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Ocean Hotels Group General Manager, Patricia Affonso-Dass.

Ocean Group committed to employee training

Ocean Hotels as a group is committed to the on-going training and development of employees at its three properties – Ocean Two Resort and Residences, Sea Breeze Beach Hotel, and South Beach Hotel.

As part of that commitment Ocean Two, led by General Manager Paul Collymore, embarked on a journey to have the Dover, Christ Church property qualified as an assessment centre. Approval was received from the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council on March 10, 2015.

Group General Manager, Patricia Affonso-Dass revealed that the centre will offer various National/Caribbean Vocational Qualifications programmes to employees and members of the Ocean Hotels Group to enhance both their personal and professional skills.

“We are extremely proud of this achievement,” she expressed during yesterday’s launch of the CVQ in Customer Service – Level 2, which is the first of many qualifications to be offered. The Customer Service qualification is mandatory for all Ocean Two employees and the goal is to have the entire staff body certified by 2018.

“Mr Collymore has been committed to human resource development and has sought to ensure that our staff are fully engaged, are actively involved in the development and implementation of departmental and property standards, understand the importance of excellent service industry to their personal development and well-being and that of the company, and by extension to Brand Barbados.”

Affonso-Dass also revealed that they are in the process of preparing the curriculum for other qualifications, which include: Bar Service Level 1&2; Food and Drink Service Level 1&2; Food Preparation and Cookery Level 1&2; Housekeeping Level 1&2; Leadership Level 2&3; Management Level 2&3; Reception Level 1&2.

Executive Director of the TVET Council, Henderson Eastmond lauded Ocean Two for making the bold step in training their own, rather than depending on others to do so.

He said that the TVET Council is looking forward to working closely with them as a learning centre in training in the hospitality industry, as they aim to push to establish higher level qualifications across the industry.

“We have beyond a Level 2, a Level 3 in Commercial Food Preparation; Bakery Chef Level 3, Sous Chef Level 4 which is a degree level; Housekeeping Levels 1 to 3 which is housekeeping supervision and Level 4 is housekeeping management,” he told employees.

“What we are saying is that you have a path that you can follow. If you enter the hospitality industry, you don’t have to stay where you are. We at the TVET Council are committed to lifelong learning and we are committed to strengthening existing sectors we in Barbados depend heavily on”. (TL)

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