcomes achieved. The different characteristics of each trainee make each day interesting and challenging."