Ongoing Quest for Service Excellence

Corporate Planning

In our ongoing quest for excellence and to reinforce our Caring, Customer- focused and Committed values to our customers, the Housing Authority introduced a corporate planning process in 1997, which sets out corporate objectives and key initiatives for the year ahead.

The corporate planning process not only establishes a clear road map for Business Directors in the formulation of their business and service plans, it also provides greater transparency and accountability for the Housing Authority in the implementation of our business.

The 1999/2000 Corporate Plan The 1999/2000 Corporate Plan, with a total of 84 initiatives, was endorsed by HA Members on 28 January 1999. At 31 March 2000, 67 or 80% of the initiatives have either been completed or are on schedule, four (5%) are under review and 13 of them (15%) have fallen behind. The majority of these delayed initiatives are due to completion delays in some of our projects and to the adjustment of the HOS/PSPS sales programme in view of the prevailing market conditions. To monitor the performance of these initiatives, a half-yearly report details progress to the relevant business committees.

The Y2K Challenge In 1999, we implemented our Y2K Compliance Programme according to schedule, completing the checking and rectification of all our computer, embedded and other systems at the end of June 1999. A contingency plan and several rehearsals were held and emergency helpline numbers were widely publicized in the event of any problems. The programme’s implementation and careful planning paid off * the roll-over into the new millennium proceeded smoothly with no reports of any Year 2000 related problems.

The first batch of PST contracts are being awarded in July 2000 to commence in October 2000.

Greater Private Sector Involvement in Estate Management and Maintenance To assist staff affected by this programme, a voluntary departure scheme with a release package modelled on the government standard Abolition of Office terms, plus additional incentive payments and other arrangements, was implemented in March 2000. Under this scheme, staff have a three-year option period from 1 March 2000, during which they can choose to leave or stay in the civil service. In the meantime, the Authority also endorsed ground rules for affected staff to form Management Buy Out (MBO) companies and to offer initial assistance to these companies so as to provide another avenue through which staff can cross over to the private sector. A comprehensive communications programme with staff has been carried out to ensure full understanding of the issues involved and to establish open and accessible lines of communication for staff concerned. A series of staff briefings were organized and telephone and fax hotlines were set up to answer staff enquiries. A dedicated newsletter on PSI has also been issued monthly to keep staff updated on the latest developments. The Hong Kong Christian Service was also appointed to provide counselling to help alleviate the stress and concerns arising from the changes and challenges ahead. To address the training and development needs of staff who choose to remain, a special sub-group has also been formed to examine these issues.

Enhancing Training and Development Apart from the greater Private Sector Involvement (PSI) in estate management and maintenance, a number of other major initiatives were introduced to improve organizational performance. These include the enhancement of building and service quality and implementation of the Enhanced Quality Programme. To enable staff to cope with these initiatives and changes, staff training has been stepped up not only to develop new technical skills but also to change mindset with leadership training and improving competencies for changing job roles. In addition to the series of training programmes held in relation to the PSI exercise, the Training and Development Centre has launched training programmes on leadership, change, customer service, financial management, contract and project management as well as environmental awareness, to align corporate objectives with branch requirements. To support a culture of continuous learning and improvement, an intranet-based training and development learning system has been introduced and web-based learning programmes such as the Housing Officer Foundation Course, drive this concept of learning anywhere at anytime. This new learning model is designed to suit different learning preferences and to encourage cross-fertilization among different groups of staff. Investing in our people remains a major priority in our management of human resources. Training and development will continue to play a key role in helping staff to cope with the challenges ahead.

Staff Award Programmes In 1999/2000, 11 branch award programmes and a “Housing Department Star of Stars Award” at the corporate level were launched under the Staff Incentive Scheme to recognize quality services. On a customer service level, three of our colleagues won customer service awards under the Customer Service Award Scheme organized by the Civil Service Bureau, to recognize and reward civil servants for quality services to customers. The winners were chosen from more than 250 nominations received. Four staff also received Commendation Letters from the Director of Housing for their exceptional and meritorious services and eight members of staff received awards under the Staff Suggestions Scheme. A further 888 staff received long service awards, travel awards and retirement souvenirs.

