Club Med celebrates cohorts benefitting from international work exposure |27 October 2022

A souvenir photograph with Minister Francourt and other guests (Photo: Joena Meme)

Club Med Seychelles on Tuesday evening held a ceremony to celebrate the first cohort of nine employees who recently returned from training at Club Med properties around the world, and to send off the second cohort, comprising 13 employees.

The first batch of employees left for international work exposure in March, a valuable learning experience beneficial to themselves, the Club Med group, and especially Club Med Seychelles.

Among them, some had the opportunity to complete their six months at Club Med properties based in France, while others completed theirs in the Dominican Republic.

General manager Youssef Tobrouki during the ceremony on Tuesday night at the hotel on Ste Anne island highlighted the importance of such opportunities to employees, enabling them to further their skills while experiencing first-hand how to deliver the high level of service expected from the company at any of the 70 Club Med properties.

Vanessa Rose is one of the first Seychellois to have the opportunity to serve at the Club Med property through the training and has been employed with the organisation for a year-and-a-half. She started within the food and beverage department as a waitress, but has since been promoted to supervisor.

“Punta Canna was a memorable experience, as it is renowned as the best of the Club Med properties, and can cater to 2,000 clients. It was honestly a very good experience. I had the opportunity to witness the opening of a restaurant while there, and to work with different nationalities. While the clientele is relatively similar, English and French-speaking clients, there was also Spanish-speaking guests, an opportunity to learn another language,” Ms Rose stated.

Of the nine who recently returned, three have already been promoted, one from commis cook to chef de partie, one from waitress to restaurant manager and another from chambermaid to room supervisor.

As per human resource manager Wilna Tirant, staff are selected based on the length of time they have been in service, as well as their behaviour and participation within the Club Med village.

Among the 13 who are leaving the country over the coming days, one is heading to the Maldives, while the remaining dozen head to France, towards developing their skills and further building on their competences in reception, kitchen and kid’s club.

“The training is a Club Med concept, and applies to all Club Med properties around the world. We refer to it as mobility, whereby employees are given the opportunity to work and experience other villages, and this is related to our motto about being multicultural,” added Ms Tirant.

Twenty-year-old Marie-Laurette Laporte is a welcome and service coordinator who has been serving for the past 16 months. She too will be leaving for France, and believes she was selected based on her perseverance, consistency and willingness to share her knowledge with others.

“I expect to be able to learn more. I feel that I am in my comfort zone here and I have learned all I need to, so I would like to broaden my knowledge about the department, to learn about planning, traffic, and transport and other departments in general,” Ms Laporte noted.

For her part, Minister for Employment and Social Affairs Patricia Francourt commended the partnership between Club Med and the employment department. Club Med Seychelles currently employs 403 staff, 161 of whom are Seychellois. In managerial positions, there are 16 Seychellois and 27 non-Seychellois.

To date, there are nine young trainees under the skills development programme, a programme of the department.

Minister Francourt also thanked the organisation for recognising the potential of Seychellois employees, urging that they maintain the strong partnership in future, to ensure that locals reap the maximum benefit and experience which the company has to offer.

“Thank you Club Med for seeing the potential of our Seychellois and going a step further by providing them the prospect of elevating their performance to the next level through this programme. A true win win situation for all concerned,” Minister Francourt stated.

Also in attendance were other officials from the ministry.

Laura Pillay