Corporate Bits | GEG Dragon boat team holds ritual ceremony to prepare for 2015 races

Galaxy Entertainment Group will once again have six teams participating in the “2015 Macau International Dragon Boat Races” this year to compete with athletes from Macau and around the world. As the annual race is set to kick off in mid-June, over 100 GEG team members gathered at the Nam Van Lake Nautical Centre on Tuesday to attend the Dragon Boat Ritual Ceremony.
Among the attendees were also the GEG executives who officiated the ceremony, including Ms. Eileen Lui, GEG’s Group Director of Human Resources & Administration, Mr. John Au, GEG’s Senior Director of Business Development and Director of Operations of Broadway Macau & City Clubs, Mr. Richard Longhurst, Director of Operations of Galaxy Macau, Mr. Charles So, Director of Operations of StarWorld Hotel, Mr. Trevor Martin, GEG’s Director of Human Resources and Administration, Ms. Joana Barnes, Chairperson of GEG’s Staff Social Club and other GEG executive members.
Besides dotting the eyes of the dragon boats and cutting a suckling pig as part of the traditional rituals, the executives also gave the team members red packets as an auspicious gesture to wish them success in the upcoming races.

Sands retail academy holds third graduation ceremony

Sands Retail Academy held its third graduation ceremony Tuesday at The Venetian Macao. Launched in 2013, the academy provides complimentary customer service training to retail professionals at Sands Shoppes Cotai Strip Macao – the three interconnected malls of Shoppes at Four Seasons, Shoppes at Venetian and Shoppes at Cotai Central, comprising over 650 retailers.
A total of 350 retail front line team members were presented with certificates at Tuesday’s ceremony, having successfully completed training programs aimed at enhancing the shopping experience for customers by improving the quality of service at Sands Shoppes.
Since the second graduation ceremony in September last year, there has been a 55 per cent increase in participation, bringing the number of graduates on Tuesday to 350. To date, over 1,000 employees from 220 retailers have participated in courses from the Sands Retail Academy.
“We are confident that both retailers and their team members will find our training platforms beneficial and that more and more brands will sign up in the future,” said Antonio Ramirez, senior vice president of human resources for Sands China Ltd. “We are glad the Sands Retail Academy gives us this opportunity to go beyond investing in our own team members – to investing more broadly in the development of Macau’s local talent outside our company through our retail partners.”