Set chairman's experience

He noticed the company had a high staff-turnover rate. The institution paid its staff less than its competitors did, he said.

"[Employees] would find the salary and benefit much lower [in that institution] were they working for other companies. People who joined the company would not take long to look out for other places," the SET chairman said.

Pakorn was delighted that he succeeded in convincing the owner to increase the cost-of-living allowance for the employees, even though the company was in financial trouble.

funds over food

Stock Exchange of Thailand's (SET) vice president for human resources (HR), Patchara Thanattrai, is a positive thinker.

She said she was asked to head a project to move the exchange's computers from Sinthorn Building to the SET office on Ratchadaphisek Road recently. She conducted a survey of the street vendors near the SET headquarters.

The idea was to check whether there would be food for more SET staff, Patchara said.

"The vendors said the Tobacco Monopoly staff were buying the same [amount] but the SET staff now hardly bought anything," Patchara said.

But instead of blaming the plunging stock index, the SET vice president said that was because the exchange's staff were spending more on long-term equity funds.

book session

Samart Telecoms executive vice president Prasitchai Veerayuttwilai and Inhouse Products managing director Sornchai Chatikavanij have been invited to a book session to be held by the Thailand Management Association (TMA) on July 24, to share their thoughts on the book "The Starbucks Experience", which they had jointly translated. TMA is scheduled to have Dr Joseph A Michelli, the author of the book, speak in Bangkok on September 3.

new heidrick & struggles office

Heidrick & Struggles is celebrating the opening of their Bangkok office - their 15th in the Asia-Pacific region - on Thursday. Along with the office opening, Asia Pacific Consulting Practice managing partner Steve Langton will deliver a talk on "The Challenge of Multi-generation Workforce" at Dusit Thani Hotel.