One big happy family: hotel gives mentally disabled staff a chance to flourish
‘Big Sister Ping’ on the laundry crew epitomises the team spirit in welcoming these special employees
Lee Mei-ping, known fondly as “Big Sister Ping”, didn’t have any children when she joined the laundry team at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile Hotel in 1997.
Today she has nine. They’re not hers biologically, but nonetheless they love cuddling up to her and calling her “ma”.
They are staff members hired by the hotel from IDEAL, the Intellectually Disabled Education and Advocacy League, a charitable organisation formed by parents and volunteers who strive to help the intellectually challenged learn to become independent.
Yu, 29, joined right from the start of the partnership in 2012. She doesn’t say anything, and will only smile shyly when you try and communicate with her. “Don’t think she’s slow,” Ping says, “Yu always finishes the day with the most towels folded.”
Carmen, 34, laughs boisterously and announces she will demonstrate the towel folding. “She was so reserved when she first joined a year and a half ago; it’s been wonderful watching her come to life,” Ping remarks.
Ping admits she was sceptical when she first heard mentally disabled workers would be joining the team. “I’d never dealt with any of them, and, you know, there’s a certain idea in society of what they’re like.”
But from day one, Ping’s protective nature kicked in when she saw them in need of help. She took them under her wing and patiently taught them their tasks. She fended for them when other staff said nasty things about them at lunch. She figured out who was good at what, and assigned tasks accordingly.
And these acts of reaching out forged exactly what the partnership had aimed for, a bridge between the disabled and able-minded that would lead both to a better place in life.
“The ageing parents worry about their children’s future. But they’re comforted seeing how independent they become after working here,” says Ivy Chung Ching-han, director of public relations. “And we feel so delighted watching them become enabled.”
It’s hard to keep people in these menial jobs, but we no longer suffer a high staff turnover
Many of the families have written the hotel thank-you letters, appreciative of the confidence and abilities the job has given its special employees.
But Chung firmly points out this isn’t just charity.
“They’re extremely hardworking and focused. It’s hard to keep people in these menial jobs, but we no longer suffer a high staff turnover, because the IDEAL workers have no problem keeping going.”
Chung is proud about the range of community service the hotel offers, which includes financial support for IDEAL, a pro bono revamping of its PR materials, and running training classes for its disabled members on life skills, computer usage and cooking, among other things.
She gushes over the approachability of the hotel’s owner, Dr Aron Harilela, who suggested offering jobs to the disabled in the first place. “He might be the owner, but he makes a point to smile and say hello to staff of any level,” she says.
That amicable attitude coming from the top trickles right through to staff in the basement, and it’s what keeps everyone a family here.
Ping, 59, tells us she reaches retirement age in June. Carmen jokingly barks at her: “I’ll punch you if you leave us, ma!”
Chung assures Ping that the company couldn’t do without her, and a contract renewal is definitely on its way.
Ping, with a wistful gaze reflecting on an inevitable future, says: “If I had to go, I would miss everyone so much.”