Staff Relations and Welfare Close contact is maintained with staff through 30 staff associations, four consultative committees and various communication channels such as open forums, briefings, group discussion and good will visits. Last year 69 social, recreat-ional, sports and charitable events including the Annual Fun Fair, Mai Po visit, Produce Green Foundation visit, tree planting, art exhibition, various sports competition and interest courses etc, were organized through the Welfare Sub-section and the Staff Club, who also organized inter-departmental and external sports and social functions such as various corporate games. The Welfare Sub-section also handled 2 430 staff inquiries and counselling cases, 150 gifts for retirees, 26 hospital visits, subscriptions and after care of 20 deceased officers* families and awarded five Housing Authority Staff Club scholarships for staff children with outstanding school certificate result.

Green Housekeeping Practices Making every effort to achieve green office practices, a wide range of seminars, training courses and publicity programmes were organized during the year. These include the Environmental Awareness Training Plan, Staff Green Day, the ECO Bazaar in our Annual Fun Fair and the e-mail Christmas Card Campaign. Constant efforts are also made to minimize office waste. The provision of 浤 reen Boxes* has been extended to all offices to encourage the collection of waste paper for recycling. Staff are regularly reminded to save paper with “Double-side” printing and to use electronic mail as much as possible. As a result of these activities, in 1999/2000 we used 15% less paper than the previous year.

Our Customers and the Community

We keep in close contact with our customers, a crucial factor in building understanding between the Housing Authority and the community. By taking our place, side by side with our customers, we also help to create a sense of community and of home within our estates.

Several customer initiatives, services and communication programmes were introduced during the year, keeping customers fully informed of our activities and providing easier access to our services.

Hong Kong Housing Authority Customer Service Centre Our easily accessible Customer Service Centre at Wang Tau Hom continues to provide one stop services for our customers. With the theme “People in harmony with happy families”, the Centre was designed to reflect our mission to provide quality housing for the people of Hong Kong. Apart from comprehensive and easy to obtain information on every aspect of our services, visitors can apply for public rental housing, home ownership, home purchase loan schemes and the leasing of commercial premises, all in the same building. Nine brand new show flats in the Showflat Pavilion within the Centre also enable potential homebuyers to see what is available in one quick tour. During the three-week application period for HOS 21A for example, over 100 000 eager customers visited the Pavilion.

Enhanced Marketing Activities With the downturn in the property market, marketing activities were stepped up to promote the sale of HOS flats and to improve customer services. HOS ambassadors were stationed in the Home Ownership Centre to provide friendly and helpful service to potential homebuyers and a free shuttle service was also provided to allow applicants to visit the show flats at Tin Shui Wai, where they could see the spacious and pleasant environment for themselves. TV commercials were also used for the first time to keep the public informed of HOS selling exercises and the Home Purchase Loan Scheme.

New Customer Oriented Call Centre In March 2000, we implemented a new Housing Department Call Centre to answer general enquiries on public rental housing and HOS applications. The Call Centre builds on our existing Hotline services, to provide more efficient, personalized and customer-focused telephone answering services. Within just a few weeks of the implementation of the system, An average of 1 500 calls a day were being processed by Call Centre service staff.

Communication and Community Programmes Effective communications continue to play a key role in promoting understanding with our customers, our staff and the community.

Communication Programmes * An active media programme continues to keep the media informed of our activities. During the year over 50 news briefings, press conferences and meetings were held to provide information on new policies and to exchange views. The annual Media Fun Day took place once again at the Gold Coast Hotel in December 1999. Both regular newsletters and a number of publications keep staff, our customers and the public informed of the latest developments, news and happenings within the Authority. Our newly updated website has also proven to be invaluable in providing necessary information to interested users. During the year, the site received over 5 million visits and also won an award for its innovation and design, in Hong Kong’s first e-Awards presented jointly by the Hong Kong Productivity Council and the Information Technology and Broadcasting Bureau.

Exhibitions and Conferences * We hosted the Housing Conference, “Better Homes in the Next Millennium” in November 1999. The event was attended by more than 550 delegates from around the world who shared their valuable experiences and exchanged ideas for public housing development into the new millennium. During the year, over 40 000 visitors, consisting of local groups, corporate guests and overseas visitors from 25 countries, also visited our Exhibition Centre.

