IN THIS ISSUE 3. Company News 10. Motivational Qoute 11. FTI News 12. Employee Milestones 14. A typical day with... 16. A Little Ray of Sunshine 18. Thank you
Company News Agile Workshops During November and December, a series of workshops focusing on how FTIAS will handle its Agile transformation will be organised. Together with all employees, our Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Paris, is discussing in more detail how each one of them will be part of this transformations and how everyone should change to cater for the upcoming challenges and goals we have as a company.
(On the right: Sarah Aguis, Ruth Spiteri Bongailas and Zsuzsanna Melicher during one of the agile workshops)
Blood Donation We are glad to announce that after weeks of communication with the national Mobile Blood Donation Unit (MBDU) we can confirm that FTIAS Ltd will once again be organising and hosting the Blood Donation event at SmartCity Malta. This event will take place on Monday 6th December 2021 between 09:00 and 13:00. All you need to do to participate is send an e-mail to HR_General@ ftias.com. A colleague from the HR team will get in touch with you and provide you with a time slot for your donation and more instructions for the day. As a Company, we have set a target of 30 interested blood donors and we still have a few seats remaining to reach that number. This can only be done with your participation or by encouraging a friend to take the plunge and become a donor. Help us give the most precious and priceless gift of all during this holiday season; Life. Company News | THE VOICE | 3
FIT Group
Who doesn’t love a fun workout? Having room at our lounge area always helps in organising events such as this one. Thank you goes to one of our Managers, Jessica Vella, who coached us with a heartburn intense training class.
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The walk/run/bike event on Saturday 20th was super fun as well! Some of our staff members gathered up in Spinola, St Julians promenade, for an evening walk and run, together with the little mascot named ‘Rusty’.
November One of the most important things to take care of is one’s mental health, especially in todays’ world. One of our Company’s benefits is to provide our staff members free sessions at Victim Support Malta. This organisation has specialised therapists who are there to listen to any issues people encounter in life. This talk was based on what are the challenges in today’s world and also how we need to take care of our mental health.
Whether you are into sports or not, it’s always fun to try out new things. Our Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Paris, with years of experience in tennis, headed this class at the Rinella Court in Kalkara.
Company News An Introduction to Microsoft Teams Global HR Team Meeting During the month of October, Meeting Point and FTI Human Resources (HR) teams, joined forces to organise a meeting with all the HR professionals that form part of the FTI Group, to update them about developments in their respective area of work. It was also a great opportunity to get to know each other better. This was the first meeting ever organised of this sort and we as a Company really see value in such unified meetings, as they make sure everyone is pushing towards the same direction. Similar meetings are to be organised throughout the year as a continuation of the HR agenda planned.
Soft Skills Training
Whistle Blowing Act Following the recent European reform to the protection of Whistleblowers, FTIAS has issued its own Whistleblower reporting procedure while also appointed Natasha Saliba (Operations Senior Manager) as the Company’s Whistleblower Reporting Officer. More details on how to disclose any improper practices can be found on the Employee Handbook.
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Company News Octember Activities The months of October and November are dedicated to cancer awareness amongst women and men. As usual, we love to treat our staff with delicious goodies, so for October we had the sale of Roly-Poly and in November we distributed nuts to all of them, all this to raise awareness about both women and men’s health.
(On the right: Thomas Buttigieg, Alexander Barbara and Matteo Passoto during one of the events organised in October)
Meeting point malta arkadia Roll out
Recently Meeting Point International together with Meeting Point Malta, worked together to migrate Arkadia onto Malta’s system. Members of the Meeting Point Malta have been awarded with a certificate and a small token of appreciation on their success in Arkadia training. Well done Arkadia wizards!
(On the left: Celebration for the Arkadia roll out success.) Company News | THE VOICE | 9
“It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn’t matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over.” Paulo Coelho
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FTI News Cuba Libre: Travel to the entire island possible again Since November 15th, entry into Cuba has again been possible for vaccinated guests without any conditions. Holidaymakers can now travel freely on the island, provided they have been vaccinated. This removes the regional restrictions that previously only allowed tourists in certain areas in Cuba. Furthermore, the sugar cane island has been removed from the high-risk list, and there’s also the waiver of the PCR or antigen test prior to arrival. Reason to joy for the FTI Strategic Destination Officer Caribbean, Manuel Morales: “With the opening of Cuba, a large tourist gap in our Caribbean portfolio is being closed. We are happy to welcome our customers back to the powdered sugar beaches and hotels”. (On the right: The Hotel Sol Palmeras offers dream vacations on white beaches.)
