Janelle Christie
Couples Resorts Jamaica, on two days honored some of its dedicated members of staff at two of its resorts along the Coast. April 26, was day one of the Annual Awards Ceremony at the Eight Rivers Restaurant, Couples Tower Isle, St Mary.
The programme was chaired by media personality Elva Ruddock.
Members of staff were awarded in several different categories including: Star performer, team leader of the year, most active environmental warden, junior manager of the year, manager of the year, most environmentally friendly department, department of the year, long service awardees, person most mentioned by department.
The award ceremony began with opening remarks from Ms Ruddock and a word of prayer from human resource manager, Maxine Stewart. This was followed by lunch.
Following lunch, general manager, Leonard Henry delivered his address to the awardees while Kerrian White did a tribute.
Mr Henry in speech said “hard work has never gone unnoticed…thank you for your hard work… I say nuff respect to my staff”. He also added a video presentation to represent his gratitude and motivate the awardees. This video was a revised version of the story about the “Rabbit and The Turtle”. His presentation left the awardees with food for thought as it encouraged them that “the slow and steady wins the race… identify core competency then change your playing field to match core competency.” Moreover the clip also commended the spirit of teamwork at the resort.
In her tribute, Ms White made mention of how some of the awardees have “gone beyond the call of duty” to work on days off or even in different departments without complaint. Three additional addresses were giving to the “Long Service Employees”.
The first address came from CEO of the Couples Resort, Glenn Lawrence. Mr Lawrence shared his experience of working in several departments at the hotel and how demanding each person’s job may become. “Everybody does a fantastic job doing what we do”, he said. He too was grateful for those persons who have dedicated decades of service and have done a “tremendous job”.
Vice president of operations, Gary Stephens, in expressing his gratitude to the workers, some of whom have been serving the hotel for more than twenty years, credited their work. He said the awardees have demonstrated loyalty and that they have “stepped up to be the best they can be”.
Director for human resources Petra-Ann Williamson had nothing less to say about the awardees. She too agreed that they have represented the resort well. She thanked them for “sticking it out” and reinforced that “character cannot be developed in ease and quiet”.
Guest Speaker, Dr IjahThompson was introduced by Rennae Francis. Dr Thompson used an interactive game to engage the audience in his presentation which was based on gratitude and purpose. In his presentation, he urged persons to “Think, explore and learn”. The game allowed persons to generate their own ideas in order to “know, grow and show”-in what he calls the powerful growth circle.
Fourteen persons were awarded for five years of service to the resort while nine were awarded for ten years, seven for fifteen years, six for twenty years, four for thirty years and one each for twenty-five and thirty-five years
The individual awards are as follows:
- Dwayne Anderson – Back of House star performer
- Robert Lowe – Front of House Star Performer
- Simone McKenzie – Most environmentally aware warden
- Tenneile Tate – Most Mentioned on CSQ
- Carlesia Marshall – Team leader of the year
- Tizan Coore – junior manager of the year
- Gretchen Cadien – manager of the year
- Andrew Miller – general manager’s award
Other awards were presented to the following departments for their tremendous work in the stated areas
- Kitchen – Department of the Year
- Housekeeping – Most Environmentally Aware Department.