Community Programmes * Our involvement in the community is a natural extension of our customer focused and caring values. During the year a number of activities helped to strengthen ties with our tenants while also providing a better living environment for everyone concerned. A series of “leaning Actions” helped to drive home the importance of a clean neighbourhood under the Clean Neighbourhood Campaign, while a publicity campaign was held in early 2000 to foster a better understanding of the spirit of tenants* rights and responsibilities. Among our many activities for the elderly, we also launched our Care for the Elderly 99 Campaign, to encourage our elderly tenants to participate in their local community for a better quality of life. A series of activities promoting awareness of the elderly, better safety initiatives and the benefits of leading a healthy and positive life were carried out. Among the activities, 25 elderly role models were selected out of 584 nominations received. A Fire Safety Education Path has been established in On Yam Estate. Featuring a series of hands on displays, the Path serves as an interactive fire safety education venue both for tenants and the community. In January 2000, a Bauhinia Festival led by Mrs Betty Tung, was launched. The Festival promotes the planting of Hong Kong’s own Bauhinia flower to create a greener environment for the community. In line with this initiative, a Bauhinia Garden is being created at Fu Tung Estate and Yu Tung Court in Tung Chung. We also celebrated the arrival of the new millennium with our tenants and the community of Hong Kong with our “City of Light and Sound* event, which took place on 31 December 1999. Over 600 public housing tenants gathered at Lok Fu together with honoured guests, Hong Kong Chief Executive and his wife, Mr Tung Chee-hwa and Mrs Betty Tung, to witness the rollover into the new millennium.

Finance and Accounting

The Housing Authority is financially autonomous and sustains its massive public housing programme from internally generated funds. In 1999/2000, we continued to adopt the 涀 est practice* financial management approach in support of the Authority’s vision and mission.

To drive best practice in financial and risk management, continued improvements were made to further strengthen the financial planning, reporting and performancemonitoring processes.

These processes in turn are reviewed by a system of Business Scorecards. The HA manages all available funds prudently in accordance with approved investment objectives and guidelines to ensure that sufficient resources are available to sustain the capital programmes, operational services and other HA initiatives. As at 31 March 2000, there was $19 billion in available funds for investment under HA’s control. Of this sum, $14.2 billion was managed in-house under the main portfolio and $4.8 billion was managed by fund managers including our in-house Trading Team. In 1999/2000, all fund managers, except one, outperformed the benchmark for managed funds with the in-house Trading Team achieving the highest return of 8.24%. We continue to explore opportunities for the use of Information Technology to increase efficiency and effectiveness. Reaffirming the innovation and effectiveness of our systems, we won the Application Bronze Award of the 1999 IT Excellence Awards organized by the Hong Kong Computer Society for our Investment Quotation System which was developed internally to support our investment needs. A major new financial and accounting system was also successfully implemented during the year. Key finance and accounting initiatives completed include: The successful devolution of the supplies function to individual businesses on 1 April 1999, Updated store regulations, procurement and supplies instructions and supplies procedural guides, Implementation of Phase II of the Cash and Funds Management System, and Shortened the time taken for the completion of the annual accounts by one month.

The 1999/2000 Accounts The Authority’s accounts have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies approved by the Housing Authority and the 1988 Financial Arrangements with the Government as amended by the 1994 Supplemental Agreement. The major financial statements of the 1999/2000 accounts are shown in Appendices 9 to 12. The Consolidated Operating Account at Appendix 9 summarizes the 1999/2000 operating results for Rental Housing, Commercial and Home Ownership activities and shows an overall operating surplus of $9,613 million for the year. The Rental Housing Operations incurred an operating deficit of $1,359 million during 1999/2000 which comprised the following activities :

Operating Deficit ($M)

Group A * more recently-constructed estates 1,084 Group B * former Resettlement Estates and Cottage Areas 188

Interim Housing 32

Temporary Housing Areas and Transit Centres 55 1,359

The Commercial Operations generated a surplus of $1,983 million before exceptional item, comprising the following activities :

Operating Surplus ($M)

Commercial Complex 1,188

Car Parks 621

Factories 101

Welfare/Community 73

The exceptional item of $147 million represents expenditure on Government Infrastructure and Community works during the year which was funded by the Authority.

