Tis the Season to be Merry ....

Hi blog readers,

Christmas is synonymous with sharing. And giving. When we share, we spread our love. So Christmas is also about love, and when we love, we care. We have been so accustomed to this gift giving in our culture, and it is only normal for us in ESSB to include this in our last quarter staff gathering. 

Yes, we have our infamous Year End Sale in Malaysia. In ESSB, YESS we have our Year End Suka-Suka (fun). We played Secret Santa, where a staff picked a name of his / her colleagues (who became the Angel), and the staff became the angel's Secret Santa. So basically every staff is an Angel, and at the same time is a Secret Santa too. This picking of names was held about a month earlier.

The Angel will write a message to the Santa asking for what he / she wishes for, and the Secret Santa shall grant. The messages from all the Angels were written in a star-shaped cards and hung it on the wishing tree. One side of the card revealed the wishes for mankind (or the Company), and the other side of the card says what the Angel wish for.

On 20th December,we had our last quarter staff gathering. We also celebrated the birthday babies of those in October, November and December. Refreshments were served, games were played. We have pizzas, cocktail sausages, spaghetti, fried chicken, salads, among others. But the Angels were more excited to know who were their Santas, so there were still some food left that afternoon. 

After the birthday do, we ate and then we have the gift exchange. The Santa, who already wrote the name of his / her Angel with a hint of who's who, the angels then need to identify who is his / her Santa. And the guessing game goes on and on until all Santas' beards were removed, and all Angels smiled. 

The best part of this activity was with the lil' hint given by the Santa, most of the Angels were able to identify their respective Santas. This showed how precious is the bond amongst us in ESSB. And another best part was, we heard, most of the Angels wishes were granted ! Kudos to all Santas. The saying says, 'ask, and you shall receive' is so meaningful in this activity. We thought asking for an electrical toothbrush was some kind of a feat, but the angel got his wish came true. And his teeth is sparkling now .... !! 

An appreciation was also recorded to our IT team who will be 'out from the team' to venture into something more lucrative. We will outsourced our IT needs to them and they can also focus on their new businesses in Cyberjaya. Eugine gave his thanks to us all, and we sent our blessing to him and his team.

Yes, we had fun. It is the ending  of another season, and a brand new beginning at the horizon. Yes, change is inevitable in ESSB, and change is the only thing constant. We hope Elabramers will embrace the changes for our sustainability. We take this opportunity to wish everyone a peaceful and progressing 2014 ! 

Here are the pictures of hope, joy and love ...... 

 ESSB Wishing Tree

                                   The presents
 

 The lil' bears for the birthdays babies self-made by the HR team.

                                      The Yummies .....

                         Red was the color of the Season

 The birthday babies creating their magical pot 

 Rub the pot belly and make a wish .....

                                    Many happy returns ahead ......

The babies and the bears ....

 They can't wait for the presents

 Here we go, the Angels calling out their Santas

 Eugine Yaw, our Head of IT, giving his parting words.











Until next time, keep the positive vibes circling ........

Many ... many Happy Returns of The Day Dear Boss !

Hi again,

Just a rare occasion that we can catch a glimpse of this busy man in our HQ because he is jostling between Bangkok and Manila, but we made him (or rather the PA made him, thanks Pris) drop-by the office yesterday (25 Nov), and we gave him a surprise, then let him make a blow and dream a wish. It is also our way of saying that we know he has been very hardworking and that he has our moral support (and yes, he is missed in the HQ).

We take this opportunity again to wish you, Mr Mikel Yaw,  many many years of good tidings and that your life's fill with joy, happiness and most of all love.   

Happy Birthday Mr. MD !! 

Here is the MD with the lil' team in the HQ (we hoped our presence were presently enough) 

Until then, keep your head up high and reach for the sky.

Extending our Emotion to Haiyan Victims @ Philippines

A note arrived via email from our ESI Marketing Manager, Grace. She told us the plight of those affected by the super-typhoon. At the same time, we saw daily on the Internet and TV the surreal graphics of the people and places that were stormed by the typhoon. What we watched in movies are now real, and it can happen to us or our loved ones. We in ESSB felt her emotion, and we readily extended our help as a Malaysian.

So instead of just passing the till bucket around, HR thought, we can do better than this. This is because, we have an extended family there, and maybe, some of our fellow colleagues in ESI are affected by this act-of-god. And we want our staff members to remember such tragedy, and that their donations matter. 

HR organized some lil' activities by selling fruits, breakfast and candies spread over 3 days. And voila, we collected a total of RM800/ which is about eleven thousand pesos. It's a significant amount for a premises of about 30 people.

Being Malaysian, we are well-known for our generosity. It is just our natural intrinsic value in us. We should be proud of ourselves. We are blessed that this beloved country is a haven - safe from major natural disaster. Yes we did have some disasters in the country but they were inflicted by some irresponsible people.They were man-made disasters.

Please continue to be a good Malaysian and do not take things for granted. ESSB as a community CAN, and we believe this vibe is contagious. We hope this lil' donation can make a change - can give a smile to a child, lift the spirit of a mother and give hope to a man. So, let's pray for world peace. 

