IN THIS ISSUE 3 Company News 6 Sports and Spocial Commitee 7 FTI News 8 A typical day with... 10 Employee Milestones 11 Motivational Qoute 13 Thank you
Company News Women's Day
What a way to celebrate Women’s Day! On the day, Maria from Yoga Beat delivered a yoga session to a group of women from FTIAS after working hours. These ladies were brave enough to hit the mat and work it out! It was a great way to spend time with the ladies.
(From left to right: Szabina Toth, Rachel Falzon, Romina Psaila, Natasha Saliba, Egle Schembri, Jeanette Galea, and Marouska Frantz.)
After all the Figolli and Easter eggs eaten, we deserve a rest! On the 5th of April our Offices will be closed !!
Company News | THE VOICE | 3
Company News The ability for teams to work together productively is perhaps the most important function Teams in any An Introduction to Microsoft business. Due to Covid-19 human interaction became extremely limited. However, lack of teamwork is never acceptable given any circumstance that the world faces. Coinciding with the company teleworking policy, we have chosen Microsoft Teams to be the main tool for interactive meetings.
An Introduction to Microsoft Teams
The HR and Corporate Communications team has designed a training course that will walk all staff members through the essentials of using Microsoft Teams, starting with the basic setup and joining meetings. Furthermore this course includes ways on how to scheduled meetings and how to share and work with files within your team. Join this course through the Company’s Learning Management System, NEST, and discover the core features of Microsoft Teams and see how you can bring together colleagues, create conversations and content, and collaborate more effectively.
Staff member taking the Microsoft Teams online training
Soft Skills Training
Soft Skills Training
As a company that relies and believes on the value of continuous learning, the development of soft skills is vital, also in line with FTIAS’s new vision. To kick start this year’s training and development programme, we have introduced a set of new soft skills related training that will be part of this year’s programme. These courses will include; i) Basic Accounting Concepts for non-financial professionals ii) Comprehending Financial statements iii) Delivering Outstanding Customer Service iv) Managing Pressure and Stress to Optimise Performance The opportunity to learn is golden. After all, growth is impossible without learning.
4 | THE VOICE | Company News
Company News Staying Healthy at the Workplace Earlier this month, HR and Corporate Communications Coordinator, Rachel Falzon, attended an interesting webinar about Staying Healthy at the place of work, hosted by Advisory 21 Law. It included tips and practices that are suggested to be done whilst working from home or also at the office. Since at the moment, many of us are working remotely, here are some of the tips mentioned: • Prepare quick healthy snacks during the weekend • Clear desk after every working day • Add greens to your home office space • Take your break outside your office • Store away any non-work related equipment/accessories from the home office area • Drink plenty of water • Catch up with your team daily • Switch off to enjoy quality family time Also here is one of the recipes, that Eat & Fuel provided: RECIPE:INGREDIENTS Eat & Fuel Health Drink ¼ tsp. ginger powder ½ lemon 2 green teabags ¼ tsp. turmeric Pinch clover Training on 1 tbsp. honey
the
METHOD Fill 1 mug with boiling water. Add the ginger, lemon juice, tea bags and honey and stir for a minute. In a jug, add 3 cups of water and the freshly squeezed oranges. Add the turmeric and clover. Remove the tea bags from the mug and pour in the contents of the mug into the jug. Serve immediately or store in a refrigerator.
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THE VOICE | Company News
(Rachel Falzon attending the ‘Staying Healthy at the Workplace’ Webinar.) Company News | THE VOICE | 5
Sports and Social Committee
A glimpse of the delicious Figolli distributed from the Front Office area.
Easter Treats Figolli Our Sports and Social Committee managed to organise the sales of the most sought after traditional Easter treats, the delicious ‘Figolli’. Thank you goes to Baron Confectionery for these delicacies. This Easter activity was organised with minimal interaction and in line all Covid-19 measures.
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FTI News Seven Meeting Point Hotels Receive Booking.com Award 2021 Seven of the FTI Group’s own hotels have received the 2021 Traveller Review Awards from Booking.com. The Traveller Review Award is the new award from Booking.com to partners for their extraordinary hospitality, which is reflected in the rating score of the guests after their stay. The award-winning hotels receive a certificate and a window sticker so all guests can see the award as soon as they enter the hotel. These include: ESIGN PLUS Seya Beach Hotel, KAIRABA Alaçatı Beach Resort, LABRANDA Mares Marmaris, LABRANDA Alantur Resort, LABRANDA Lebedo’s Princess, LABRANDA Excelsior Side, and LABRANDA Loryma Resort. Congratulations to the colleagues from these seven hotels!
One of the winning hotels The lobby in the award-winning Hotel Design Plus Seya Beach.
What is happening in the Group's MP Hotels? At the moment, all Meeting Point (MP) hotels not only preparing for the reopening, but are also using the current time to prepare for the hopefully soon return of the holidaymakers. Two of our hotels are currently being renovated in the Canary Islands, beingThe LABRANDA Costa Mogan in Gran Canaria which has 125 rooms and is located directly on the beach in the south of Gran Canaria. An extensively renovation is currently taking place and will be characterized by more comfort in the future. After its reopening, guests will be welcomed in a new, and stylish design. It will also have its own family and adults-only area including a separate roof terrace, a beach club, and a sushi bar.