The Home Ownership Operations generated a surplus of $9,275 million before exceptional item, representing 96% of the total operating surplus for 1999/2000, which comprised the following activities :

Operating Surplus/(Deficit) ($M)

Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) 6,062

Private Sector Participation Scheme (PSPS) 2,384

Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) 917 Home Purchase Loan Scheme (HPLS) (88)

The exceptional item represents provision for diminution in value of repurchased HOS and PSPS flats of $36 million and $103 million respectively. The Consolidated Appropriation Account at Appendix 10 summarizes the net operating results transferred from the Consolidated Operating Account, Funds Management Account and Agency Account. The net surplus after charging interest on loan capital of $466 million and dividends of $918 million was $9,973 million. Income and expenditure relating to the management of the Authority’s cash and investments are charged to the Funds Management Account which shows a surplus of $1,744 million for 1999/2000. As at 31 March 2000, the Authority’s total funds were $19,366 million, with an overall average return of 7.7% for both 1999/2000 and 1998/99. The Agency Account shows the operating results for agency functions undertaken on behalf of the Government (squatter control and clearance), agency management activities which include management services for completed HOS Domestic courts, Local Government Officers Housing Scheme court and Tenants Purchase Scheme estates and supervision of Government reimbursable projects. Appendix 11 summarizes the Authority’s major sources of cash inflows and outflows for1999/2000. The net cash inflow from operating activities was $6,424 million, mainly sales proceeds from HOS. The major cash outflows included HPLS loans granted during the year of $5,642 million and capital expenditure of $31,794 million. The Balance Sheet at Appendix 12 shows the Authority’s total net assets as at 31 March 2000 of $129,965 million, represented by reserves and funds of $102,227 million and the Government’s investments and contribution in the Authority of $27,738 million.

IQS Wins IT Excellence Award We were very pleased that our Investment Quotation System (IQS), which was developed in-house, won the Application Bronze Award of the IT Excellence Awards 1999, organized by the Hong Kong Computer Society. The panel of judges awarded the prize for the system’s business orientation and its ability to maximize investment gains for the Housing Authority, in what is a highly competitive market environment. The concept of IQS originated from the management who were committed to achieving the highest possible returns for the Authority's investments. A Working Group was formed with participants both from Finance and Accounting and the Computer Division. After many trials and difficulties, the Working Group managed to solve all the business issues and technical problems to implement the system. According to estimates, IQS brings in additional returns of about $30 million per annum to the Housing Authority. During the design and implementation process, the Working Group allocated top priority to the needs of both internal and external users. The selection of the interactive voice system, a mature technology and other components of IQS, were readily embraced by the over 80 participating banks, many of which were not yet ready for the Internet challenge when IQS was introduced in 1997.

CK Pang (Senior Financial Manager/ Financial Management)

Customer-focused Call Centre Improving services to our customers, our new Housing Depart-ment Call Centre (HDCC) was set up in March 2000, to answer general enquiries, provide assistance for public rental housing and Home Ownership Scheme applications and to ensure that transfer cases would be promptly followed-up by the staff concerned. The Call Centre is a total out-sourcing call management project. Adopting user-friendly electronic Customer Relationship Management (e-CRM) software, it is supported by the latest hardware infrastructure and equipped with advanced system features to interface with our existing application systems. The Call Centre consists of 46 telephone lines operated by 12 highly- trained Call Centre Agents who also have a comprehensive knowledge of housing information. The HDCC complements our existing Hotline Systems 2712 2712 and 2712 8000, which consist of a network of 144 telephones lines. Out of the 5 500 or so calls received daily by the interactive voice response system, about a third of these calls request direct contact with housing staff. At the Call Centre, we process between 800 to 1 500 calls a day, depending on traffic flow and call volumes. The design and implementation of both the system’s hardware and software were a cooperative effort between a number of teams. Maximizing the benefits of both the information and telecommunications technologies, HDCC helps us to deliver more efficient and customer-oriented telephone answering services with lower costs, enhanced productivity and greater customer satisfaction. The Call Centre and its services will be reviewed in a year to examine the feasibility and benefits of extending these facilities to cover other major public housing services.

Franda Wong (Senior Publicity Officer/ Complaints and Enquiries)