Singapore - Having a consistent people-centric approach right at the beginning of the company start-up is how a home-grown Singapore CEO stays ahead of the talent shortage issue.

Even though the company has grown from a tiny start-up to a multimillion-dollar corporation with outlets in New York, Douglas Foo, CEO of Apex-Pal International, has consistently maintained a hands-on approach in connecting with his employees. "Even then, I still like to be connected."

Best known for its Sakae Sushi outlets, the food and beverage company has set a corporate culture of management staff mingling with frontline workers in the beginning, which created a strong employee engagement in the workplace, says Foo. "The passion we have within the company to be translated to the rest of them, it goes through by going down and bubbling up to the rest so we use all ways to try to get people connected."

To keep every employee aligned with the common vision, Foo explains the company would frequently hold breakfast and lunch sessions with different staff members to help him "get some ideas about how and what they are doing".

In turn, the high engagement factor has contributed to the company's low attrition rates which have resulted in a leadership team that has grown together over the years. Foo says, "We actually have a great team and the team we have with us for quite a while and we have a passion to do things."

To further cope with the increased staff numbers over the years due to the rapid expansion, Foo says this is where the company utilises its middle management talent to spread its organisational story across all levels. "Over the years, we were able to have the middle managers to help to put that across and put things in place."