Page 12 - Sphere No.28 (Mar 2011)

10 Sphere
The HWL schemes are incredibly varied but they do have
a common theme of making life better in the communities
they live and work in.
service and cheque-book philanthropy which would prove
detrimental in the long run to any good intention.”
Staff members also think of creative new ideas that
captivate the public. A prime example of that is a scheme
dreamed up by staff at Hutchison 3G in Austria, the Clini-
Clowns, whereby seriously ill children are visited by clowns.
So far the 65 CliniClowns have made more than 1,000 visits
to 37 hospitals in the country, providing much-needed light
relief for children with serious medical conditions.
Similarly inventive thinking is applied by HWL staff at
the company’s home base in Hong Kong. Initiatives have in-
cluded encouraging staff to give blood, hotel chefs cooking
their signature dishes to raise funds for special-needs chil-
dren and an invitation to more than 1,000 underprivileged
families to watch a world-class volleyball event.
Aiding the unemployed
Helping the less fortunate is a recurring theme. Sweden is
one of the most affluent countries in the world, yet some
people still fall through the cracks in society; staff at the 3
telecom company are volunteering as mentors for unem-
ployed youths, hoping to provide them with guidance and
support.
It is a sterling example of employees’ hard work and pro-
fessionalism in action, as the 3 organiser of the scheme ex-
plained: “Hopefully we help these kids in understanding the
informal rules that apply to work life. By doing so we like
to think that they have an increased chance of getting a job.
We also try to motivate them to apply for higher studies.
“By teaching them about all the different roles we have
at 3 they might discover an interest they didn’t know they
had. Also, as a company, in order to strengthen our human
capital, we need to find new ways to obtain and train our
future talents. This is a good way to do that.”
Helping the forsaken
Staff at Marionnaud in Portugal came up with a novel way
of raising money – and awareness – for the plight of local
orphans and animals at risk of extinction. The scheme
involved selling plush toy giraffes, with the resulting funds
used to help orphans and endangered species; a whimsi-