Ski champion Linus StrAber will go on the slopes with FTI in the future FTI on the forehead and one goal in mind: From now on we will be present at the Alpine FIS World Cup as head sponsor of ski racer Linus Straßer. At the parallel slalom last weekend in Lech, Austria, our FTI logo adorned the helmet of the winter sports ace who qualified for the finals and delivered an exciting duel with his Canadian competitor, Trevor Philp, in the round of 16. Among the spectators was FTI Sales and Marketing Director, Richard Reindl, who cheered the man from Munich and announced: “We are proud to have won the best German ski racer as a prominent ambassador, who will be representing us at international races, to further increase our brand awareness. This makes us confident for a successful winter season, in which we want to set not only holiday-ready but also sporting highlights”. (On the left: Linus Straßer with Richard Reindl) FTI News | THE VOICE | 11
Employee
by Kriszti
Kristina Bana from the Youtravel team had a totally different career before joining FTIAS Ltd. This w
“Before I came to FTIAS, I was working with animals. I started to learn horse riding when I was eig too. I spent my free time with horses and realised that there were many horses, which had mental where an old man (who was a vet) fell down from his horse. My friend went to pick up the man an down. When back on his feet, the man wanted to hit the horse; however, we tried to save him. He horse for a few months, alone and free, to proove him that his horse had nothing wrong. I started wrong and that his mind-set was wrong. We were very happy that he could riding his horse agai nobody could ride on him. Unfortunately, I had to stop horse riding, however this passion evolved
Eventually, I became a dog trainer and veterinary nurse. The first dog who I trained was quite matu (who is the main trainer of the police’s dogs and one of the best trainer in Hungary) didn’t want to exam tasks perfectly and I passed. I can tell you many similar good or terrible stories, but what m
I learnt a lot about human and animal behaviours and their psychology and it is something that stil Never let anyone tell you that something is impossible. There is always a first time, a first person new ways to achieve that. I wish one day, ethology and psychology skills will be thought in every will be honoured.”
Some of Kriztina’s 12 | THE VOICE | Employee Milestone
Milestone
ina Bana
was not only a job but something she loves. Here is what she had to say about her love for animals:
ght years old and became an assistant trainer by the age of 14. I liked to teach children and adults l problems coming from the owners or how they treated them. Once I was witness of an accident, nd I caught the horse who was extremely scared and upset, which eventually I managed to calm e told us that this horse is stupid and malignant. We agreed with the owner that I will work with his d to work with him and eventually the vet realised that what he thought about his own horse was in. I did the same with other horses, even with my own horse who was rescued from cruelty and d in a different way.
ure, a Bernese mountain dog (Gina), who suffered from various behavioural problems. My teacher o let me work with Gina for my exam as she thought I would fail. After six months, Gina knew the matters is what one learns from them.
ll motivates me every day. When I was a veterinary nurse, I saw many “impossible” cases recover. n, a first discovery. Even if we failed or we cannot continue what we started, there will always be school so the human mind set on how we treat each other changes. I hope one day all creatures
favourite photos
A Typical Da
Egle Schem Operations Ma 2 years serv
This month we feature our colleague from the FTI team, Egle Schembri. Here is what she had to say about her typical day: “My mornings usually start quite early, at around 5:00 in the morning. After waking up, I like doing some exercise, it keeps me motivated for the day. I either go for a half an hour run on the treadmill or ride my bicycle outdoors around Bahrija, the place where I live, for around an hour or so. Some mornings I skip exercise and do house chores instead, so I don’t have to do them in the evening after work. This way I can also spend more time resting during weekends and not cleaning. Before leaving for work, I take my morning dose of coffee and then prepare a small lunch, such as fruit or a simple salad. After driving across the island from West to East, workday passes quite quickly while helping and guiding my colleagues when needed as well as sorting upcoming matters. When I arrive home, I start preparing dinner, but to be fair, I am lucky enough because I do not need to do it every day, as my husband is a great cook and if I am late for one reason or another, he helps in the kitchen. On weekends, we always try to go out for dinner or a walk, while also meet friends or my husband’s family, since mine is only reachable over a video call. We also enjoy staying indoors, watching a movie or doing our own things. During my free time, I like to read. Usually, it is either a book that caught my attention or one that was recommended by a friend. The last one I recently finished was ‘The Reader’ by Bernhard Schlink. I also like to design and make clothes, even though in the past year I have abandoned tailoring, but have already promised myself to continue where I left off.”
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A Little Ray of Sunshine Prepping to make Christmas better The donation of the Children’s dreams Christmas gifts is just around the corner and our teams are working in full swing to get all the presents ready on time. Through this initiative, we make the Christmas of these innocent children, a little more special. Want to thank all team members for being so involved and excited for this initiative.
Corporate Social IT & Prem
As part of the Company’s Pink O with the extra donations collect and together with the IT and donations further (as part of Responsibility initiative for this ye to Hospice Malta.
Part of the IT &
Some of the gifts which are being received at the HR and Corporate Communications office. 16 | THE VOICE | A Little Ray of Sunshine
l Responsibility mises Team
October and Movember campaign, ted through the ‘Roly-Poly’ event, Premises team who topped the f their team’s Corporate Social ear), we presented a nice donation
& Premises Team
Corporate Social Responsibility - PSD Team It is time for the fury little ones this time and with ‘World Kindness Day’ being celebrated today, we thought it is the perfect opportunity to do our part! This month, it was the ‘Process and Software Development’ team turn to organise their Corporate Social Responsibility event. Working as a team, they managed to donate 300 cans of wet food to CSAF (Carers for Stray and Abandoned Felines). Well done to all involved!
Part of the PSD team giving out their donation to CSAF volounteers
Special Thanks to Kevin Paris - Chief Executive Officer Alexander Barbara - Newsletter Editor Rachel Falzon - Newsletter Co-ordinator Krisztina Bana Samantha Bugeja AnnMarie Buhagiar Karl Briffa Regine Debono Caruana Vincent Ciantar Katharina Frick Marco Magri Egle Schembri Jessica Vella
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