Here are some pictures from our heart and all the way to the Philippines. May God bless all of them and hope they will recover from this aftermath soon.

Community Hall Season II

Hello Elabram'ers,

How has everyone been doing so far? It is already the last quarter of the year and before you know it, it's gonna be a brand new year. Again? Well, yes, it was just like only last week that we bid 2012 goodbye.  

Just a quick update on our recent event in the HQ, we had our last session of Community Hall held on 31 Oct. We have a total of 22 participants over two sessions and this time we talked about Quality and what were the staff members perceptions about quality and what they want to see quality in their work aspect.


HR also took the opportunity to update the staff members about the current statistic in the Company and the impending changes which may occur soon. So everyone has to be ready for this changes so that the Company can propel forward.

Since it was held on 31st Oct which was a Halloween Day, the participants were given a spooky ambience ...... and some thought they went into the wrong venue ....

 

Pre-event activity was Laughter Yoga ..... yes, all you have to do is laugh .... Ho ... Ha ..  Ho ... Ha .. Hha

Oh yes, not forgetting some stretching required too

 

And then back to the actual forum. Let's talk quality!  

 

 

Then team presentation

 

This is an open forum for the Management to gather feedbacks from the staff members on a selected topic. After the presentation, all the feedbacks are revealed to the Managing Director for his knowledge. Good ones shall be adopted. And of course the core objectives are to adopt the best practices, continuous improvement and understanding both parties.

 

That's all folks, we are gearing towards the year end. Yes, I smell something brewing - until then, keep yourself grounded.

 



Cheering on ....

Hey there ! 

We are back in a zipp ..... 

Now, you can't go wrong when you have food, games, prizes, and we even throw in a tiara and crown !

ESSB celebrated the dual auspicious occasions of the Aidil Fitri and Independence Day on 30th August recently. Yes, regardless of your political choices, this land of fortune did no wrong. We are all here 'cari makan or cari rezeki' - so this land provides us with opportunities and for us to prosper. Honor thy country, and the country will honor you in return.

Coming back to the dual celebrations, we decided to gather everyone at the HQ for a merriment. Pot-luck was the concept for the gathering. The main organizer was kinda worried about whether there will be enough food to feed those hungry mouths when we saw initial lukewarm responses from the respective departments. But our prayers answered when there were plenty very delicious food which everyone can go for even the third takings. So bless with our generosity and the wise man says 'sikit-sikit boleh jadi bukit' materializes this quote. Well it was a simple gathering  - nothing upscale, uberlicious nor even luxe, but the energy .... you gotta to be here to feel it. The smiles, the smell of foods, the enthusiastic, the sight of pretty lasses and obedient gentlemen mingling, chatting, chilling in the most well-behaved  social manner without compromising the fun and the festive cheers. 

Ok, I know, I went overboard with my writing again, so let's take a look at those pictures as picture reveals a thousand words (so why am I wasting words here). And thanks to the cameraman for the day, our Senior Finance Manager, SK Lai.  Enjoy the show .......


Tantalizing your senses ...... 

 





 






 

    

Lucky Draw Prizes 
 

Early birds came for registration

Waiting for the fun to begin

  











 

Ahem ... the usual Host @ work .....

Annie - representing the Management, in a short and sweet speech for us

 Singing the National Anthem before the actual fun start

Listen .. listen .... listen .... before you have your cake and goodies bag ... let's play a game first

 

 

 

  

 Babies in July, Aug & Sept

 Test for your tastebud ......

Want this? 

 
  
Some smileys for you .......... 

 Here's the fun part .........

 


 

 

  

     




 

 And winner gets the prize .......

 Dip ... stir ... pick ..... Lucky draw in session 'ala-ala tikam' style .....

 Get your prize from the 'wishing tree' by cutting a 'duit raya' packet  
 And your wishes came true ......

 3rd Grand Prize winner - Chian Rong of TAD (courtesy of OCBC Bank Malaysia)

2nd Grand Prize winner - Stella Tan of IB with 4 tickets to Bukit Gambang Resort, Kuantan - Safari and Water Theme Park (courtesy of HR Snr Exec - Song SanSan)

 

 1st Grand Prize winner, Najib of OD - 5 tickets to Bukit Gambang Resort, Kuantan - Safari and Water Theme Park (also courtesy of HR Snr Exec - Song SanSan)



And the best-dressed goes to ....... (drum roll please ........ !)
 



Sally Sia - best dressed female, was  crowned by Annie with gift voucher from Aeon.

 Best dressed male was won by Mohd Fathi of OD with Aeon gift voucher.

 ESSB queen and king for the hour ......... love the tiara and the crown (handmade by HR team).


Many thanks to all the Departmental Heads for their food contributions and to both the Directors for forking out the lucky draw prizes as well. To the committee member - Vivian, Stella, KC Wong, Louise, Brian and Najib, our gratitude to you again. Kudos to the coordination. And to the HR team, what can I say - from the concept to wrapping gifts to running errands such motherly, my thanks to both San San and Shu for the endearing commitment to make things happen. 

That's all folks - life is such a wonderful thing. Meanwhile, stay tune for future spread, until then, take care and make your community proud.  

p/s: Thanks again to SK Lai for the beautifully captured moments