Gardener wins hotel’s top award

 A GARDNER has won the Lae International Hotel’s “employee-of-the-year” award last year.

Twenty-eight-year-old Eva Wando, from Okapa in Eastern Highlands, had no idea he would be announced as the winner of the award when he was sitting among his colleagues in the hotel’s “haus win” for the award presentation last Friday.

He was presented the award by the hotel’s general manager, David Elgar.

Wando said in Tok Pisin after receiving the award that he worked hard at maintaining the hotel’s gardens but despite that he felt there were other staff more worthy of the award. 

Elgar and operations manager, Peter Wootton, said Wando’s name was submitted along with others by their respective line managers to a selection committee, who went through details of performances and reasons why each employee should be awarded.

 The employee of the year award was given at the end of each year with monthly awards for to award top performing staff. 

The award consisted of K1,000 prize money which the company would use to buy whatever the winner wanted to his/her home or be used for medical and school fees.  

Elgar and Wootton said the hotel had high regard for its employees and such awards were some of the ways to show its appreciation.

They said over the years a handful of their employees had won scholarships from AusAID to further their knowledge overseas and the company was keen to re-employ them on their return. 

A female employee has won an AusAID scholarship and is currently studying catering and hospitality in Fiji and Vanuatu while a male chef recently left for a six-month study leave in Vanuatu.