One of the rooms at LABRANDA Costa Mogan in the Canary Islands.
The LABRANDA Suites Costa Adeje in Tenerife, the 437 room hotel, will be refurnished with an entrance area, redesigned pool, and an Italian specialty restaurant that ensures culinary enjoyment. FTI News | THE VOICE | 7
A Typical Day with... Jackie Thorpe Business Processes Manager
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Usually Jackie wakes up at around 6:30am, but until 9:00 in the morning she tries to do everything! This means takes breakfast, clear up the house, get everything prepared for work, and a good coffee to start the day. Thanks to Bruno, her lovely Rottweiler, she manages to go out of the house too for that mini walk during weekdays. With regards to her typical day at work, at the moment herself and the rest of the team are focusing on a project called ‘Arkadia’. First she starts by making a team plan which is shared amongst her team so everyone would know what they will be working on for that day and week. Everyone does the plan for the day – the whole team including myself and everyone shares the plan through teams. so that we all know who will work on what during the day. She continues with several meeting and also tons of emails. Working on this project means a lot of communications and work, but it’s very interesting to have so many connections with different destinations at the same time. At the moment the project is in the stage where trainers around several destinations are being trained to roll out Arkadia Operating System. For those of you who do not know what this huge project is all about, basically it is the new Operating System, which will replace the current systems like GWG and Sejour for the various Destination Management Companys of the FTI Group. Jackie explained that due to this pandemic, communication has enhanced throughout the team as they would need to update each other more frequently. This is usually done weekly through Microsoft Teams. Even training on Arkadia is being provided through the Online Learning platform and Helpjuice. Then it’s time to switch off and move onto Jackie’s personal routine and life, where she has changed her nutrition lifestyle since almost a year. She is currently doing a nutritional course where she is guided what’s best to eat according her diet. Twenty minutes time for Yoga is a must as it helps her to concentrate and relax after a busy day. When we asked her about healthy tips she said that if you would like to change your dietary intake, you should focus on legumes and vegetables, but reduce on animal intake, as it includes all the nutrients that a person would need throughout the day. She has drastically reduced taking fast foods and when it comes to sweets or craving something, she turns to fruits to fulfil that yummy taste! She continued to explain that once you truly understand what’s inside these foods you will end up not enjoying eating them that much, however once in a while she does have a bite. This was also expressed in her shopping where she buys products which are organic. This is her new way of life. On weekends, her place is to go for long walks and explore the country side with her husband and Bruno. The Pinterest application is another hit for Jackie as she is into interior design and experimenting new ideas for her lovely home.
Employee Milestone by Daniel Fodor
For the month of March, we are pleased to have the following article from our colleague Junior Software Developer, Daniel Fodor, from the Process and Software Development team. Here is what he had to say about his personal milestones: “Hello my name is Daniel Fodor, I am from Hungary. I am a member of theProcess and Software Development team . Since this is sedentary work, I feel that I need to compensate for its effect on my body.Laying on the sofa and watching movies does not help to stay active either. I have always enjoyed doing sports, athletics, and any physical exercises since my childhood. I used to go for running and athletics competitions. As I grew older, I got more interested in learning languages, martial arts (especially Kung Fu), and gardening. However the possibilities were limited while I was living in Hungary, so I decided to learn and do my hobbies in a self-taught way. My motivation was the fact that I was doing these things from the passion I had for them. If you like what you do (it can be any activity) that is the best encouragement to keep on doing it. The results come more naturally through the process when we are not stressed by expectations. Unfortunately I stopped doing intensive physical training since I’ve been living in Malta. So this year I started running on a regular basis and I also joined a TRX team to strengthen my upper body. I also practice Japanese and Chinese languages (I like doing research about different languages and cultures) together with software development coding in my free time. I like traveling and hiking too. My aim is to get back to my original fitness level (both physical and mental) and continue improving my skills further. I hope that you also have a passion and should you ever meet someone who says it’s impossible…Just Do It.”
10 | THE VOICE | Employee Milestone 10 | THE VOICE | Employee Motivation
(On the left: Daniel during one of the running competitions organised here in Malta.)
“We have a chance to do something extraordinary. As we head out of this pandemic we can change the world. Create a world of love. A world where we are kind to each other. A world where we are kind no matter what class, race, sexual orientation, what religion, or lack of or what job we have. A world we don’t judge those at the food bank because that may be us if things were just slightly different. Let love and kindness be our roadmap.” - Johnny Corn -
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Want to know more about other teams within our Company?
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Special Thanks to Kevin Paris - Chief Executive Officer Alexander Barbara - Newsletter Editor Rachel Falzon - Newsletter Co-ordinator Vincent Ciantar Katharina Frick Daniel Fodor Jackie Thorpe Szabina Toth
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