HONG KONG, Dec. 23, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- City Telecom (H.K.) Limited (HKSE:1137) (Nasdaq:CTEL) and wholly-owned subsidiary Hong Kong Broadband Network Limited. For our financial year to 31 August 2010, we delivered on the stretched key performance indicators promised a year ago, such as Fibre Home Passes, Subscribers, EBITDA and Free Cash Flow. As part of our performance based culture, we will be rewarding our 3,200 Talents with an average profit share of 1.9x months of basic salary, paid before our annual company-wide Christmas Dinners in Hong Kong and Guangzhou held in December 2010. We believe this bonus is at the high end of the Hong Kong telecom industry.
As part of our performance based culture, we terminate the bottom performing 5% of our Talent base every year. Also, bonus is allocated on performance, with Talents rated in 6 categories of A, B, C+, C, D and E, with A earning 2.5-5.0x months bonus, and E earning no bonus, being shortlisted for termination.
This year, we are introducing "Work Life Upgrade" program whereby our Talents can trade up ½ month of bonus for 10 work days of extra annual leave. We believe that this discretionary upgrade gives our Talents the option of recharging their body and mind, if they so wish to.
With our 18 year corporate history, we treasure our long serving Talents. In Hong Kong, it has become our tradition to award long serving Talents with ½ ounce gold coin for 5 and 10 years service and 1 ounce gold coin for 15 years service. This year, 180 Talents are qualified for long service resulting in award of 96 ounces of gold currently valued at over HK$1,130,000 (US$146,000). Over the past 18 years, we estimate that we have awarded over 450 ounces of gold, with today's market value of HK$5,250,000 (US$680,000). Whilst the cost per Talent of this long service award is material, we consider this to be a happy investment as it is a tiny amount relative to the 5-15 years of contributions that each of our long serving Talents have made.
"Our hiring objective is simple, we are happy to pay 25% above market rates for Talents that contribute 100% above market average," said Mimi Choy, Director, Talent Management. "If we were an Olympic team, we will settle for nothing less than winning Gold, and we want to only hire Talents that share this passion with us. We want our Talents to either love us or hate us, but certainly not be indifferent."
For a brief insight into our corporate culture, please refer to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1x5t26Y6Q0
For the full Press Release, please download at: http://reg.hkbn.net/ctigroup_admin/files_upload/PR_Bonus_E.pdf
Additional information on City Telecom can be found at www.ctigroup.com.hk